Conflict In The Kite Runner

Trouble in Kabul A heartbreaking, classic, coming-of-age, story, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, opens in Kabul, Afghanistan in the early 1970s before the Taliban take-over. Amir and his closest companion, Hassan, are as different as night and day in both attitude and background. Amir the upper class, Sunni Pashtun is the master of the Hazara and Shía boy; the two are raised together, but Hassan, along with his invalid father, serves Amir and his powerful father. The cowardly and artsy Amir suffers greatly from is father’s cold, aloof nature, frequently feeling envy for the loyal, lower class boy. Despite their social status differences, the two boys spend most of their free time playing together and flying kites, a traditional Afghani

In The Kite Runner, the most blaringly obvious of these are the Hazara people, a poor, servile minority in the Pashtun saturated country of Afghanistan. Pashtuns apparently keep the Hazaras socially bound to the lower class—with no hope of ever moving up the social ladder. In the 1970s, the Hazaras primarily inhabited the region of Hazarajat of Afghanistan. This hierarchy is vaguely reminiscent of the Hindu caste system and more so, the racial prejudice of the American South. In addition, seeing a perspective of both pre-Taliban and post-Taliban Afghanistan rested in my mind as fascinating and somewhat sad. The true culture of Afghanistan is beautiful and rich, not war-torn and miserable. Like any other American child loving ice cream, Amir enjoyed his marmalade. Though religious views are the sparks of controversy, religious views in Afghanistan is almost worse; they predetermine one’s perception and treatment of another person. Islam, the dominant religion in the Middle East, is severed in two sects: the Sunni and the Shía. Sunni make up the majority in Afghanistan, while the Shía are closely associated with the lowly Hazaras or Iranians. Not surprisingly, a general sense of distrust pervades the Sunni attitude toward the Shía. This also mirrors the racial prejudice in the United