A Thousand Splendid Suns And The Kite Runner

Shad Helmstetter once said, “Choosing to live your life by your own choice is the greatest freedom you will ever have.” It is important that people are able to choose the paths of their own lives. As the quote suggests, the ultimate freedom is choice. Nonetheless, many people are denied this ultimate freedom. In relation to Afghanistan, many women are denied the ability to choose the course of their lives. The oppression of women in Khaled Hosseini’s, A Thousand Splendid Suns, subjects them to total control by men, however, when the prominent woman characters in the novel, such as Mariam and Laila, are able to maintain a sense of control, they pave the paths of their own lives.

Violence, war, discrimination, and poverty: these issues have long been a part of Afghanistan’s history. Even though things in Afghanistan are getting better, war fills the country, and women and children have to learn to endure abuse, caused by men and the Taliban; they also learn to endure poverty. Considering this, it is no wonder why Afghanistan is in the terrible position it is in now. Many Afghan cities like Kabul are filled with things like violence and discrimination, and the book A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini takes place in Kabul. This book follows the lives of two Afghani women, Mariam and Laila, as they suffer pain and discrimination received from the Taliban and their

In the literature, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the idea and representation of justice, and its relationship to that of the treatment of women in Afghan society, the ever-changing politics of Afghanistan, and the desired results of redemption and forgiveness, become illustrated through the novel’s characters and motives. Justice can be defined as the quality of being guided by truth, reason, and fairness. The Kite Runner illustrates the power of influence from an outside power and its effects on society, and the minds and lifestyles of the people. In relationship to the Cheverus High School Grad-at-Grad profile the actions and wrongdoings that take place in the The Kite Runner and in Afghanistan prove to be injustice.

In the novels Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, both protagonists; Victor Frankenstein and Amir, share similar characteristics and how their characteristics effect their lives and the lives around them. Both V. Frankenstein and Amir act as cowards in many dilemmas which affect their lives and the people they know tremendously. As well both characters are very ambitious, they use their ambition to try and reach their goals; some of which seem outrageous. Both males are also very selfish which reasons for their decisions they make in their lives. V. Frankenstein and Amir exhibit very similar characteristics which impact their lives and the lives around them severely.

Stereotypes are saying bad things about someone because they belong in a certain group or race Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird both are based on the theme of stereotypes. In the next 3 paragraphs I will talk about stereotypes in To Kill a Mockingbird, The Merchant of Venice, and finally compare the stereotypes in both. There are many stereotypes and these 2 stories contain many that are alike.

Khaled Hosseini’s novels, The Kite Runner (year), and A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007) both explore the idea that a significant individual can inspire a course of action, which may result in a change of self.

In Afghanistan, there is a divide between the Pashtuns and the Hazaras; the Pashtuns are upper class citizens who are treated with respect while the Hazaras are lower class, minority citizens who are treated poorly. Because of the contrasting history of the two groups, their responses to the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul were complete opposites. The Pashtuns “danced on [the] street,” (Hosseini 200) while the Hazaras cried “God help the Hazaras now” (Hosseini 213). The conflict between the Pashtuns and Hazaras in “The Kite Runner” directly reflects the real life issues in Afghanistan starting in the late 70’s and continuing on past 2001.

Throughout Afghanistan, there are groups that treat others as if they are inferior. Two of these groups are men against women and Pashtuns against Hazaras. The Taliban enforces laws that are placed heavily on women. All of these groups justify their actions because of their beliefs that they are doing what is right. Rasheed in A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Assef in The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and the Taliban, in both books, justify their actions because they see themselves as the greater person of the people they act upon.

Throughout Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, the reader observes many injustices committed due to the presence of the Taliban and cultural conflict in Afghanistan. One of the most concerning issues in Afghanistan is the mistreatment and inequality that women face on a daily basis due to Taliban mandates. Women in Afghanistan are treated as inferior beings to men and are unable to stand up for themselves due the laws the Taliban enforces. Hosseini uses the wives of Amir and Hassan, Soraya and Farzana, to represent the injustices to which women in Afghanistan are subjected.

Hosseini makes it very apparent that honour is extremely important to people in the Afghan culture and what others think of them means a lot. An Afghan would do anything to keep their honour, even if it means they are unhappy. In both novels, Hosseini shows a number of examples of dishonour and the negative impacts it can have to an individual’s well-being. According to the Honour Based Violence Network, In Afghanistan, ‘honour’ crimes remain very high along with many other forms of violence against women, and are increasing as attitudes fail to keep pace with economic and social changes.

They are victims. A victim is someone or something that is hurt by some unpleasant occurrence.The books To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men both depict several instances where people are victims. Both of these books tell a story in which the characters live through these tough conditions every day, from having no money to being victims of racial discrimination. To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men convey considerable understanding of an unstable era in American history through common events and lifestyles of people that lived through these times.

Social conditions are what shape a country. Over the years, people, not only in Afghanistan, but around the world create norms that define people’s roles in life, their future, and how they should be treated based on their gender and beliefs. Khaled Hosseini’s first novel, The Kite Runner, comments on the social conditions of Afghanistan through telling a story about the lives of two Muslim boys; a privileged Sunni Pashtun, Amir, and his long-time friend and servant, Hassan, a loyal but disadvantaged Shia Hazara. Hosseini expresses Amir’s uncertain feelings toward Hassan which form the decisions he makes throughout the book. These choices result in Amir destroying his relationship with Hassan. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini is a commentary on the social conditions in Afghanistan as shown through the roles of women and men in society and the ideals of Afghan culture. Unfortunately, these problems are still active in most of Afghanistan.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini are both significant literary merits narrated by characters, Amir and Holden, who are both longing for the acquisition of innocence. Both of these characters journeys are portrayed through foreshadowing, irony, and the characters inability to face reality. However, The Catcher in the Rye is cynical and bitter while The Kite Runner is full of sorrow and remorse.

In the book ‘The Kite Runner’ and the play ‘Les Miserables’, they both tell stories of how it is difficult for people to escape from the past. Amir managed to escape his past by redeeming himself from his wrongs, for Jean Valjean to escape from his past was, he had to open up about his life before becoming Mayor. Jean Valjean had kept his secret from his adopted all her life but thought it was time for her to know who he used to be. Amir had a dark deep secret that he kept to himself his whole life, he ever brought it up but he always had it lodged in the back of his memory. It took him many years to finally build up the guts to redeems his wrongs.

In both Persepolis and The Kite Runner, readers are presented with two main characters in search for their own self-realization. According to Lukács’s theory, “the self-realization of the individual ultimately sheds some light also on ‘social reality’” (22). Ultimately, readers are able to gain insight to the social realities of the characters’ nation states in both novels. Persepolis allows readers to learn about women and femininity in Iran’s culture while The Kite Runner provides readers with the social reality of men and masculinity in Afghanistan’s culture.