The Marxist lens explains the class differences that are present in the society. The rich or bourgeoisie are in control; whereas the poor or the proletariat are the ones being controlled. The novel “The Kite Runner” by Khaleid Hosseini, can be viewed through the Marxist lens. The inequality and repercussions of the class structure in Afghanistan can be seen in the conflict between the Shia’s and the Sunni’s. The conflict between the Shia’s and the Sunni’s was a major reason why Amir never acknowledged Hassan as his friend. Amir was a Sunni Pashtun, the dominant one; whereas Hassan was a Shia, the one being controlled, Amir feared the consequences that might occur if he crossed the class line by acknowledging Hassan, a Shia Hazara,
Page 2 - “I sat on a park bench near a willow tree. I thought about something Rahim Khan said just before he hung up, almost as an afterthought. I looked up at those twin kites.”
At times Amir had trouble realizing that they were best friends because Hassan was a Hazara, he was of Asian descent and of the Shiite tribe, he resembles his ancestors, the Mongols. Amir is a Pashtun, of the Sunni tribe, a majority group in Afghanistan. Hassan was loyal and showed endless amounts of respect and praise to Amir. Though Hassan knew what Amir had witnessed and done to him, he covered up for him. He did not ever let Amir get into trouble with Baba, his father. Hassan was also the half brother of Amir, neither knew until Rahim Khan, a friend of Baba’s informed Amir. He and Hassan had a connection, both as friends but also as brothers.
Hassan is a Hazara boy, this being an ethnic group that is looked down upon by Pashtun citizens of Kabul. “In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shi’a, and nothing was ever going to change that.” (Hosseini 25). Throughout his childhood, Amir is put down regularly by neighborhood kids for befriending Hassan because of his ethnic background. Amir realizes that no matter what he may do, or no matter how Hassan may try to alter the situation, Hassan would always be too different for people to accept.
...h him; another part to this is because he believes Hassan is just a dirty Hazara boy. “I'd chase the car, screaming for it to stop. I'd pull Hassan out of the backseat and tell him I was sorry, so sorry, my tears mixing with rainwater. We'd hug in the downpour (Hosseini 109).” After Amir causes Hassan to leave, he laments about letting, more like making, his best friend leave him. He sees the dirty Hazara boy as his best friend at that moment. In both of these stories, the main character realizes how similar they are to the other social or religious group.
Hassan would do anything for his friends and treat everyone, even bullies, with respect because his respectful dad, Ali, taught him to always be loyal to all, and never hurt anyone. Ali was Baba’s servant and long-time friend, and stayed close to him throughout their childhood and adulthood. Amir's actions showed how much of a coward he was. Amir suffered his whole life living with the guilt of knowing that Hassan was raped, much like Baba lived his whole life in guilt knowing that he stole the truth from Ali by committing adultery.
The hardships that life reveals can either affect a person in a negative or positive way. They can strengthen or weaken the development of one’s character. Khaled Hosseni’s The Kite Runner is a novel that tells the story of two boys – Amir and Hassan, his childhood friend and servant– who spend their lives attempting to overcome their obstacles. These obstacles create experiences that will shape them for the rest of their lives. Firstly, Hassan and Amir share similar hardships, however Hassan learns and grows from them, and Amir lingers over the negativity, allowing it to destroy his life instead of moving forward. Secondly, Amir is always rescued, which allows him to feel a sense of entitlement, while Hassan fights his own battles, resulting in a greater amount of inner strength. Lastly, as Amir and Hassan become adults in opposite ends of the world, they battle hardships that are very different. The differences within their adulthood continue to show who is the more honourable character. Ultimately, in Khaled Hosseni's The Kite Runner, Hassan is a stronger character than Amir, despite the fact that they both battle similar hardships.
Fred Wright, Lauren's instructor for EN 132 (Life, Language, Literature), comments, "English 132 is an introduction to English studies, in which students learn about various areas in the discipline from linguistics to the study of popular culture. For the literature and literary criticism section of the course, students read a canonical work of literature and what scholars have said about the work over the years. This year, students read One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey, a classic of American literature which dates from the 1960s counterculture. Popularized in a film version starring Jack Nicholson, which the class also watched in order to discuss film studies and adaptation, the novel became notable for its sympathetic portrayal of the mentally ill. For an essay about the novel, students were asked to choose a critical approach (such as feminist, formalist, psychological, and so forth) and interpret the novel using that approach, while also considering how their interpretation fit into the ongoing scholarly dialogue about the work. Lauren chose the challenge of applying a Marxist approach to One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. Not only did she learn about critical approaches and how to apply one to a text, she wrote an excellent essay, which will help other readers understand the text better. In fact, if John Clark Pratt or another editor ever want to update the 1996 Viking Critical Library edition of the novel, then he or she might want to include Lauren's essay in the next edition!"
“Class Structure in Comparative Perspective,” a composition authored by Erik Olin Wright, theorizes class exploitation exists as a power relationship where one group exploits their control over through property rights. Under the Marxist theory, the worker must sell their labor to the capitalist who possesses the means of production. In exchange for this labor they will receive a wage that in turn will use for sustenance. Since they have no means of their own, they will be at the mercy of the capitalist in this relationship, thus creating the power/control
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World demonstrates key principles of Marxist literary theory by creating a world where mass happiness is the tool used by positions of power known as the Alphas to control the masses known as the Epsilons at the cost of the people's freedom to choose. The social castes of Brave New World, Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons, draw parallels to the castes applied in Marxist literary theory, the Aristocracy, the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat.
Amir is the child of a wealthy man. He has a Hazara servant who has been with him ever since they were little who he takes as his best friend. ”Then he would remind us that there was a brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that not even time could break” (Hosseini 11). Amir and Hassan have a relationship/bond that nobody could ever break.
Counter hegemony emerged not only with the national resistance of Iraq but through an international movement against the war.
The Marxist theory “is the belief that the struggle between social classes is a major force in history and that there should eventually be a society in which there are no classes” – Karl Marx In the book “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood there are significant examples of the Marxist theory because of the way social classes are represented, how religion is manipulated in the society, and what values the text reinforces in the reader.
New historicism is a lens that looks at how a piece of literature is influenced by the time that the author wrote it. The critics view is influenced by the social, cultural and political environment, prejudice, and beliefs. The Kite Runner is a novel written by Khaled Hosseini and published in 2003. The main character is a Pashtun boy named Amir who has a socially unacceptable relationship with a Hazara boy named Hassan. The Pashtuns are considered as being of much higher class to the Hazara’s and have distinctive differences in appearances.
The novel The Kite runner portrays a story of a boy named Amir who emotionally struggles through life and creates and breaks bonds that he never knew he was capable of. The novel helps the reader understand how manhood, political war and friendship influence Amir’s life and his experiences. Amir is faced with a lot of problems where he has to make decisions independently, which have consequences and outcomes that all become a learning experiences for him. Throughout his childhood, he is forced to live in Afghanistan, a country which politically deteriorated as Amir grew older. Amir’s household consisted of Baba, Hassan and Ali. Hassan and his father Ali were Hazara’s who worked for Amir’s Baba as servants but his father never maltreated them instead he treated Hassan and Ali as family. In Afghanistan, Hazara’s were social outcasts in Amir’s society and were considered amongst the lowest in the Afghan caste system. However, within the walls of Baba’s home, this ridiculous caste and status notion did not exist and Amir was taught to treat them as equals and consider Hassan as his own brother as Baba would also treat him like his own son. Throughout the novel Amir’s struggle to get love and approval from his own father became real as it lead him to become emotionally and physically confused and frustrated. As Amir always wished he made himself a promise for Baba “Then I'd bring it home and show it to Baba. Show him once and for all that his son was worthy” (Hosseini, 60).
Baba once said that stealing is the worst possible crime and, yet it is revealed that Baba kept the biggest secret he had from two of the most important people in his life, stealing their right to the truth. In the fictional novel, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, atonement is influenced by two factors: socioeconomic status and guilt. These factors impacted Baba and Amir’s decisions to atone for their shameful acts of neglect, which affected the people they love.