Throughout the novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, society plays a huge role in how the characters lived. It can be difficult to keep up with the standards that society has imposed upon us, whether it be in terms of fashionable clothing, socially appropriate behaviour, or economic success. That is why society is often forced to choose between what is expected of us by society and maintaining truth. Being able to navigate competing pressures in people’s lives can be challenging, and it is worth exploring whether it is truly difficult to live up to the standards of society. It is essential to be aware of the impact that one’s judgments can have on others and strive to be fair and understanding in the evaluations of others. It is also …show more content…
In many stories, these societal standards come with the aspects of race and racial discrimination. Such is the case in the novel being discussed in this essay, where the characters and their culture are met with prejudice and mistreatment due to their particular race. One of the most prominent examples of racial discrimination in this novel is regarding the Hazara, to whom Hassan fell victim. This paragraph will discuss how racial discrimination affects one’s place in society, as well as how race and racism are portrayed in the novel as a whole. The first quote, “The Taliban moved into the house,” Rahim Khan said. “The pretext was that they had evicted a trespasser. Hassan’s and Farzana’s murders were dismissed as a case of self-defence. No one said a word about it. Most of it was fear of the Taliban, I think. But no one was going to risk anything for a pair of Hazara servants.” (Hosseini). In this quote, the author is describing the situation in Afghanistan when the Taliban was in power. It highlights the fact that the Taliban had significant control over the country and were able to act with impunity, including committing murders and dismissing cases under pretenses. The quote also highlights the issue of racial and ethnic profiling and the oppression of the Hazara people in Afghanistan. It also suggests that people are afraid to speak out against the Taliban and are unwilling to take any risks to defend those who are being oppressed, likely due to fear of retaliation. Overall, the quote paints a picture of a country in turmoil and chaos, where law and order have broken down and the Taliban holds a significant amount of power through racial discrimination. Next, this quote stated by Assef says, “Afghanistan is like a beautiful mansion littered with garbage, and someone has to take out the garbage.’ ‘That’s what you were
In the book Under the Permission Tree the Taliban are brutal people. In real life the Taliban are even worse. Staples shows how
Afghanistan is a state that they being controlled by the taliban. The taliban has very strict laws and if they are not followed there can be serious consequences, including death! Amir was told to come back to afghanistan because Raheim khan, his father's friend, was dying and needed someone to take Hassan's son back to united states. Amir immediately did not want to do it because he knew he was taking a risk because he was disobeying the taliban. Amir says, “why me?why can't you pay someone here to go?
Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner is a fictional narrative about a man who grew up in Afghanistan. Hosseini uses his personal experience from his childhood there, and other general knowledge about the area, to tackle issues of the Middle East that western culture often ignores. Every page of this novel is rhetorically rich with devices like diction, analogy, and realism. There is a short anecdote, beginning on page three and concluding on the top of page four, that embodies many of these great rhetorical strategies that Hosseini employs.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a novel centered around an Afghan boy named Amir and his coming of age during the end of Afghanistan’s monarchy and the invasion of the Soviet Union’s troops. Although there are major political events essential to the story, The Kite Runner is not about politics, it is about Amir and his challenges with love, violence, and family. While reading, the use of literary theory and its six different critical lenses is a helpful way to analyze and understand the novel better. Literary theory is, essentially, the views or opinions about what a text means, as well as the description, analysis, and interpretation of a literary work. Readers can also use critical lenses to find different ways to view or interpret
It was March 1981, when lives in Kabul, Afghanistan, changed forever. The lives of many, Muslims and Hazaras, will shift for the worst. The Taliban had entered Afghanistan with tanks rolling the streets, guns in
I was at a soccer game in Ghazi Stadium in 1998 . . . and by the way, the players weren’t allowed to wear shorts . . . Anyway, Kabul scored a goal and the man next to me cheered loudly. Suddenly this young bearded fellow who was patrolling the aisles, eighteen years old at most by the look of him, he walked up to me and struck me on the forehead with the butt of his Kalashnikov’” (Hosseini 199).
Yet, until today, women cannot escape from the traditional society in Afghanistan despite the increasing recognition of women’s rights. Recently, a 27-year-old Muslim women was brutally murdered by a mob in Kabul, Afghanistan after she was falsely accused of burning a Quran. We can see for ourselves the fact that justice is distorted here. She was “viciously beaten”, “stoned”, “deliberately run over by a car”, “thrown into a dry river bed”, crushed with larger stones”, and lastly, “set on fire”.
In reality, everyone possesses a certain degree of cruelty. It is this aspect of human nature that Khaled Hosseini explores in The Kite Runner. Hosseini vividly depicts the cruelty of human nature by using anecdotes of Amir and Hassan’s childhood and by describing a Taliban-led Afghanistan. Both instances, despite the difference in magnitude, illustrate how cruelty can affect individuals and the society as a whole. Hosseini employs cruelty to serve as both a motivator as well as source of guilt for the protagonist, Amir.
Sacrifice, one the most prominent themes in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, clearly determines a person’s unconditional love and complete fidelity for another individual. Hosseini’s best-selling novel recounts the events of Amir’s life from childhood to adulthood. Deprived of his father’s approval and unsure of his relationship with Hassan, Amir commits treacherous acts which he later regrets and attempts to search for redemption. These distressing occurrences throughout his youth serve as an aid during his transition from a selfish child to an altruistic adult.
And, really, what could be said, what needed saying, when you’d shoved the barrel of you gun into your wife’s mouth? It was the raids, the reason they were in the yard digging. Sometimes monthly raids, sometimes weekly. Of late, almost daily. Mostly the Taliban confiscated stuff, gave a kick to someone’s rear, whacked the back of a head or two.
Hosseini shows us how the Afghani culture and Amir’s reluctance to help
I lifted Hassan's mattress and planted my new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it. I waited another thirty minutes. Then I knocked on Baba's door and told what I hoped would be the last in a long line of shameful lies.” (Hosseini 104). Sometimes people do one wicked
Afghanistan is a country full of social expectations and boundaries influenced by both class and ethnicity. Amir and Hassan come from polar opposite social backgrounds: Amir, a wealthy member of the dominant Pashtuns, and Hassan, a child servant to Amir and member of the minority Hazaras. Yet, as young children, it seems as though this difference is a mere annoyance rather than a serious blockade to their friendship. This all changes, though, when Amir makes a split second decision, a decision shaped by his unconscious desire to uphold their class difference. Hassan does everything for Amir, most specifically, he runs his kites, and when the town bully wants to steal that kite, Hassan resists even in the face of unspeakable violence.
The Taliban have full control of the country and how the country is run. This is a prime example on how the country of Afghanistan is corrupt. Around the world murder is an injustice but in Afghanistan it is
The Kite Runner describes the life of Amir. Before the war, he lived in Kabul with his father Baba, their servant Ali and Ali’s son Hassan. Hassan and Ali are from a lower class than Amir and Baba, but Amir and Hassan are best friends regardless. In this essay the assertion ‘Amir is selfish and