Stereotypes In The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

802 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Media as a factor influencing public perception

A single story is a misconception and a stereotype of a certain group. A generalization that is formulated through media and everyday interactions. Creating these single stories can cause us to make an unfair and incomplete assumption. This summer, I read the novel, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and found myself shocked to see that I made an assumption about the main character’s home-life. The single story I made was based on what I had seen in the media; I assumed that because Amir Jan lived in Afghanistan that he was living in poverty and was in need of basic resources; Khaled proved me wrong by showing the high class and complex childhood Amir had, along with showing me the other social classes present.
Ever since I was a kid, watching …show more content…

He explained in close detail the riches Amir had. I had originally assumed Amir would be living in a shack type home and have limited resources. Within the first through pages of, The Kite Runner, Amir narrates his home to the readers, “A broad entryway flanked by rose bushes led to the sprawling house of marble floors and wide windows”(4). While reading this strongly detailed paragraph, I was shocked. Amir’s house was a intricate mansion with beautiful detailing and structure. In my mind, I was picturing a impoverish shack and was taken to a mansion. Khaled dismantled my stereotype almost immediately, I realized that not everyone in Afghanistan was living in severe poverty. He illustrated this grand and well- built house allowing me to rethink my first thought. Khaled showed me my previous thoughts were incorrect multiple times and still managed to surprise me. Amir’s servant, Hassan is a close friend, and Amir vividly explains his walk to come visit him. Amir recalls his past, “I went past the rosebushes to Baba’s mansion. Hassan to the mud-shack where he had been born, where he’d lived his whole life”(6). My single story had made a journey of assuming full poverty to assuming an average lifestyle and again I was struck with surprise. My original single story of poverty did indeed exist but was incomplete. There was a lot of diverse social classes. The extremely

Show More
Related

  • The Kite Runner Dialectical Journal Essay

    1037 Words  | 3 Pages

    Page 2 - “I sat on a park bench near a willow tree. I thought about something Rahim Khan said just before he hung up, almost as an afterthought. I looked up at those twin kites.”

    Read More

  • Kite Runner Literary Essay

    641 Words  | 2 Pages

    Baba’s wealth, lack of emotional connection, and inner conflict between his two vastly different sons shaped Amir in the novel “Kite Runner”. Baba, of all the characters in the book, shaped Amir the most, despite other influential relationships. “Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality.”

    Read More

  • Redemption Of Childhood In The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

    1366 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel The Kite Runner, author Khaled Hosseini writes about Amir a young Afghan child who is a coward and who later as an adult seeks redemption from past mistakes. These characteristic effects Amir’s live throughout the novel from childhood to present. However, these are just words on a paper without some proof and the novel happily supports this either through the events or the behavior of other characters. Now let’s start with Amir’s past childhood.

    Read More

  • Literary Value In 'The Kite Runner' By Khaled Hosseini

    1004 Words  | 3 Pages

    Literary value can be defined as a plot that follows the guideline that Joseph Campbell set before his theory of “monomyth,” inferring from the two videos and Foster’s ideas. Understanding this concept allows us to confirm that the book, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, contains an ample amount of literary value. Amir’s journey to Afghanistan serves as the prototype that Campbell constructed when producing his hypothesis. The two videos and Foster’s book lays out the conditions of a book containing literary value through Campbell’s ideas.

    Read More

  • The Power of Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini

    2126 Words  | 5 Pages

    Kite Runner depicts the story of Amir, a boy living in Afghanistan, and his journey throughout life. He experiences periods of happiness, sorrow, and confusion as he matures. Amir is shocked by atrocities and blessed by beneficial relationships both in his homeland and the United States. Reviewers have chosen sides and waged a war of words against one another over the notoriety of the book. Many critics of Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, argue that the novel would not have reached a lofty level of success if the U.S. had not had recent dealings with the Middle East, yet other critics accurately relate the novel’s success to its internal aspects.

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In The Kite Runner

    1341 Words  | 3 Pages

    The history of Afghanistan influences the way Amir’s life develops by affecting his relationship with himself, Baba, and Hassan. People are greatly influenced by the culture that they grow up in, and a community’s culture is shaped by the events that they go through. Throughout the book, the reader can see that Amir struggles with his self-confidence and often-times looks down on himself as a weak and unworthy human being.

    Read More

  • The Accepted Father In The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

    1170 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel, The Kite Runner, author Khaled Hosseini creates a sincere narrative following the disturbing life of a young Afghan body, Amir, as he transitions from adolescence into adulthood. Amir must face various challenges as he journeys through life, including his difficult relationships with those closest to him and the implications of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. It is on account of his difficult relationship with Baba, that Amir is constantly seeking ways to gain his attention and gratification, no matter the cost. Due to his rigid demeanor and unjust expectations of Amir, countless readers perceive Baba to be a flawed father; however, once information of Hassan’s relation to the two of them is revealed, the reader can understand that Baba was simply a man

    Read More

  • A Quest for Redemption by The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

    1131 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is difficult to face anything in the world when you cannot even face your own reality. In his book The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini uses kites to bring out the major themes of the novel in order to create a truly captivating story of a young boy’s quest to redeem his past mistakes. Amir is the narrator and protagonist of the story and throughout the entire novel, he faces enormous guilt following the horrible incident that happened to his closest friend, Hassan. This incident grows on Amir and fuels his quest for redemption, struggling to do whatever it takes to make up for his mistakes. In Hosseini’s novel, kites highlight aspects of Afghanistan’s ethnic caste system and emphasizes the story’s major themes of guilt, redemption and freedom.

    Read More

  • The Kite Runner Essay

    1470 Words  | 3 Pages

    The hardships that life reveals can either affect a person in a negative or positive way. They can strengthen or weaken the development of one’s character. Khaled Hosseni’s The Kite Runner is a novel that tells the story of two boys – Amir and Hassan, his childhood friend and servant– who spend their lives attempting to overcome their obstacles. These obstacles create experiences that will shape them for the rest of their lives. Firstly, Hassan and Amir share similar hardships, however Hassan learns and grows from them, and Amir lingers over the negativity, allowing it to destroy his life instead of moving forward. Secondly, Amir is always rescued, which allows him to feel a sense of entitlement, while Hassan fights his own battles, resulting in a greater amount of inner strength. Lastly, as Amir and Hassan become adults in opposite ends of the world, they battle hardships that are very different. The differences within their adulthood continue to show who is the more honourable character. Ultimately, in Khaled Hosseni's The Kite Runner, Hassan is a stronger character than Amir, despite the fact that they both battle similar hardships.

    Read More

  • Similarities between Amir and Author Khaled Hosseini in The Kite Runner

    1979 Words  | 4 Pages

    War establishes many controversial issues and problems within society and can often expose an individual to many economic and sociopolitical hardships; thus creating an altercation in the way they view life. Amir, from the novel The Kite Runner and the novel’s author Khaled Hosseini, both saw the harsh treatment toward the people of Afghanistan through a series of wars, invasions, and the active power of a Pashtun movement known as the Taliban. Amir, much like Hosseini, lived a luxurious and wealthy life in Kabul. He is well educated and immerses himself in reading and writing. After transitioning from a life in Afghanistan to a life in the United States, both Hosseini and Amir faced obstacles in order to assimilate to American society. In The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, the protagonist Amir parallels the experiences and hardships that Hosseini endured in his own lifetime.

    Read More

  • The Kite Runner Analysis Essay

    1984 Words  | 4 Pages

    Khaled Hosseini uses setting as an important element of The Kite Runner. In many ways his characters relate to the place they are in. The novel is divided into three main settings: Kabul, Afghanistan 1963-1981, Fremont, California, and Kabul, Afghanistan 2001. Although Kabul is technically the same place, the changes it overwent between 1981 and 2001 were so extreme that it is essentially a whole new place. The setting of the novel is essential to Amir’s development and choices.

    Read More

  • The Danger Of A Single Story

    1108 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to the reader the danger of a “single story” is related to how people tend to attribute an image to something regarding to the background information that they have about the thing. In this case having less information or the same information about something is likely to impact on the idea that they will have about something. To support this argument she talked about how during her childhood she used to read book with foreigners characters and about things that she didn’t identify with such as snow and ginger beer. Because of the fact that all her book were similar, she ended up believing that all books have to be same and always include foreign characters with “Blue eyes” and are about things that she couldn’t identify with. Further, she also talks about Fide and how the fact that her mom kept telling her that his family was poor made her think that his family was poor and that it was the only story about them. She couldn’t see them as hard workers or anything else but as poor. Also, she talked about the stereotypes that she had about Mexicans related to immigration in the U.S and how during her trip to Mexico realized that her thoughts were wrong in many ways. Lastly, she talked about her roommate and how she felt pity for her because she was African. Her roommate was surprised to see that she speaks English as well as her and that she knew how to use a stove just because all the information that her roommate has about Africa was a poor conti...

    Read More

  • Single Story Essay

    1355 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 2009 Chimamanda Adichie gave a TED talk about the ‘danger of a single story’. A single story meaning, one thought or one example of a person becoming what we think about all people that fit that description, a stereotype if you will. In today’s America, I believe that we have all felt the wave of stereotypical views at some point or another. Adichie gives many relatable examples throughout her life of how she has been affected by the single story. Her story brings about an issue that all humans, from every inch of the earth, have come to understand on some level. A young child reading only foreign books, a domestic helper that she only perceived as poor. Her college roommates single story about Africans and her own formation of a single

    Read More

  • kite runner

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner, grew up in prejudiced Afghanistan during the 1960’s as a middle-class Pashtun living with Hazaras working for his family. His move to America after the Communist Coup proved difficult for his family, especially his father. In his novel, Hosseini writes through a young boy, Amir, very similar to himself, who grows up with his father and two Hazara servants in Afghanistan at the time of the Taliban attacks. Both Amir and his father, Baba, treat their servants, Hassan and Ali, like family. Society, however, does not approve of such relationships between Pashtuns and Hazaras. As Amir hides and watches horrified, another Pashtun boy rapes Hassan. This leads to the continuation of Amir’s internal conflict about the treatment of Hazaras by the public, and also makes him feel guilty and self-conscious throughout his entire life. In addition, Amir strives for affection and attention from his rather indifferent father. Amir’s outward conformity to societal values in his relationships with both Hassan and Baba, as a result of his inner struggle and guilt, contribute greatly to the significance of The Kite Runner.

    Read More

  • The Kite Runner Theme Essay

    895 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a very interesting novel that has a very bold and challenging theme. This theme is seen early on in the novel, but becomes increasingly more and more intricate throughout the reading. The Kite Runner is a novel based on a man named Amir, who grew up in Afghanistan and lives his whole life dealing with betrayal and redemption. Throughout this book, Amir has a gigantic flashback describing his whole intoxicatingly sad life. Hosseini creeps into a dark emotional depth as he talks about all the struggles of an Afghani child during the 1970’s who’s father treated him like less of a child than his servant. He talks about the struggles of a boy that betrays his best friend, only later finding

    Read More

More about Stereotypes In The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

Open Document