Conflict In The Kite Runner

749 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Book review kite runner the story is about

Trouble in Kabul A heartbreaking, classic, coming-of-age, story, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, opens in Kabul, Afghanistan in the early 1970s before the Taliban take-over. Amir and his closest companion, Hassan, are as different as night and day in both attitude and background. Amir the upper class, Sunni Pashtun is the master of the Hazara and Shía boy; the two are raised together, but Hassan, along with his invalid father, serves Amir and his powerful father. The cowardly and artsy Amir suffers greatly from is father’s cold, aloof nature, frequently feeling envy for the loyal, lower class boy. Despite their social status differences, the two boys spend most of their free time playing together and flying kites, a traditional Afghani …show more content…

In The Kite Runner, the most blaringly obvious of these are the Hazara people, a poor, servile minority in the Pashtun saturated country of Afghanistan. Pashtuns apparently keep the Hazaras socially bound to the lower class—with no hope of ever moving up the social ladder. In the 1970s, the Hazaras primarily inhabited the region of Hazarajat of Afghanistan. This hierarchy is vaguely reminiscent of the Hindu caste system and more so, the racial prejudice of the American South. In addition, seeing a perspective of both pre-Taliban and post-Taliban Afghanistan rested in my mind as fascinating and somewhat sad. The true culture of Afghanistan is beautiful and rich, not war-torn and miserable. Like any other American child loving ice cream, Amir enjoyed his marmalade. Though religious views are the sparks of controversy, religious views in Afghanistan is almost worse; they predetermine one’s perception and treatment of another person. Islam, the dominant religion in the Middle East, is severed in two sects: the Sunni and the Shía. Sunni make up the majority in Afghanistan, while the Shía are closely associated with the lowly Hazaras or Iranians. Not surprisingly, a general sense of distrust pervades the Sunni attitude toward the Shía. This also mirrors the racial prejudice in the United

Show More
Related

  • The Importance Of Honor In The Kite Runner

    754 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the thought provoking and eye opening narrative, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini provides a vivid and in depth story told through the eyes of a privileged young narrator who is forced to come of age in the capital of Afghanistan. As a story told from a different cultural perspective,culture and morals in this society are different from foreign beliefs. A reader will not fully comprehend The Kite Runner without discerning the differences between social classes and understanding the importance of honor in the Afghanistan culture.

    Read More

  • Challenges In The Kite Runner

    1650 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Kite Runner, is the first novel written by Khaled Hosseini. The Kite Runner is set in Afghanistan before the war in the city of Kabul, and then eventually in America. The novel relays the struggles of Amir (A young Shi’ boy), Hassan (a young Hazera servant boy) and Baba (Amir’s father) as they are growing up in an ever-changing Afghanistan. The young boys face difficult challenges most adults will never have to experience. Amir, Hassan, and even Baba must overcome cruelty in every aspect of their lives.

    Read More

  • Kite Runner Rhetorical Analysis

    518 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hosseini’s purpose of writing the Kite Runner was to teach the readers the different ethnic groups in Afghanistan. The main character, Amir, is a Pashtun and Pashtuns are Sunni Muslims, then there are Hazara’s that the Pashtuns do not get along with. Hazara’s are not welcomed by the Pashtuns because they are different social classes.

    Read More

  • Pashtuns In The Kite Runner

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout an individual's life, many of one’s moral decisions are made based on their experience in race, ethnicity and social class. In Afghanistan, many individuals are judged based on their cultural backgrounds and hierarchy, which has led to the diversity of their own kind. Throughout the novel The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini focus on two types of castes: Pashtuns and Hazaras. Pashtuns are considered as the majority race and ethnic group in Afghanistan, while the Hazaras are viewed as the weakest and poorest race in Afghanistan, so they are easily insulted by Pashtuns. In this world, race, ethnicity and social class influences us to make the decisions individuals make. This is evident in the novel The Kite Runner

    Read More

  • Symbolism In The Kite Runner

    706 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, is a story about a young boy named Amir that begins in 1975 in Kabul, Afghanistan. As a child, he mistreats his servant, Hassan, who is like a brother to him. After failing to intervene in Hassan 's rape, Amir lives with guilt until his late thirties when he is presented with a chance at redemption. Amir 's father’s old friend, Rahim Khan, called from Pakistan to summon Amir to him. Upon his arrival, Amir learns that Hassan is his illegitimate half-brother. Hassan had been killed and his son had become an orphan. Amir then goes to drastic lengths to find and retrieve Hassan 's son, Sohrab. During this time Amir faces the guilt of his past and finds peace with himself while saving Sohrab

    Read More

  • The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini

    1710 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, follows the maturation of Amir, a boy from Afghanistan, as he discovers what it means to stand up for what he believes in. His quest to redeem himself after betraying his friend and brother, Hassan, makes up the heart of the novel. When Amir hears that his father’s old business partner, Rahim Khan, is sick and dying, he travels to Pakistan to say his goodbyes. Rahim Khan tells Amir about Hassan’s life and eventual death; the Taliban murdered Hassan while he was living in Amir’s childhood home. As his dying wish, Rahim Khan asks Amir to rescue Hassan’s son, Sohrab, from an orphanage in Afghanistan. Although Amir refuses at first, he thinks about what Rahim Khan had always told him: “There is a way to be good again…” (226), which gives him the incentive he needs to return to Afghanistan and find Sohrab. Hosseini draws parallels between Amir’s relationship with Hassan and Amir’s relationship with Sohrab in order to demonstrate the potential of redemption.

    Read More

  • Mistakes In The Kite Runner

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    In order to grow and prosper, one must make mistakes and learn from them. People are not born perfect; everyone must live and everyone must learn throughout his/her lifetime in order to mature. In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseni, Amir does exactly this. He makes several mistakes, these mistakes are not wasted, because, in time he learns from his wrong-doings and redeems his himself. Several if not all of the mistakes Amir makes are directed toward his childhood friend, and brother, Hassan. The first mistake Amir makes is not a tangible one. This mistake being he does not see Hassan as a friend while they are children because they’re part of two different ethnic groups and cultures. Because of this difference, Amir does not stop

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

    1170 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, dives into the life of a boy living in Afghanistan before and after its downfall. Amir lives with his father, Baba, and they have two servants that live in a shack at their house. Baba is known throughout the land as a high ranking citizen who has accomplished much good in his life. Ali and Hassan, the servants are also like family to Baba and Amir. Hassan and Amir fed from the same breasts and have grown up entirely together. Rahim Khan and Baba usually converse about life together daily. Many struggles and conflicts continually bring the four characters together and recurringly push them apart. Amir has to make many crucial decisions as the protagonist in the story. Amir endures many hardships throughout

    Read More

  • A Quest for Redemption by The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

    1131 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is difficult to face anything in the world when you cannot even face your own reality. In his book The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini uses kites to bring out the major themes of the novel in order to create a truly captivating story of a young boy’s quest to redeem his past mistakes. Amir is the narrator and protagonist of the story and throughout the entire novel, he faces enormous guilt following the horrible incident that happened to his closest friend, Hassan. This incident grows on Amir and fuels his quest for redemption, struggling to do whatever it takes to make up for his mistakes. In Hosseini’s novel, kites highlight aspects of Afghanistan’s ethnic caste system and emphasizes the story’s major themes of guilt, redemption and freedom.

    Read More

  • kite runner

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner, grew up in prejudiced Afghanistan during the 1960’s as a middle-class Pashtun living with Hazaras working for his family. His move to America after the Communist Coup proved difficult for his family, especially his father. In his novel, Hosseini writes through a young boy, Amir, very similar to himself, who grows up with his father and two Hazara servants in Afghanistan at the time of the Taliban attacks. Both Amir and his father, Baba, treat their servants, Hassan and Ali, like family. Society, however, does not approve of such relationships between Pashtuns and Hazaras. As Amir hides and watches horrified, another Pashtun boy rapes Hassan. This leads to the continuation of Amir’s internal conflict about the treatment of Hazaras by the public, and also makes him feel guilty and self-conscious throughout his entire life. In addition, Amir strives for affection and attention from his rather indifferent father. Amir’s outward conformity to societal values in his relationships with both Hassan and Baba, as a result of his inner struggle and guilt, contribute greatly to the significance of The Kite Runner.

    Read More

  • Juxtaposition In The Kite Runner

    764 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Sanaubar had taken one glance at the baby in Ali’s arms, seen the cleft lip, and barked a bitter laughter. “There” she had said. Now you have your own idiot child” (Hosseini 10). Since the moment he was born, the defining feature of Hassan’s appearance was the split in his upper lip, just left of the midline. In the novel, The Kite Runner, Hassan was repeatedly belittled for being the harelipped Hazara. A harelip is considered an imperfection, a mistake in how someone is suppose to look. Why would Khaled Hosseini, the author of the novel, want Hassan, the loyal selfless servant, to be known as a mistake? Hassan’s cleft lip is a juxtaposition with his virtuous personality and character. In order to reiterate the juxtaposition, Amir suffered a cut on his lip after battling Assef, “The impact had cut your upper lip in two, he had said, clean down the middle. Clean down the middle. Like a harelip” (Hosseini 297). After Amir defeated Assef, he achieved redemption and his character was good again, his physical appearance now suffered. Contrastingly, Assef

    Read More

  • The Kite Runner Setting Analysis

    611 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the book The Kite Runner, the author establishes the setting of afghanistan after Amir’s phone call with Rahim Khan in the first chapter.The setting of afghanistan begins by the narrator, in the second paragraph, explaining what his childhood looked like in Kabul. The first time when there is a vivid passage in the book is in the middle of chapter 2 where the narrator is describing where Amir and Hassan lived as children.“The poplar trees lined the redbrick driveway, which led to a pair of wrought-iron gates...One the south end of the garden, in the shadows of a loquat tree, was the servants home, a modest little mud hut where Hassan lived with his father” (5-6)This quote gives a detailed description of what the characters are seeing and

    Read More

  • Justice in The Kite Runner

    1448 Words  | 3 Pages

    Amir, the main character and narrator in the Kite Runner, belongs to a wealthy family in which his father is a powerful businessman. Amir is also a part of the dominant Pashtun ethnic group and Sunni religious group. Amir in the Kite Runner tells the story of his friendship with Hassan. Hassan and his father, Ali, are Amir’s servants. Hassan on the contrary is a low-caste ethnic Hazara and belongs to the minority Shi’it religious faith. This provides many of the Afghan’s who are different such as Sunni’s, who make up 85% of the Muslim faith, to persecute people like Hassan for their religion.

    Read More

  • Similarities And Differences Between Amir And Hassan

    2611 Words  | 6 Pages

    Raised like brothers yet they could not be more different. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini shows how two brothers, Amir and Hassan, could be alike in many ways, yet personalities are completely different. Amir and Hassan although raised like brother, and later discovered they were half brothers, were completed individuals in personality, meaning of life, and how they treated each other. The story takes them from early childhood, to the day Hassan leaves, to Amir growing up and going back to Kabul. The Kite Runner takes you on a emotional journey about a boy named Amir, and his uncommon bond to his servant Hassan, whom Amir had to go through choices to abandon his friend amidst the increasing struggles politics, religion, ethics, and love.

    Read More

  • Similarities between Amir and Author Khaled Hosseini in The Kite Runner

    1979 Words  | 4 Pages

    War establishes many controversial issues and problems within society and can often expose an individual to many economic and sociopolitical hardships; thus creating an altercation in the way they view life. Amir, from the novel The Kite Runner and the novel’s author Khaled Hosseini, both saw the harsh treatment toward the people of Afghanistan through a series of wars, invasions, and the active power of a Pashtun movement known as the Taliban. Amir, much like Hosseini, lived a luxurious and wealthy life in Kabul. He is well educated and immerses himself in reading and writing. After transitioning from a life in Afghanistan to a life in the United States, both Hosseini and Amir faced obstacles in order to assimilate to American society. In The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, the protagonist Amir parallels the experiences and hardships that Hosseini endured in his own lifetime.

    Read More

More about Conflict In The Kite Runner

Open Document