Pride In The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

Following your cultures ways while also maintaining your presence within your cultures life is like finding a needle in a haystack. It is hard and tedious to do both, but others still show signs of contempt when we are unable to do so. Through Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, we witness how the protagonist has his own sense of pride that goes against his culture and how that subsequently affects his identity. Throughout the book Amir is exposed to his cultures views and how the people within his culture act. But despite knowing his culture's expectations Amir goes against them while also showing his own sense of pride, and this results in others despising him. As the novel progresses Amir shows more of the tendency to keep on going against

his culture. Pashtun pride is defined as keeping the outlook that Pashtuns are above Hazaras and that there should be no association between the two cultures. Despite this fact, Amir acts differently in the milieu of his culture, plagued by his associations with Hazaras and this results in others looking down on him and affecting his identity.

Although Amir is a Pashtun he continuously associates himself with Hazara's which affects his pride based on the religious beliefs of the people around him. Hossaini opens up the story with a boy named Amir who lives in Afghanistan with his father and their servants. One of his servants, Hassan, was born at about the same time as Amir and although they might be considered worlds apart, they act as if they are close friends. Early in the book Amir is hanging out with Hassan near a pomegranate tree when they are confronted by a notorious bully named Assef. Assef soon starts to ask Amir questions about why he is friends with a Hazara when he is a Pashtun. To which Amir almost responds with, “‘But he’s not my friend!’ I almost blurted. ‘He’s my servant!”’ (41). Through this quote we are able to see how Amir is acting differently when he is exposed the others from his culture that are outside his immediate family. By almost using the phrase “my servant” Amir displays how he wants to show his true feelings for how he thinks of

Hassan in order to sustain his pride within his culture. Whenever we hear the word “servant” in everyday life we already consider them as lower than the community, and this is just due to how the human mind works. From this we can infer that Aamir wants to look acceptable for society so he wants to show that the only reason he hangs out with Hassan is for Hassan to serve him. Obviously this is not true, as show in various instances early in the novel, but when confronted by others he is determined to keep the pride of his culture so he makes up an excuse. This in turn affects his identity as he his changing his view on Hassan as he goes from being his friend, to being a lowly servant. Another example of this in the novel is near the end of the book where again Amir is confronting Assef, but this time he is trying to save Hassan’s son Sohrab. While Amir is trying to reason with Assef on taking Sohrab with him Assef tells him, “You’re a disgrace to Afghanistan” (261). Through this quote we are able to see how Amir going against the ways of his culture are beginning to take a toll on him. Also how it is causing other to look down on him while also causing his pride to diminish. By seeing Amir as a “disgrace” Assef is implying how Amir is seen as lower than others of his culture due to him hanging out with Hazara's such as Hassan. We can infer that Assef does not see him as a true Pashtun anymore and due to this he is lower than society. Also the fact that he uses the word disgrace, rather than contemptible or shameful, shows how Assef is trying to put emphasis on how Amir isn’t really a part of his culture. Which ends up diminishing Amir’s pride and identity. Thus proving how Amir is looked down upon by others due to him being friends with people that his culture sees as lower and how this affects his pride and changes his identity.
Even though Amir is well into adulthood now, he still demonstrates the same qualities of going against the pride of the Pashtun culture as he did when he was younger.

Amir can not seem to get away from the grip that his culture has on him. In his mind he feels his pride lies with associating with everybody regardless of their social status, but others obviously don’t see it that way. Near the end of the novel Amir has finally been able to bring Sohrab back to America after facing some difficulties along the way. A few days after arriving back General Taheri comes over to welcome back Amir and have dinner with his family. While eating the general suddenly brings up Sohrab asking Amir, “So, Amir Jan, you’re going to tell us why you have brought back this boy with you. They will want to know why there is a Hazara boy living with our daughter?” (360). Through the general's words we understand that Amir’s pride is being questioned. The phrase “living with our daughter” displays how the general sees it as socially unacceptable to have a Hazara boy living with Pashtuns. The general is hoping to keep his pride within the culture and to do this he is questioning Amir’s pride, while also asking him how they can both sustain their pride. The reader can infer that the general may indeed feel that Amir is starting to break away from his culture. Living is usually used in relation to the pursuit of a lifestyle in a safe and trusted environment. From this the reader can also infer how the

general sees Sohrab as dangerous to their well-being and that it is bad for all of them, and this further diminishes Amir’s pride. Throughout his life Amir has been plagued by others disapproving his ideas of pride, and now the general is also questioning his pride and how he can even think of accepting a Hazara living with him. Even after all this time the general is still following the ways of the Pashtun culture and continues to see that Pashtuns should not be treated the same way as Pashtuns. This idea is also shown earlier in the book in the same place where Amir is left in a standoff with Assef while trying to retrieve Sohrab from the Taliban. While Assef is making fun of Amir for coming all the way back to Afghanistan for a Hazara’s he adds “Like pride in your people, your customs, your language. Afghanistan is like a beautiful mansion littered with garbage, and someone has to take out the garbage” (284). Through Assefs words we can see how he is again reiterating the point that displays the views of the Pashtun culture. By initially calling Afghanistan “beautiful” he displays how based on the Pashtun beliefs and values Afghanistan is able to be a place for one culture to live together peacefully. But then by saying that it is “littered with garbage” we can infer that Assef feels that Afghanistan is not at the place it could possible be at because of people like Amir. Assef is attacking Amir’s pride by telling him how Hazaras are the types of people that are ruining Afghanistan and are to be blamed for the state that it is in. Amir has always associated with Hazaras and because of this Assef feels that due to the binding of two very different cultures Afghanistan's status is worsening. Throughout his whole life Amir’s pride has been based on keeping in touch with different cultures and associating with them. But now Assef is directly attacking Amir’s sense of pride with his statement and showing the cultural differences of the Pashtuns beliefs. Amir’s only true friend when he was growing up was a Hazara, and due to the racial views of his culture Amir’s pride is affecting his identity due to people looking down on him.
Through Amir, Hosseini demonstrates the Pashtuns beliefs and values through pride and the association of different races. Amir always thought of Hassan as his good friend, but then again he always made it look as if though he did not really care about him. Hosseini’s message shows how doing things differently from the rest of our culture can cause others to look down on them and that in turn will take a toll on their identity. But by giving Amir a shot at redemption and also giving him the courage to stand up to and go against his culture Hosseini suggests how people are not made to be in a set way. But rather that they should figure out their own path and follow what they truly believe is right.