The Kite Runner Should Not Be Taught In Schools Essay

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The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini should not be taught in schools because it is poorly written and does not offer educational value to students. The characters, language, and themes have been poorly developed and do not make the story one worth teaching. To start with, the characters are lacking depth (Murphy). They have very surface beliefs about life, and don't seem to grow throughout the story. For example, the protagonist Amir is only concerned with looking good in the eyes of those he admires, and he doesn't care who could be hurt by his actions. One of these instances is when he and Hassan ran the last kite. He knew that if he was able to bring the kite home, his father would finally be proud of him. So instead of protecting his friend, …show more content…

Similar to the violent content, it is graphic, plentiful, and inappropriate for students. Hosseini describes the rape scene with detail and leaves few things unsaid. This level of description is unnecessary because the readers can understand the same events without using specific and graphic details. Hosseini also sexualizes scenes that do not need to be portrayed that way. For example, while Amir is talking to Assef, Assef "brushed his lips against Sohrab's ear" and "kissed the side of Sohrab's neck" (Hosseini; 281, 282). Assef is a thirty-some-year-old man, and Sohrab is a little ten-year-old boy. The actions between them should not be sexual, yet Hosseini uses words to try to get you to think of them that way. There are many scenes with this kind of sexual material, from Assef's inappropriate behavior with Sohrab, to Amir and his wife "making love", to accounts rape and implied rape. These types of scenes would cause movies to be rated as unsuitable for children, yet schools continue to use books that include sections like this in their classes. The amount of sexual content, as well as the way that the content is depicted, makes many of the scenes seem unnecessarily tasteless, and creates a book that is inappropriate to be taught in …show more content…

The plot includes many unrealistic and dramatic twists. To give a quick overview of these twists: Amir finds out Hassan was really his half-brother when he returns to Pakistan to meet Rahim Khan. Then, Amir is told that Hassan is dead and there is no way for Amir to talk to or to apologize to Hassan. But, Rahim Khan tells Amir, Hassan's son is still alive. Amir must go save him from the dangers in Afghanistan because a couple is waiting to adopt the boy. When he gets to Kabul, Amir finds that the leader of the Taliban in Kabul is Assef, his childhood enemy. Amir must then fight Assef in order to win Sohrab, Hassan's son. Upon returning to Pakistan, Amir finds out that there was never a couple waiting for Sohrab. So, Amir decides he will adopt Sohrab because he and his wife are unable to have children. These nonsensical plot events are so far-fetched that they bring no more reward by reading the book than you would get from watching a soap opera, and therefore the book brings no benefit when taught in

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