What Are The Similarities Between The Kite Runner And Persepolis

During the time frame of 1978 to 1979, the countries of Afghanistan and Iran both experienced a revolution. The two stories of Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini take place during a revolution in neighboring countries, though a few years apart. Persepolis is an autobiographical piece by Satrapi describing her experiences during the Iranian revolution. The Kite Runner, on the other hand, is a story written by Hosseini about a man named Amir who recalls his childhood growing up during the beginning of the Afghan revolution and later then returns to his motherland to right the wrongs he did as a child. Although the two stories take place within years of each other and the main characters have different experiences,

they both witness or experience something traumatic that changes them, causing the two stories to share a common theme of being forced to grow up.
In Satrapi’s writing of Persepolis, she describes the different events and things that she went through when the Iranian revolution first began.

Because she was still a child when the revolution began, she didn’t make too much of it since it had no direct impact on her, until her uncle was executed. Before his execution, she was, in a way, jealous of her friends who had stories to tell about relatives being tortured for the acts they did against the revolution. But upon hearing the news of her uncle’s death, “[Marji felt] lost, without any bearings… [And] what could be worst than that?” (Satrapi 71). The moment that her uncle was executed, her view on the revolution was changed. She rejected God and her religion, symbolizing how she turned her back on her childhood wish of being a prophet and how she was then forced to grow

up.
In Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, much of the story took place during the beginning of the Afghan revolution in Kabul, where many people who were Hazara were discriminated against.

The main character, Amir, is not only picked on because he is a small boy who fails to stand up for himself, but also because his “best friend” is Hassan, his Hazara servant, who always seems to be coming to his rescue. In one occurrence, Hassan is cornered by a group of neighborhood bullies and is in turn raped by the “leader” Assef. Amir stumbled upon the scene when looking for Hassan and, “...turned away from the alley… [He] was weeping… In the end, [he] ran. [He] ran because [he] was a coward,” (Hosseini 77). In the moment that Amir witnesses Hassan being raped and runs, he realizes that all he’s going to be is a coward, well into the time that he is an adult. Later on in his life, Amir is contacted by Rahim Khan and is told that Hassan is really his half-brother and that he has died, leaving his son an orphan. Rahim Khan tells him that, “there is a way to be good again… A way to end the cycle. With a little boy. An orphan. Hassan’s son. Somewhere in Kabul,” (Hosseini 227). With Rahim Khan telling Amir that he can redeem himself in saving Sohrab, he finally brings himself to own up to his mistakes. By saving Hassan’s child, Amir is atoning for the mistake of running and not helping Hassan and is now finally growing up from being the coward that he was when he ran from Hassan’s

rape.
In both stories of The Kite Runner and Persepolis, there is a common theme of being forced to grow up. Though the two take place during different time periods and in different countries, many people experienced some of the same things. From Marji losing her uncle due to execution to Amir witnessing the rape of Hassan and then later saving his son Sohrab, both events took a toll on them and changed their views on their countries and, in their own ways, forced them to grow up and mature.