Cruelty In The Kite Runner

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For centuries brutal force has been used as a motivational component so an individual can comply by any means necessary. That cruelty, whether it be physical and/or mental, tends to force that person to realize that the only way to lessen the abuse is to comply with the perpetrators demand no matter the cost . That decision, a quite painful one, conveys how most power is achieved by either a single individual or in some cases a large group (ie. a government). In the case of the “Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, the cruelty that is portrayed throughout aids in exemplifying how cruelty in general, functions as a motivating component behind social and political movements, which in turn also conveys how the thirst for power can never be quenched …show more content…

His descriptive wording of pre-invasion Afghanistan and post-invasion Afghanistan immediately aids the reader in comprehending how thorough the author will be his descriptions of all scenes. For example when he states, “The end, the official end, would come first in April 1978 with the communist coup d'état, and then in December 1979, when Russian tanks would roll into the very same streets where Hassan and I played, bringing the death of the Afghanistan I knew and marking the start of a still ongoing era of bloodletting” (Pg. 36). That setup of the “death” of Afghanistan clearly translates well as the death of an actual person, which in turn aids in clarifying to the reader how the rest of the book will be written. Without such detailed imagery, it would be much more difficult to truly grasp the strife that occurs in all the scenes. As the book progresses and the use of imagery increases, the cruelty heightens as well. The readers are first introduced to Assef as well, signifying the true beginning of brutality. When he is first mentioned he is associated with his “famous stainless-steel brass knuckles” and the word “sociopath”. Assef’s cruel intentions to the neighborhood children is used as a method to force respect towards himself. If no one is brave enough to stand up to him out of fear, then that assures Assef that he is more powerful than them. He thirsts to be on top no matter what the cost might be, even if that meant beating it into all the neighborhood

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