Kite Runner Setting

Khaled Hosseini in his novel Kite Runner creates a portrait of the beauties and horrors of his hometown Kabul, Afghanistan. The novel is based on real-life events. Hosseini depicts the racial, religion and class issues in Kabul. The setting and social milieu drastically changed from the early 1970’s when the country was western and had not undergone warfare to the late 1970’s when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and violence and instability began. The Soviet Union’s invasion created violence and increased the inequalities between social class and religion. Hosseini shows how the novel’s setting and social milieu in Kabul directly influence and shape the relationship between two young boys Amir, an upper class Pashtun, and Hassan, his servant’s

son who is a lower class Hazara. This novel displays how these two groups were treated in society and how society caused them to treat each other.
Kabul is a densely populated and prosperous city in which various ethnic and social classes live together.

Amir comes from a wealthy family and lives in a beautiful home in an affluent neighborhood in Kabul. Amir is also a Pashtun, a Sunni Muslim. Sunni’s were the majority and they were respected and valued as human beings. On the contrary, Hassan was the servant’s son. He was poor. Unlike Amir, he was a Hazara, a Shia Muslim. Shia’s were not respected. They were degraded by society. Although Amir and Hassan were identified differently, they were raised together and became close friends. Given the setting, Amir and Hassan’s relationship was not approved by everyone. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, society became worse and their friendship took a toll. Hassan was bullied and insulted for being a Hazara. Assef, the bully in the novel says “Afghanistan is the land of the Pashtuns. It always has been, always will be. We are the true Afghans, the pure Afghans, not this Flat-Nose here” (Hosseini, 40). Assef demonstrates the views of many people in Afghanistan. Those who were not Pashtuns were oppressed. Assef says that Hassan’s people “Pollute our homeland and dirty our blood” (40). Assef represents people like the Taliban. The Taliban were the fundamentalist who acted in violence. They had political movements that caused war. These views caused a division between both social classes and religions. People like Assef and the Taliban did not want the Hazaras to exist, so they turned to violence to try and get rid of them. The social milieu often led to negative events in

society.
Not only did this division cause negative events between the two classes and religions, but it also affected Amir and Hassan’s friendship. Amir does not intentionally try to hurt Hassan or does not want to be friends with him, but the setting makes it difficult for Amir to truly be a friend. The social milieu affects Amir’s consciousness. When Hassan needs his friend the most to defend him from the bully fear, and shame leaves him defenseless. The social milieu plays a significant role in Amir’s consciousness. He is stuck between wanting to be a good friend, but society has ingrained in him not to be when it comes to the “other.” Amir and Hassan were raised like brothers, but Amir usually only played with Hassan when other people were not around. He did not include Hassan in games when friends came over. Likewise, Amir does not even refer to Hassan as his friend. He often refers to him as his servant. When Amir became Assef’s new target for associating himself with a Hazara, Amir says, “But he’s not my friend. He’s my servant” (41). Amir displays how he is unconsciousness of the social milieu of Kabul.
Hosseini illuminated issues between social class and religion using Kabul’s social milieu. He captures the negative events that took place due to the division between the upper class and lower class and the Pashtuns and the Hazaras. The social milieu has a significant impact on society, but an even bigger impact on people’s conciseness and relationships. Today, Afghanistan’s social milieu continues to shape the consciousness of many individuals. The Taliban still exist and continue to be extremist towards the Hazaras. One’s social environment most definitely influences the way individuals within a society treat each other.