What Are The Similarities Between The Kite Runner And Lord Of The Flies

Everyone’s interest is piqued by different things. Indeed, if everyone had the same interests, the world would be quite boring. Yet more often than not, the interests of different people clash with one another causing conflict. In the books The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Lord of the Flies by William Golding the theme of interest to the point of obsession plays a prominent role in the conflict of each book. Where they differ is how each book illustrates the benefits, consuming nature, and the damage of an obsession.

First of all, in The Kite Runner the way each character takes interest in a field is for the pursuit of their own pleasure. For example, after Amir won the kite flying tournament, his friend Hassan congratulates him with,

“Bravo! Bravo, Amir agha!” (Hosseini 54). This shows how Amir and Hassan both take up kite flying to satisfy their own hedonistic needs. On the other hand, in Lord of the Flies the stranded group of boys take interest in certain fields for the survival of their group. During the group congregation in the beginning, Ralph designates the choir boys as hunters and the other boys build huts (Golding 30,69-70). The fact that the boys are actively seeking out the necessities for survival show how they prioritize survival over play at first which is enormously different than how Amir and Hassan hardly ever worry about their own survival and focus on having fun.
Secondly in The Kite Runner, the characters choose what they are interested in and are mainly independent of other opinions on their interest. To illustrate this, Baba discusses with Rahim Khan on Amir’s general attitudes and behavior in life. Rahim Khan then responds with, “Children aren’t coloring books. You don’t get to fill them with your favorite colors” (Hosseini 17). Even though Rahim Khan is suggesting a different parenting style of being less involved with Amir’s hobbies, he is not directly commanding Baba to take his suggestions. Rahim’s light challenge of Baba’s opinions makes him think more about his own parenting thus giving Amir more freedom in life. On the contrary, the interests of the boys in Lord of the Flies are dependent on another person, usually the leader. Using Ralph’s leadership again, he calls meetings and commands the kids by assigning them roles such as fire maintenance, water fetching, hut building, and hunting (Golding 111-113). The way Ralph projects his own interests upon the boys benefit the group by effectively organizing them to do tasks. Therefore, in The Kite Runner and Lord of the Flies differ on how self-interest affects others. When done in moderation, the characters of both books get some form of benefit.
The next difference between the two books is how they describe an interest consumes one. The Kite Runner shows throughout the book that interests or obsessions are innate and do not grow much over time. Assef, the main antagonist of the story, bullied people of all walks of life when he was a teen including Amir. Then near the end, Amir confronts Assef in their late thirties with Assef now being a member of the Taliban (Hosseini 60, 242). It can be concluded from Assef’s abuse towards others as a teenager and his membership of the Taliban as an adult show his interest in bullying is innate. Comparing that set of scenes with Lord of the Flies, it is easy to discern the two books. Specifically, from Lord of the Flies, Jack’s overall interest in hunting starts small for periodic supplies of meat and grows to him starting his own tribe dedicated to hunting. Finally, at the end when the tribe hunts Ralph, they break down at the sight of an adult (Golding 70, 183, 290). Jack’s dynamic interest in hunting shows how it is a result of the environment of the island changing. All in all, The Kite Runner shows that obsession with something is innate and relatively constant while in Lord of the Flies it has a waxing and waning nature.
Another way the two books differ plays out from how the interest is perceived by others as it grows.

In The Kite Runner, others seem not to be involved with a person’s fascination with certain things. Using Assef as an example again, during Amir’s birthday party he says, “he was the parent, and they [Assef’s parents] his children” (Hosseini 80). Whether others accept Assef’s psychopathic behavior because of the façade he puts on with the adults or the fear mongering aura he has around children, the fact is that he can walk over people with impunity. In Lord of the Flies however, as Jack’s infatuation with hunting strengthens over time, his self-interests start to clash with Ralph’s interest to get rescued to the point where Jack storms off and starts a tribe dedicated to hunting (Golding 183). The conflict between Ralph and Jack demonstrates how Ralph perceives hunting negatively while Jack thinks of it positively. Putting the two books side by side, it is straightforward to see how Lord of the Flies makes the point of self-interests clashing, while in The Kite Runner they hardly

clash.
The last step of an obsession is the damage that it causes. The Kite Runner mainly showcases the psychological damages that an obsession causes. The star exhibit of this would be after Hassan got raped, Amir says with a dismissive tone, “Hassan milled about the periphery of my life after that (Hosseini 74). Amir’s anti-social behavior towards his formerly best friend Hassan confirms some form of psychological damage taking place. Lord of the Flies is the complete opposite. After all the fighting and obsessing over power between Ralph & Jack, Jack sets the whole island on fire destroying everything just to kill Ralph (Golding 212). The destruction of the island just from Jack’s obsession over hunting and want to kill Ralph is physical. With these scenes in mind, it is clear how The Kite Runner focuses on psychological impacts of obsession, while Lord of the Flies focuses on material damages.
Lastly, The Kite Runner reveals how damages linger around for a long time burdening a person.

Taking Amir decades after witnessing Hassan’s rape, Soraya confesses her past of running away and Amir considers telling Soraya how he saw his best friend getting raped and not doing anything (Hosseini 142). Amir thinking about confessing his inactions shows that he is still burdened by his past. Conversely, Lord of the Flies shows how damages happen almost instantly after the obsessor’s actions transpired. A good example is when the hunters are dancing and claw Simon to shreds without knowing what they were really doing (Golding 219). The hunters’ fear and fixation on the beast clouded their judgment leading to them mistaking Simon as the beast. They never spoke of it afterwards and continued on with life signaling minimal mental damage. Overall, The Kite Runner displays the long term damage while Lord of the Flies emphasizes short term damages of

obsession
Putting everything together, The Kite Runner and Lord of the Flies take two different cases of obsession and apply it to different settings to show how it can benefit, consume, and damage a person. The concept of obsession can be applied to the real world as well. It narrows the perspectives people and in effect, they start to ignore others. With a group like a nation, world leaders project their own interests upon the people like Ralph from Lord of the Flies. Or a person may become obsessed over hobbies like gaming resulting in their life eroding away which is similar to how Amir’s obsession of kite flying ruining his life. In the end, these novels show how it is important to keep a broad view of everything as not one single idea is the correct one.