Namoos In The Kite Runner

In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini a young boy named Amir lives in a luxurious house in Kabul, Afghanistan with his father and two servants Ali and Hassan. Amir liked to read his dead mother’s collection of stories to his servant and playmate, Hassan. Everyday after Amir comes home from school he and Hassan would go to the pomegranate tree on top of the hill near Amir’s home. It was at this tree where their friendship grew, but at the same time Amir secretly despised Hassan for the relationship Hassan had with Amir’s father.

Amir always yearned for his father's affection. So the relationship between Baba and Hassan made Amir jealous. Although, Amir knew that his chance to win his father’s affection would be by winning the local kite-flying

Nang and namoos is an ongoing motif in The Kite Runner, and is mostly shown through Baba, Amir and General Sahib. All three characters view nang and namoos as an important part of their culture and feel as though the nang and namoos of an Afghan man or women should not be compromised. The character who is solely based on his nang and namoos is Baba. The character Baba is personified to exhibit true characteristics of an Afghan father. An example of Khaled Hosseini giving Baba real characteristics of an Afghan father would be when he goes to General Sahib to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage to his son Amir. Baba does this because in the Afghan culture a man may not propose to a woman without the blessing of both fathers. After Baba asks General Sahib, General Sahib tells Amir “Now, this is the right way- the Afghan way- to do it, bachem” (Hosseini, 2003, p.167). Baba also demonstrates the importance of nang and namoos when he tells Rahim Khan “A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything” (Hosseini, 2003, p.22). In this situation Baba is frustrated with Amir because he believes that he is compromising his nang and namoos by showing weakness to his bullies. Another example of a character demonstrating the importance of nang and namoos would be Amir. Amir shows the importance of pride and honor when he says “ Then I’d bring it home and show it to Baba. Show him once and for all that his son was worthy. Then maybe my life as a ghost in this house would finally be over” (Hosseini, 2003, p.56). Amir is filled with pride because he believes that he is going to win the kite tournament in order to show it off to his Baba. This shows how in the Afghan culture people will go to great lengths to earn back or more of nang and namoos. Another major character who shows the importance of nang and namoos would be General Sahib.