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How literature impacts society
How literature impacts society
Interrelationship between literature and society
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Afghanistan’s history can be correlated to some of the character’s external influences, however characters can also be influences that created internal conflicts for another. For Amir, he was influenced by the Afghan’s long history of the persecution of the Hazaras. It was these persecutions and ideology of the Hazaras that put Amir to the test with Hassan. The peer pressure of society didn’t help the fact that Amir was indecisive and cowardice. He was so afflicted by these outside ideas that in his marriage with Soraya, he says, “Our lovemaking was still good...but some nights all I’d feel was a relief to be done with it...about the futility of what we’d done” (211) which implies a lackluster mood and shows how monochromatic Amir’s life is …show more content…
in his adult stage. But, referring back to the Hassan, it was these ideologies that confused Amir and questioned who he was and created self doubt for him. It was Afghanistan that put him in the spot, and caused him to flee, run away, and abandon those he trusted. Throughout the whole book, he had an internal struggle between his guilt and his actions, and never made up for it for the majority of the story. However, once he got called by Rahim Khan, he had more positive influences, such as Hassan and Sohrab.
Hassan’s purity in their childhood pushed Amir to lean away from his struggle of what he was, and take initiative for what was right, even if he refused at first. Amir knew he couldn’t let Hassan down a second time in spite of fear. Once Sohrab was rescued, he tied the knot in Amir’s character development and battle with his self- acceptance. Amir was put once again on the spot with his actions on how to deal with Sohrab. He eventually takes action and adopts Sohrab, going through all the risks and struggles. While having terrible influences like the demeaning ideology of Afghan society, Amir overcame his main internal struggle with influences like Sohrab and Hassan, and without the balance of influences, Amir would not have evolved as he …show more content…
did. While Amir is the most dynamic character in the novel, there were other characters that were afflicted by Afghan history that judged their decisions as well.
One of such was Baba. Baba was completely different compared to Amir in attitude and personality. He was highly one of the peer pressures for Amir because he was a representative of the proud Afghan race and his aspiring-to-be. However, like Amir, he also made bad decisions that could’ve ruined his reputation. Afghanistan is already known for being a persecutor of the Hazaras, however breaking your honor and having an affair with a Hazara would have devastating consequences. And Baba knew this, and had to struggle with the fact that he had to put his other son in a hut and a state of the lower social class. His hidden struggle can be identified when barks at Amir saying, “‘Hassan’s not going anywhere… He’s staying right here with us, where he belongs. This is his home and we’re his family” (243). He has to deal with never being able to truly love his other son, while also dealing with the fact he stole his best friend’s wife. He has so much love for both Hassan and Ali, but never could tell them because there were too many consequences at stake for him in
Afghanistan. Rahim Khan also undergoes persecution from the ideology about the Hazaras. We hear his story of how he almost married a lovely woman named Homaira. However, the “world always wins” (112), and Rahim Khan’s marriage-to-be was not highly respected. His own family, despite supposedly being there for him, shunned him for who he loved. Not because of who she was, her personality, her own personal being. She was pushed away from Rahim Khan for being a Hazara. Rahim Khan probably had to deal with society’s peer pressure like Amir just because of how dangerous having a Hazara accomplice was in such a discriminating place. But Rahim Khan also had to deal with the fact that he could never have married the right person for him just because of what society’s construct had put up for him and every other person. In the end, Rahim Khan never married because his father sent away his love and her family out to Hazarajat. Rahim Khan, Baba, and Amir all show how impactful society’s influence is affecting one’s life despite the size of a character’s part in a story, and it shows how history impacts reality everyday for somebody.
Amir’s childhood is quite unusual compared to most children in Afghan. Amir’s father, Baba, is a very rich and successful individual in his lifetime. This success allows Amir to live a wealthy lifestyle with access to western commodity as well as servants. In novel, Amir is risen mostly by his servants Hassan and Ali, as well
Happiness is everyone’s main goal in life; however, one cannot define happiness, nor how it is achieved. Happiness plays a pivotal role in the novel “Kite Runner”, written by Khaled Hosseini. The main character, Amir, is on a quest for happiness and strives for it throughout his entire life; however, it is not without struggle and hardship. Amir achieves many accomplishments in this novel which ultimately lead up to him becoming truly happy. One of Amir’s accomplishments that contributed in his quest for happiness is his marriage with his love, Soraya. Another one of Amir’s accomplishments that also contributed in his quest for happiness is the discovery of his father’s flaws. Furthermore, Amir also gained happiness by giving his orphaned nephew,
Amir's mother passes away during his birth, and his left with the suspicion that his father blames him for her death. Amir longes for his father's attention and approval, but does not receive any affection as a son. He grows up with his Hazara best friend, Hassan. In Afghanistan culture, Hazaras are considered lower class and inferiors in society. Amir describes his friendship with Hassan saying, “then he would remind us that there was a brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that not even time could break."
No one in the city of Kabul thought anything less than greatness and admiration for him. Hassan’s with Amir, ready to defend and protect him no matter what the cost. And Amir’s with Baba, wanting to please him and make him proud to have a son like Amir. By making a decision of who Amir was more loyal to as well as who he wanted to please more, inadvertently led to his betrayal of Hassan. “I had one last chance to make a decision.
However there are some characters that become better people and change becoming a better, stronger, more loyal individual in the end. The individual that demonstrates this development within this novel is Amir himself. All of the guilt Amir holds with him as a child allow him to realize his duty to be loyal to his brother Hassan ion the end. An example of this is when Amir goes back to Kabul, Afghanistan to retrieve his nephew Sohrab. Amir says, “I remembered Wahid’s boys and… I realized something. I would not leave Afghanistan without finding Sohrab.’ tell me where he is,’ I said” (Hosseini 255). Here, Amir is at the orphanage waiting to find out where Taliban has taken his nephew. Amir remembers the three young starving sons of Wahid, a man whose home he had been in earlier, and realized that Afghanistan is not a safe place for Sohrab. Amir is finally aware of one thing, Hassan has always been there to protect Amir like a loyal friend and brother would and now Amir knows that it is his turn to return that loyalty to Hassan by protecting Hassan’s flesh and blood. A second example of Amir’s loyalty to Hassan near the ending of the book is during Amir’s confrontation with General Sahib and the dinner table after Sohrab is safe in America with him. Amir proclaims to General Sahib, “…That boy sleeping on the couch
In the novel, “The Kiterunner”, the reader follows the life of a boy named Amir and we dive into his life in Afghanistan. In the beginning of the book, we follow Amir and his young life in Afghanistan with his father, Baba. Amir’s father is a very rich businessman and the two of them live alone in a large home because Amir’s mother died in childbirth with him. The only other people who play a major role in the novel are Baba’s friend and business partner, Rahim Khan, Amir’s family servant, Ali, and his son, Amir’s best friend, Hassan. The reader quickly learns that Ali and Hassan are a different type of Afghan called, Hazara. In this time period of Afghanistan Hazara people were treated poorly for their appearance and because most Hazara people have such a low status in society that they can only usually get a job as a house servant. Although Ali and his son Hassan are Hazara, later on the reader learns that Baba’s father took in Ali as his own son and cared for him, which is why Baba looks after him now like a good brother.
He sees her determination to stand up to her father for what she loves, as she exclaims, “Teaching may not pay much, but it’s what I want to do! It’s what I love” (182). Amir sees a woman stand up to her father, a strange occurrence in Afghan society, which provides him with a model of what it means to stand up for one’s his own beliefs and dreams. Later, after General Taheri calls Sohrab a ‘Hazara Boy’, Amir is able to follow this model, telling the general, “You will never again refer to [Sohrab] as ‘Hazara Boy’ in my presence. He has a name and it’s Sohrab” (361). He stands up to a powerful proponent of the status quo, rejecting the general’s discrimination towards Sohrab and making Amir’s belief that Pashtuns are no better than Hazaras very clear. Soraya also shows Amir courage in her willingness to face her past. Right before they marry, Soraya reveals the secrets of her past to Amir. Amir realizes that he is jealous of her bravery, noting, “I envied her. Her secret was out. Spoken. Dealt with” (165). When he finally tells her of his past, years later, Amir “imagined Soraya had experienced something similar the night of our khastegari, when she’d told [him] about her past,” a sense of relief, a lifting of weight off of his shoulders (325). He learns that, through courage and the ability to face his past , he can start
Amir is Pashtun, this is the more accepted and prosperous ethnicity. Hassan is a Hazara boy, this being an ethnic group that is looked down upon by Pashtun citizens of Kabul. “In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shi’a, and nothing was ever going to change that.” (Hosseini 25). Throughout his childhood, Amir is put down regularly by neighborhood kids for befriending Hassan because of his ethnic background. Amir realizes that no matter what he may do, or no matter how Hassan may try to alter the situation, Hassan would always be too different for people to accept. This embarrasses and frustrates Amir. This frustration is one cause for Amir to slowly but surely push Hassan out of his life. Although it is not the most obvious reason, it is an underlying one. This is a mistake on Amir’s part because Hassan does so much for Amir, being the loyal friend that he is, and for Amir to push someone of such good moral and character out of his life, is a tremendous mistake on his behalf. It is quite obvious that Hassan would give his life for Amir, but, because of where Hassan comes from, Amir struggles throughout his childhood, to find a way to accept the friendship Hassan gives
...made fun of him and treated him badly. This may have been an example of separation in Afghanistan and how society was divided. But when Amir moved to America he buried his past until he got a call from Rahim Khan to come back home. Amir agreed and went back to find out Hassan has died and the Taliban took Hassan’s son Sohrab. Amir agrees to rescue him because he feels like it’s his obligation to Hassan because of all the wrong he has done to him. This may be an example of friendship goes above all and that separation within class, race, religion, or political climate doesn’t matter to Amir. Amir takes Sohrab back home and at the end of the book he flies a kite with Sohrab. When they cut another person’s kite, Amir runs to get the kite and yells to Sohrab “For you, a thousand times over” to reflect Hassan’s memory and how Amir appreciates Hassan’s friendship.
In the beginning Amir is a coward who cant defend himself and through out the book this begins to change and finally he fully changes in the end of the book. Amir never was the type of boy to fight or stand up for himself. For example, Amir over hears Baba say to Rahim Khan, “You know what happens when the neighborhood boys tease him? Hassan steps in and fend them off…Im telling you Rahim, there is something missing in that boy” (Hosseini, 23). Baba is complaining to Rahim and he doesn't understand why Amir lacks the courage to stand up for himself. He puzzles that Hassan is the one to step in and defend Amir. He also is very confused over the fact that a hazara is more courageous than his son. Baba knows that Amir is not violent and he wishes that he would just stand up for himself. Amir overhears this and is very troubled that Baba doesn’t approve of him. To Amir this is a realization that he is a coward and his father notices it. Later in the book, Amir sees Hassan being raped and he is contemplation jumping in and being courageous because he says, “I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide ...
As a young boy he made the wrong decision in life by letting Hassan get raped, which led to his guilt. The guilt grew to the point where Hassan and Ali had to move out of Baba’s house and start a new life away from Amir. Hassan’s son Sohrab is a significant character who represents Amir’s hope for redemption. Sohrab led to Amir’s redemption by giving Amir the opportunity to do good for his past actions. On the quest for redemption, Amir achieves the redemption he desired through his fight with Assef.
One can argue that Amir needs his experience returning to Kabul to rescue Sohrab as a way to engrain appreciation to his lifestyle in America. This return is the only way for Amir to be cleansed of his sins, as stated in The Kite Runner, “‘Come. There is a way to be good again,’ Rahim Khan had said on the phone just before hanging up. Said it in passing, almost as an afterthought” (Hosseini 192). After weeks of secrecy, a brutal fight, and battles with the immigration office, Amir is able to return to America with a bright perspective of his new home albeit broken, beat, and scarred, and a new adopted child, Sohrab. The developed Amir is brought out with his interaction with General Taheri. In the novel, Amir shows his new found ability to stand up for himself with the quote, “‘And one more thing, General Sahib,’ I said. ‘You will never again refer to him as a ‘Hazara boy’ in my presence. He has a name and it’s Sohrab’” (361). Amir has now with him skills needed to continue his life in America as being independent and the man of the house. The future is bright for Amir, as one can see a fortified, relieved, and joyful version of him compared to the accustomed one in
...d to exhibit the harsh treatments many citizens living there do in recent years. Moreover, Hosseini and Amir explain the importance of having a father figure who would be support their son’s interests in life and helping them thrive for success in the careers they would like to pursue. Neither Hosseini or Amir had a father who supported their long term goals. Hosseini’s and Amir’s high social class in their hometown Kabul, made life easier for them as they were growing up because they were able to afford education which helped them a lot in the careers they pursued in. When both Hosseini and Amir came to the United States, they had a tough time learning the lifestyles of an American, but for the most part, it brought them to how successful they became. Ultimately, Khaled Hosseini creates a protagonist in his novel who serves as a parallel to his own life experiences.
Even when Amir was nasty and cruel to him, he had always been a faithful, kind soul. He never doubted that Amir was his friend and that he held a special place in his heart. When Hassan got raped, Amir did not help Hassan. There were ultimately two options: step up to the bullies and rescue Hassan, or run away. Even after hearing Assef say how Amir would never do the same for him, about how he would never stand up for him, he still chose to run away and pretend like he did not just witnessed what had happend. There is also scene where Amir is feeling guilty and both the boys are around a pomegranate tree. Amir just starts pelting Hassan with pomegranates and threatens to him to throw one back. He exclaims, “You’re a coward,” (...). And what does Hassan do? He picks up a pomegranate, but instead of hurling it in Amir’s direction, he smashes it on himself and says, “are you satisfied?” (....). There is this constant pressure on Hassan and Amir’s relationship. The Afghan society would not approve of such “friendship.” Both of the boys were good, but Amir was so young when he made the mistakes that it made the reader question whether there was a way for Amir to be morally good again.
Unlike Hassan, Amir was born into a wealthy family where he was fortunate enough to have everything granted to him. He was also part of the higher-class ethnic groups where they were born into their wealth. Much like the prisoner, he had the ability to explore not only his external environment but his internal thoughts to recognize his true purpose in life. While he was young, he also experienced the same societal effect as Hassan where the “Hazzaras” were looked down upon. Hassan was ultimately Amir’s best friend, but when push came to shove, Amir found himself quickly leaving Hassan because of the embarrassment he would feel associating himself with a low-level member of society. Leaving Hassan vulnerable throughout the book lead to his beatings and soon his abandonment as Amir enters America while Hassan is stuck in Afghanistan during the war which ultimately leads to his demise. Through the bond he had with Hassan, Amir learned over time to break free from this bond and to judge others based on their character versus their societal norms. After returning to America knowing the guilt and sorrow he felt due to his friend passing away, he became courageous enough to go kidnap Hassan’s son and bring him to America to provide him with the life his father deserved. Therefore, he passed down the torch of giving an opportunity to pursue an education. Amir’s grand lesson that he learned from being freed into a first-world country where he isn’t at the top anymore brought a humbling intellectual experience for him as he learns the true essence of a friendship and learns the values of respect. He was planning to apply this knowledge to being an author and writing his experiences using his books as an outlet for what he has learned. He was brought out of the cave