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Social norms and their negative effects
Essay on the effects of social norms
Social norms and their negative effects
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In Kite Runner, the author describes Amir's journey after witnessing the rape of his best friend and half-brother Hassan. This book details the struggles Amir faces in keeping this terrible secret. It shapes his life forever, for good and for bad. After never being able to have a son, Amir finds himself among the Taliban in his hometown, Kabul. After an immense struggle, Amir finds Sohrab, his half-brother's orphan son and finally correct the mistake he helped set one fateful winter night. Because of the drastic differences in the two main settings of the story, war-time Middle East and freedom-loving America, Khaled Housseini accents the struggle the Middle East has in maintaining peace. Even inside of Afghanistan, he shows further contrast using a slight character foil of Amir, a privileged child, and Farid, the hardworking "real Afghan". This shows just how different the life of someone who lives even just a neighborhood away can be. By doing this, the author creates more internal conflict between Amir and his harshest critic, himself. …show more content…
He is fiercely dedicated to Amir, even risking his life for him on multiple occasions. He is so blindly devoted to Amir that even when asked to do something humiliating or cruel, he does so without question. Even after Amir has framed Hassan for theft after witnessing him get raped, he accepts the punishment without complaint. As Amir describes, Hassan is such a completely sincere and truthful person that he assumes everyone else is as well. Because of his ability to still look up to Amir after his rape, Hassan is portrayed as a person with loyal and honest values his is very
Although Hassan is his best friend, there are many instances where Amir reveals his jealousy, most notable when Baba sees Hassan as the stronger boy, "self-defense has nothing to do with meanness. You know what always happens when the neighbourhood boys tease him? Hassan steps in and fends them off. I 've seen it with my own eyes…” (Hosseini 24). Clearly, Amir hears how his father compares the two, and unlike Hassan who manages to meet Baba’s expectations, Amir grows bitter towards Hassan. He is unable to fight off his envy which later causes him to sacrifice his best friend’s innocence: “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba” (82), and this is all because he realizes “his shame is complicated by his own realization that in part he doesn’t help his friend precisely because he is jealous of him” (Corbett, 2006). From here, Amir develops strong feelings of guilt that induces him to perform even more destructive acts, such as having Hassan and his father evicted from the house. Amir not only loses a close friend, but now he has to continue to live with remorse as he dwells on these memories. The only way for Amir to redeem himself of his repercussions is through a challenging process of sacrifice and self-discovery. Although one is unsure at this point whether Amir succeeds at his endeavors, it is clear that this story
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
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.
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.
Afghanistan’s history can be correlated to some of the character’s external influences, however characters can also be influences that created internal conflicts for another. For Amir, he was influenced by the Afghan’s long history of the persecution of the Hazaras. It was these persecutions and ideology of the Hazaras that put Amir to the test with Hassan. The peer pressure of society didn’t help the fact that Amir was indecisive and cowardice. He was so afflicted by these outside ideas that in his marriage with Soraya, he says, “Our lovemaking was still good...but some nights all I’d feel was a relief to be done with it...about the futility of what we’d done” (211) which implies a lackluster mood and shows how monochromatic Amir’s life is
Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner focuses on Amir, a Pashtun and Sunni Muslim boy who lives in Kabul. Amir has a privileged upbringing as a Pashtun; his father Baba is wealthy by Afghan standards, and as a result, Amir grows up spoiled and selfish. Hassan on the other hand is the loyal and good-natured Hazara and Shi’a Muslim servant of Amir, who is extremely underprivileged and lives in poor conditions. Amir is haunted by the guilt of witnessing the rape of Hassan by Assef and his friends during a kite running tournament and not telling anyone, as well as trying to get rid of Hassan by framing him for stealing his birthday gifts. By the end of the text, Amir has definitely reached redemption for the sins he had committed against Hassan
The first connection I noticed is that the Afghans in The Kite Runner treat the kite fighting competition similarly to how Canadians treat hockey. In the book series, Brady Brady, and notably in Brady Brady and the Big Mistake playing hockey is Brady’s favourite part about winter. He sleeps, breathes, and dreams hockey. Anytime in the winter that he is free he likes to get together with his friends, and play shinny on his backyard rink. Likewise, in The Kite Runner, Hassan, and Amir spend the icy season kite fighting, and kite running to train for the big competition near the end of the season. Unlike the hockey games in the aforementioned book, this competition is competitive, and winning the tournament is very prestigious. In both books
Amir reflects on how much his and Baba’s life have changed since they arrived in America and stating that, “for me, America was a place to bury my memories. For Baba, a place to mourn his.” By leaving Afghanistan, Amir is abandoning his painful memoir of his life in Afghanistan the way he abandoned Hassan in the alley. It is a way for him to start new as if he was given a second chance at
Kite Runner depicts the story of Amir, a boy living in Afghanistan, and his journey throughout life. He experiences periods of happiness, sorrow, and confusion as he matures. Amir is shocked by atrocities and blessed by beneficial relationships both in his homeland and the United States. Reviewers have chosen sides and waged a war of words against one another over the notoriety of the book. Many critics of Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, argue that the novel would not have reached a lofty level of success if the U.S. had not had recent dealings with the Middle East, yet other critics accurately relate the novel’s success to its internal aspects.
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.
In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, the author follows the development of protagonist Amir through a life filled with sorrow, regret, and violence. Amir encounters numerous obstacles on his path to adulthood, facing a new test at every twist and turn. Amir embarks on the long journey known as life as a cowardly, weak young man with a twisted set of ideals, slowly but surely evolving into a man worthy of the name. Amir is one of the lucky few who can go through such a shattered life and come out the other side a better man, a man who stands up for himself and those who cannot, willing to put his life on the line for the people he loves.
Though some may rise from the shame they acquire in their lives, many become trapped in its vicious cycle. Written by Khlaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner describes the struggles of Amir, his father Baba, and his nephew Sohrab as they each fall victim to this shameful desolation. One repercussion of Baba hiding his sinful adultery from Amir is that Amir betrays Hassan for his father’s stringent approval. Sohrab’s dirty childhood also traumatizes him through his transition to America. Consequently, shame is a destructive force in The Kite Runner. Throughout the course of the novel, Baba’s shameful affair, Amir’s selfish betrayal, and Sohrab’s graphic childhood destroy their lives.
The movie The Kite Runner is based on the book and it contains both subtle and explicit differences as all books and movies do. Both the book and the movie have very compelling and moralistic themes though at times the movie’s themes seem limited. The themes presented throughout the movie and the book are penance, loyalty, prejudice, religion and growing up. The characterization, overall plot of the movie and the setting of the book seem to be consistent with each other though at times they both may vary both slightly and drastically.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a novel based in Afghanistan that shows the betrayal between two boys with two different social backgrounds. Four years later “The Kite Runner” was filmed by David Benioff, which shows the meaningful message that the book delivers in a movie. Throughout the book and movie, Amir the protagonist must live the rest of his life with guilt from his childhood. Although the movie gave the same meaningful message that the book delivered, the book was further developed, which had more detail and kept the readers wanting more. Ultimately these details that were present in the novel gave the readers a better understanding of the characters, which led to the relationships
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, is a story about Amir who, as a child, witnessed a horrific act against his friend. He spends the next few decades struggling to come to terms with what happened to his friend, the role he played and finding atonement. The story is told by Amir and takes place during the time period of 1975-2001 in Kabul, Afghanistan, then moves to Fremont, California and then back to Kabul, Afghanistan. Strength of character is a prevalent theme throughout the novel. Three characters in the novel, Amir, Hassan and Baba demonstrate personal attributes of strength while dealing with hardships.