Obstacles In The Kite Runner

Finding the courage to be heroic in moments of tough times can often be hard. For Marjane in Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and Hassan in The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, they had to be heroic in difficult times and in oppressive societies torn apart by war. Hassan and Marjane were both heroic by supporting others and surviving tough obstacles, however, Hassan is more heroic because he stood up for what’s right more often than Marjane.
Both Hassan and Marjane were heroic by supporting others. Hassan supported others like Amir, even when the situation is tough. Hassan supports Amir by acting brave even when he’s not. When Assef is bullying the boys, Hassan acts calm and speaks in a tone, “so flatly that even I [Amir] had to strain to hear

Hassan constantly encountered tough obstacles throughout his life. One example of a hardship Hassan endured was that he was a Hazara boy in a place where they are oppressed. During a run in with Assef, Assef says, “I’ll ask the president to do what the king didn’t have the quwat [power] to do. To rid Afghanistan of all the dirty, Kasseef [filthy] Hazaras” (Chapter 5). Hassan constantly faced discrimination. He is uneducated, he and his father are servants and he frequently faces bullying and racial slurs from others like Assef and even Amir. Hassan never was able to completely get past this. Another obstacle Hassan faced was he was illiterate. He would ask Amir to “read it again please, Amir agha” (chapter 4). Because Hassan was a Hazara, he never was educated when he was younger and he’d have to ask Amir to read stories to him. Although he wasn’t able to read, from the times Amir had read to him, he was able to discover his own favorite book. Because Hassan was illiterate and because of the discrimination he faced, he wasn’t able to receive proper education or a job where he could make a livable pay. However, Hassan was able to overcome this obstacle when he was older when he learned to read. He even taught his son, Sohrab how to read. Another tough obstacle Hassan encountered was that he lived in Kabul when the Taliban were there. One day Hassan and his wife Farzana went to the bazaar to buy food and in Hassan’s

However, Hassan stood up for what’ right more often than Marjane. Hassan regularly stood up for what’s right. When Assef was bullying Hassan and Amir, Hassan stood up for both of them. He told Assef, “Please, leave us alone, Agha,” and when Assef refused to leave them alone, Hassan asked him to leave once more. Although Hassan has an ingrained sense of the hierarchy, he still stood up to Assef when he was bullying Amir and Hassan. He wasn’t afraid of the repercussions. Later in The Kite Runner, Assef and his lackeys cornered Hassan and Assef demanded Hassan to give him the kite. Hassan refuses, stating, “Amir agha won the tournament and I ran this kite for him. I ran it fairly. This is his kite,” (Chapter 7). Even though Assef threatened Hassan, Hassan didn’t feel that it was right. He stood up for what was right, even under the known threat of attack. When Amir arrives in Pakistan to visit Rahim Khan, his old family friend, he learns the grim fate of Hassan. Rahim Khan tells him,“The Taliban...ordered him to get his family out of the house by sundown. Hassan protested” (Chapter 17). Hassan risked everything by protecting and caring for Amir’s house, even though the Taliban were there in Kabul. He died protecting the house. Hassan stood up to the Taliban by refusing to leave the house. Marjane would also stand up for what’s right. When Marjane was a