An Analysis of Power in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner provides insight into how power affects people and what it can do to relationships. Humans, by nature, crave power and seek control over others. Power is addictive. Once someone has had a taste of power, they will do everything possible to hold onto it. Throughout Hosseini’s novel, characters gain and lose power.
Most Hazaras worked for Pashtuns, in this case, Amir is a Pashtun and Hassan is a Hazara that works for him and his father. In this society it is very difficult to find your true identity, a lot of factors come into play, whether it is people or events that you encounter. Due to the large difference in both Pashtuns and Hazaras, the idea of power plays a strong role. People with power end up abusing it, which leads to the corruption of power. The core of identity is figuring out “who am I” and learning who you are is the core of your life’s journey.
It is apparent that both novels are in tune with the theme of division of social class in the society. The Kite Runner examines the whole spectrum of racism; Hassan who was treated disrespectfully by his peers who are the majority, Sunni Muslims because he is the minority, the Hazara (Shi’a Muslims). This leads to nasty discrimination based on physical features and religious beliefs. Significantly, Hosseini mentions in the novel that Amir is reading, "the Pashtuns had persecuted and oppressed the Hazaras” from his mother’s history book which can be found on page 9. Additionally, Ali, who is a Hazara, is ridiculed by the neighborhood people on page 10 coupled with Assef’s mocking, calling Hassan flat nose.
Two of many mentioned in the book were the Pashtuns and the Hazaras. The Pashtuns were the “superiors” whereas the Hazaras were the “inferiors”. The people called the Hazaras, Mogul descendants that looked a little like Chinese people were treated differently from the Pashtuns. More specifically, the Hazaras were servants of the households in
A Marxist Analysis of The Kite Runner In Afghanistan, the Hazara people were formerly a majority ethnicity at about 67 percent of the population, however once the Pashtuns began taking political actions, the Hazaras were massacred until they only formed about 9 percent of Afghanistan’s total population today (“Afghanistan-Hazaras”). Because of their minority status, the Hazara people face much prejudice in Afghan society as shown by the book. Similarly, Afghani people compose 3 percent of America’s population, wherein they also face prejudice. In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, which takes place in Afghanistan, the social divisions are shown both in Afghanistan, between the Pashtuns and Hazaras, and in the United States, between the wealthy
The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, is a famous novel that explores the devastating and painfully honest depiction of identity, betrayal, deception and atonement. This novel portrays the journey of a boy escaping from his haunted childhood while trying to seek redemption as an adult. Amir, the protagonist, has an overwhelming need to be punished and to be redeemed from his sin, so that he does not have to cope with this lingering guilt. Amir’s feeling of guilt and his vital need for redemption are always a part of his life as he is growing up. His journey of redemption is both a mental and physical one, including him going back to Kabul, the city of his childhood, to rescue Sohrab, thus redeeming himself for not helping Hassan during
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini reflects how the setting, the characters, and the literary devices contribute to the shaping of the novel. The novel unfolds a story through these. The setting transforms the characters into the people they are seen as at the end of the novel. Hosseini shows how the setting, the character, as well as the literary devices work together to tell the story from the beginning to the end; Hosseini uses these elements to promote the effect of the story. Thus, Hosseini reveals through The Kite Runner, the setting, the characters, and the literary devices.
While this novel is extraordinary in many different aspects the struggles that occur are far from personal, they are instead struggles that all humans deal with both internaly and physically and are represented by each of the characters in the story. Each character in this story represents two qualities that all human beings posses and by their actions and struggles they show the downfalls of those qualities. Amir represents selfishness and jealousy as shown by his cowardness and the way he deals with the struggles he encounters. From the very beginning Amir possesses a certain amount of resentment and jealousy towards Hassan because he receives more attention and warmth from Baba than he does. He actions towards Hassan are humiliating and often leave him feeling ashamed but because of his jealousy he continues to take advantage of Hassan’s devotion.
A story that begins with the struggle for acceptance which leads to a life struggle for redemption. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is the story of Amir, an Afghan kid who after witnessing his life fall apart is set in a life of escaping his guilt and regrets, until finally is forced to make the decision to face them and fight for atonement. In the story, Kites are depicted all throughout it and are used by Hosseini to portray the main themes that compose the story, and the conflicts and struggles that the characters experience. In the book, Hosseini used Kites to represent the major themes in the story for they portray the characters happiness and guilt plus the main things that compose the story. The theme of sacrifice is clearly seen through Amir’s relation with Hassan, and can be observed on the occasions in which they flew kites together.
On the other hand their intelligence and respect sometimes disturbs other characters. The Kite Runner is a story representing the history of Kabul where the main characters are facing war and are struggling to find peace. On the other hand To Kill a Mockingbird was at the times of The Great Depression and many racism was involved, including the separation of the African Americans and the Klu Klux Klan. In “The Kite Runner” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” both Khaled Hosseini and Harper lee are demonstrating/describing the tough situations that happened in the past in both Kabul and America. Atticus and Hassan are the two role models in each novel acting as the people who stand up for their ideology.