“The Kite Runner demonstrates that relationship can be greatly affected when inequalities in ethnicity, gender, class or power are apparent. Discuss”
Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner narrates the life of an Afghan, Amir, who lives a privileged life of Kabul with is businessman father, Baba, and their two servants Ali and Hassan. The young Amir is greatly affected by the ethnic and class differences between Pashtun and Hazara’s. Through Amir’s life and the society he lives in, Hosseini explores the influence on relationships when inequalities in ethnicity, gender, class or power are apparent. Hosseini does this by exploring Amir and the lives of those, who spends a large proportion of their lives and develops a relationship with him.
The ethnic difference of the Pashtuns and Hazaras is central to the ethnic divide and conflict within Afghanistan. In Afghanstan, during the 18th century when Amir lived in Afghanistan was the dark period for Hazara’s as they were persecuted and oppressed by the Pashtun’s. Abdur Rahman’s subjugation of the Hazaras gave birth to a strong hatred between the Pashtuns and Hazaras. Pashtun’s killed the Hazaras, drove them from their lands, burnt their homes, sold their women and made them slaves as Pashtuns empowered them due to their belief that Hazaras were different to them because of the difference in religion, ethics and culture. Although the Pashtun’s may have been more considerate of the Hazaras when they were working in their household, they were seen as nothing more but slaves; lowest class in society. :…in one of his stories did Baba [Pashtun] ever refer to Ali [Hazara] as his friend.”
The Essay on The Different Class Relationship in The Kite Runner
In Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, there is a strong sense of friendship. The bond between two young afghan boys, one being a servant Hassan and the other his superior Amir, prove to be a difficult yet a beneficial companionship. Although the two boys cannot hurdle their way through class differences, their feelings towards each other, although not clear, are undoubtedly friends. ...
The relationship between Ali and Baba and Hassan and Amir respectively, demonstrates the superiority of the Pashtuns, however the extent of the discrimination experiences by Hazaras becomes more apparent in the social context. In the social context explored by Hosseini, Abdur Rahman, who created a feeling of solidarity amongst the Afghan society, influences the society in Afghanistan as a whole to believe that they, Pashtuns are more powerful and higher class than Hazaras and Hazaras should be punished for facing resistance when Abdur wanted to bring Hazarajat under his control “Afghan is the land of the Pashtuns. It was always, has been, always will be. We are the true Afghans, the pure Afghans, not this flat nose here. His people pollute our homeland, our watan. They dirty our blood” as said by a proud Pashtun patriot, also known as the antagonist of the novel, Assef . As Amir grows up in this society, he is influenced to believe the differences in Pashtuns and Hazaras, this affects him as the older him saw Hassan, who is a Hazara differently. Baba, who already knows his place in society, is considerate and treats Ali more like a human being than other Pashtuns but because of the difference between Pashtun and Hazaras, he cannot see and treat Ali as a friend.
It was this social context that created tension in the relationship between Amir and Hassan. The beliefs created by Abdur Rahmans subjugation gradually manipulate the young Amir to believe that Hassan can only be seen as a slave and not as a friend. During Amirs childhood, Amir spent most of his time as Hassan and treated him as a best friend because Hassan was always there for him. They were inseparable, sharing a love of competitive kite flying and running. However, due to the tragedy when Amir was desperate to win the kite flying competition and he witnessed the rape of Hassan. The act of shame and betrayal drowns Amir into the beliefs of the Pashtuns to make him feel better and forget about his sins. After the rape, Hassan becomes an eyesore for Amir as he made himself believe that Hassan is an Hazara; he is only a slave so he decided to commit an act of treachery to force Hassan to leave the family “If I was going to toy with him and challenge his loyalty, then he’d toy with me, test my integrity.” This social context greatly affected the relationship between Hassan and Amir, thus leading to tragedies and separation of the two throughout the novel and a sense of regret when it is already too late.
The Term Paper on Social Contexts Gleaners Context One
Art in Canada FAR 250 Social Contexts presented to Mark Mullin on December 3, 1999 written by Marguerite Gravelly 4320662 1. When analysing an artwork what is to be gained from considering the social context in which it was created Are there possible drawbacks to this methodology Provide clear examples to substantiate your argument. When analysing artwork, in any form, there are often times social ...
The Kite Runner essentially provides a commentary that inequalities in ethnicity, gender, class or power can greatly affect relationships, disregarding how strong the relationship may be. Through the experience of Amir, Hosseini highlights that the social context is hard to escape when it becomes apparent to the individual. Conversely, Hosseini emphasises that confronting and overcoming the social context is difficult but it is possible in order to live a better life.
By Raymond Dao
