The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a moving story about the lives of children in Kabul, Afghanistan. It begins with a boy named Amir, who is best friends with his servant Hassan, but Amir struggles with this relationship because Hassan is in fact his servant. When Hassan is attacked by a bully named Assef, Amir is too cowardly to stand up for him and instead hides. He escapes from Afghanistan to America and lives with guilt on this subject for a long time, until Hassan is killed by the Taliban. Amir is able to find redemption in helping Hassan’s son, Sohrab.
“In it [a history book], I read that my people, the Pashtuns, had persecuted and oppressed the Hazara. It said the Hazaras had tried to rise against the Pashtuns in the nineteenth century, but the Pashtuns had “quelled them with unspeakable violence” (Hosseini 9). School and society are pushing Amir to behave in one manner, while growing up with Hassan is pushing him towards another. This push and pull is important because most of Amir’s actions are a result of this. The most salient example for readers is the scene when Hassan is being raped by Assef.
The Kite Runner by Khalid Alhussaini is very inspiring and powerful novel about a Pashtun named Amir who is looking back over his life during the transition from childhood to adulthood. Amir grew up in a prosperous district of Kabul, Afghanistan. His father was known and respected by others, Amir tried his best to follow his father steps and always craved his love and attention. Ali and his son Hassan (Amir 's best friend), are both loyal servants to Baba and Amir yet and unlike Amir; are of the minority Hazara who is not respected in Afghanistan.
Amir would even argue that Baba treats Hassan better and with more love than he treats his own blood in Amir. So, to Amir, Baba is treating him cruelly by not showing him the love and affection that a young boy needs and deserves growing up. What is interesting about this situation is the cruelty that Amir is describing and is upset with actually stems from cruelty in Baba’s past. The plot in The Kite Runner takes a turn when it is revealed that Hassan is actually Baba’s real son, and the only reason that Baba and Ali (Hassan’s “father” who raises him and also is a servant for the family) cover this up is due to the natural cruelty of the class system in Afghanistan. Hassan’s mother is a Hazara, and in this time period, Hazaras were looked down upon and seen as inferior.
In Amir’s youth, he views his father, Baba, as a god and yearns for his approval. Because Baba is a large influence on him, Amir replicates Baba’s manipulative behaviors by training his friend, Hassan, to unconditionally
He goes to school, and is a talented kite fighter. He loves to read and write stories, his interest beginning with his mother’s stories she left behind when she died giving birth to him. Amir had a lifelong internal battle with Hassan in gaining the love of his father, Baba. He never got the approval he desired, and always felt as if Baba loved Hassan more than him. He resented Hassan for this, and even as friends, he used his power over Hassan to make himself feel better.
Baba invites Hassan to go to Jalalabad with him and Amir. After hearing this news, Amir utters that, “it should have been just the two of [them]” (82). Amir denies Hassan time with Baba for his own selfish reasons, without having concern for Hassan’s feelings or needs. Amir feels threatened by Hassan, so in order to make himself feel more secure, he attempts to disclude him. While eating dinner at Wahid’s house, Amir notices that one of Wahid’s children is staring at him.
As a Pashtun, he experiences the effects of social hierarchy first hand, and because discrimination is such prominent tradition in his culture, we are able to see the underlying effects it has on his life. The effects that social hierarchy has on people can be seen when Amir isolates himself from the rest of the world after he witnesses the discrimination of Hassan. Amir causes his own isolation by witnessing the rape of his friend Hassan, and failing to intervene causing Hassan to sacrifice himself
Amir in The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, does not see his family’s servant boy, Hassan, as an equal. Baba, Amir’s father, keeps the truth that he is Hassan’s real father away from Amir and Hassan, denying Amir a brother and holding the burden of the truth. Amir is also holding a burden of his own for his actions too. He watches as Hassan gets sexually assaulted without ever stepping in to help him. He experiences reminders of that time.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini tells a coming-of-age tale of two boys, Amir and Hassan. Amir, a Pashtun, yearns for his censorious father’s fondness, and undergoes both friendship and jealousy toward servant Hassan, a Hazara. “Hassan and I fed from the same breasts. We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same yard. And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words.
(Hosseini, page no.18) .Amir takes his Baba’s affection toward Hassan-Baba’s servants’ son-in the wrong way for Hassan always showed a lot more similar qualities to Baba than Amir ever did. In an attempt to win his Baba’s
Amir thought, showcasing the opinion he created about Hassan. Working for Baba and Amir as servants, Hassan and his father are put below their bosses on the social hierarchy. These societal labels cloud Amir’s mind. He uses Hassan’s social class to classify him, using
Many people in Amir 's life affect the way he sees himself. For example Baba, his father. It is hard for Amir to find out who he really is because he is not the typical male afghan son Baba
Amir and Hassan were born into two different social classes that warred against each other for years. Hassan being a lowly Hazara who lived as a servant in, “a modest little mud hut...dimly lit by a pair of kerosene lamps,” (6) while Amir lived
Early in the book, we realize how Amir's and Hassan's friendship goes beyond social and economic differences. Hassan is always defending Amir and proves himself a loyal friend to Amir repeatedly, defending Amir when he is attacked and always being ready to listen to him. He shows his bravery, selflessness and intelligence throughout the whole novel even though he is uneducated. That’s primarily because he has very accurate instincts and a giant and passionate heart. However, he is touched by his reality: he is from a poor ethnic group, called the Hazaras, considered an inferior ethnicity in Afghan society.
