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Violence means to behave in a way involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something. Violence in our world today affects the people that surround us – strangers and our loved ones – and the planet we live on. Every day when viewers search the TV remote to watch CNN, CBC, or any other news network, they watch acts yet again, of terrorism, shootings, or fatal accidents. These tragedies occur in most countries around the globe and we’re all affected by it in some way. Khaled Hosseini, an Afghan native, is one of those people that is struck by these tragedies. Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1965. He and his family left Afghanistan due to his father’s work moving to Europe when he was 11. While they were …show more content…
During an interview, Hosseini is asked if he felt guilty about leaving Afghanistan and is that what motivated him to write about his country. He replies by saying he did feel a sense of guilt about his own undeserved good fortune to move away from the war in his homeland and that he only writes to educate and bridge gaps between people in the West and the region where he’s from. He creates The Kite Runner in order to characterize the violence in the country of Afghanistan and its citizens. He uses violence even in the innocent activity of kite fighting, it’s a kind of battle and young boys injure their hands when they participate. Hosseini creates characters to express how violence, guilt, and betrayal destroys relationships and the world around them. The most significant theme of all that occurs in the novel several times is rape. Rape is the ultimate act of violence and violation of a character, which strips them of their selfhood and integrity. There are three main acts of rape in the …show more content…
Hosseini uses this event to represent Amir’s guilt and betrayal throughout the novel. It is also the beginning push that propels the rest of the novel forward. Hassan’s loyalty to Amir does not budge when Assef threatens that he will hurt him if he doesn’t give him the winning kite. Instead, Hassan takes the beating and sexual abuse for Amir without a complaint. “It struck Assef in the forehead. Assef yelped as he flung himself at Hassan, knocking him to the ground. Wali and Kamal followed.” (Hosseini, 78) Amir is frightened by what he sees, he stays silent, and watches what plays out. “Hassan didn’t struggle. Didn’t even whimper. He moved his head slightly and I caught a glimpse of his face. Saw the resignation in it.” (81) Amir’s main reason for not stopping Assef and his friends is selfish. Amir wants to please Baba and he thinks the only way to do so is by bringing the kite home. Amir believes that Baba will then forgive him for killing his mother. Hosseini uses irony in this scene as Baba wants Amir to stand up for what is right. If Amir had stood up to Assef and his friends, Baba surely would have been ecstatic. However, Amir does the opposite and runs away. This is the central betrayal of the novel. “I had one chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan – the way he’d stood up
Amir is, to be put bluntly, a coward. He is led by his unstable emotions towards what he thinks will plug his emotional holes and steps over his friends and family in the process. When he sought after Baba’s invisible love, Amir allowed Hassan to be raped in an alleyway just so that the blue kite, his trophy that would win his father’s heart, could be left untouched. In the end, he felt empty and unfulfilled with the weight of his conscience on his shoulders comparable to Atlas’ burden. Unable to get over his fruitless betrayal, he lashes out and throws pomegranates at Hassan before stuffing money and a watch under his loyal friend’s pathetic excuse for a bed, framing Hassan for theft and directly causing the departure of both servants from his household. Even after moving to America, finding a loving wife, and creating a career for himself in writing, he still feels hollow when thinking of his childhood in Afghanistan. Many years later, he is alerted of Hassan’s death and sets out on a frenzied chase to find his friend’s orphaned son. He feels that he can somehow ease his regrets from all of those years ago if he takes in Hassan’s son, Sohrab. He finds Sohrab as a child sex slave for Assef, who coincidentally was the one to rape Hassan all of those years ago. After nearly dying in his attempt to take back Sohrab, he learns that he can take the damaged child back to the states with him. Sadly, Hassan’s son is so
Hassan agrees and gives chase for the kite with Amir follow some time later on. However, during that time Hassan is corner by Assif and several others children. Hassan is then punished by Assif for protecting Amir, as well as being a different type of Afghani. In one swift motion, Assif performs a horrifying sexual act on Hassan, all the way Amir watch it far down a street. And what does Amir do? Well he ran as he put it, “I ran because I was a coward. I was afraid of Assef and what he would do to me. I was afraid of getting hurt” (77).
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.
The way our friends treat us in the face of adversity and in social situations is more revealing of a person’s character than the way they treats us when alone. In Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, ethnic tensions, nationality, and betrayal become the catalyst that drives and fuels Amir, Assef, and other characters to embark on their particular acts of cruelty. Serving as a way to illustrate the loss of rectitude and humanity, cruelty reveals how easily people can lose their morals in critical circumstances. Through Amir, Assef, and the Taliban’s actions, cruelty displays the truth of a person’s character, uncovering the origin of their cruelty. Amir’s cruelty spurs from his external environment and need for love from his father, choosing
He made a sweeping, grandiose gesture with his hands. " Afghanistan for Pashtuns, I say. That's my vision." (40) Assef rapes Hassan went they are children and later Hassan’s son Sohrab. He also stones people to death for fun and people see him as a hero for it.
“I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan – the way he'd stood up for me all those times in the past – and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran.” In Khaled Hosseini’s, The Kite Runner, Amir, the young protagonist, lives a lavish lifestyle with his father, Baba. Until the Soviets invade and the Taliban become the dominant influence in Afghanistan. Amir’s sumptuous lifestyle comes to an end, and the values of not only his father but also his society begin to impact him and he realizes how much he does not belong in his own culture. Amir is taught the virtues of being a good man, however when the opportunity presents itself to demonstrate his teachings; Amir realizes how different he is from the ways of his father.
Amir does not loves sports as much as Baba, but he does love participating in the kite-fighting tournament. In the winter of 1975, Amir and Hassan compete in the tournament. Amir feels that this is a way to gain some of Baba’s loves back, therefore winning is crucial. Hassan is a master at kite running. No matter the weather conditions or the amount of people running a kite, Hassan always knew where the kite was going to land. During the tournament, Amir fought the kites and Hassan ran them. Amir cut the string of the last kite and Hassan began to ran. That day, Amir witnessed Hassan being raped by a childhood bully and his friends. Amir ran away instead of helping Hassan escape. This is where Amir’s morals are first questioned in the
Amir and Hassan’s relationship is a recurring theme throughout the novel. In the ethnic caste system, Amir is a Pashtun and Hassan is a Hazara. Pashtuns are placed in a much higher caste than Hazaras, therefore Hazaras are treated as servants to the Pashtuns. Every morning, Hassan prepares Amir’s breakfast, makes his clothes and cleans his room for him. In the annual kite tournament, at least two people must work together in order to properly maneuver the kite, one to lead the kite, and another to feed the kite’s glass string. Hassan’s role is the latter. His role is to feed the kite’s string for Amir and run after any fallen kites. The glass string attached to the kite is dangerous as it is coated with shards of glass and leaves bloody marks and cuts on the hands. Although Hassan catches the fallen kites, he must always bring it back to Amir. One winter, when Hassan and Amir were waiting under a tree for the kite to come to them, Hassan asks Amir “Would I ever lie to you, Amir agha?” (Ho...
In the literature, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the idea and representation of justice, and its relationship to that of the treatment of women in Afghan society, the ever-changing politics of Afghanistan, and the desired results of redemption and forgiveness, become illustrated through the novel’s characters and motives. Justice can be defined as the quality of being guided by truth, reason, and fairness. The Kite Runner illustrates the power of influence from an outside power and its effects on society, and the minds and lifestyles of the people. In relationship to the Cheverus High School Grad-at-Grad profile the actions and wrongdoings that take place in the The Kite Runner and in Afghanistan prove to be injustice.
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.
It is impossible to separate the events of Hosseini’s life from the plot and implications of The Kite Runner. Hosseini often faces interviewers and readers who wonder how much of his first novel is autobiographical. In a 2005 interview with Todd Pitt of USA Today, Hosseini responds to readers inquiries regarding the autobiographical nature of Amir and Hassan’s story: “When I say some of it is me, then people look unsatisfied. The parallels are pretty obvious, but… I left a few things ambiguous because I wanted to drive the book clubs crazy” (“Kite Runner Catches the Wind”). It is easy find the “obvious parallels” that Hosseini himsel...
When people are given a chance to redeem themselves they will try to use their best abilities to accomplish their objective. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, is a historical fiction that follows Amir from childhood to adulthood. Amir, a socially awkward kid, lives in Kabul, Afghanistan with his father, Baba, a successful businessman, with his best friend, Hassan. Baba is discouraging towards Amir for not being confident in himself, but Amir finds a passion in writing. When Amir and Hassan win a kite fighting tournament, it causes Baba to accept Amir, but ultimately Hassan leaves Baba’s household because Amir betrays Hassan by not defending him when he is raped by local bullies. Due to turmoil rising in Afghanistan, Amir and Baba travel to America, where Amir becomes a successful writer and has a wife. Then Amir receives a call that can help Amir redeem his friendship with Hassan. As the book progresses, Hosseini proves that anything can be fixed through redemption. Amir’s pursuit of writing in America demonstrates the freedom found there, exemplifying the endless freedom found in America compared to Kabul. In a quest to save Hassan’s son, Sohrab, Amir fights Assef, an adversary of Amir since childhood; as Amir is losing the brawl, he goes through a similar pain that he made Hassan go through. When settling in America, Amir and Baba’s relationship improves as compared to their poor affliction in Kabul.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a novel based in Afghanistan that shows the betrayal between two boys with two different social backgrounds. Four years later “The Kite Runner” was filmed by David Benioff, which shows the meaningful message that the book delivers in a movie. Throughout the book and movie, Amir the protagonist must live the rest of his life with guilt from his childhood. Although the movie gave the same meaningful message that the book delivered, the book was further developed, which had more detail and kept the readers wanting more. Ultimately these details that were present in the novel gave the readers a better understanding of the characters, which led to the relationships
According to dictionary.com culture is: “The integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that is both a result of an integral to the human capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations. Culture thus consists of language, ideas, beliefs, customs, taboos, codes, institutions, tools, techniques, and works of art, rituals, ceremonies, and symbols.” Keeping this definition in mind it is quite easy to recognize the differences between Afghanistan culture and the culture of the United States. Additionally the amount of cultural stress that both main characters must have encountered when they relocated from Afghanistan to the United States. This essay will examine the cultural stress and differences that the character Baba went through with his relocation from Afghanistan to the United States.
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