Fascism In The Kite Runner

Quite the antithesis of Baba, an outspoken liberal, is Assef, best described in Hosseini’s eyes as a local radical. Radical not in his strict obedience to Islamic jurisprudence, but ironically in his dedication to the perversion of it, being a part of the Taliban that “reigned over years of theft, rape, murder and torture under the pretense of abiding by Islamic Law” (Sandstrom 2). He uses religion as nothing more than a pretext for the pathological cruelty he shows to others he deems more inferior, despising minorities like

Next by condemning totalitarianism, Orwell warns readers of the dystopian society to come if fascism isn’t stopped. In 1984, Orwell relays his fear of an oppressive government by drawing readers close to home with an account of England in the year 1984. The novel relates the experiences of Winston Smith a low member of the, totalitarian ruling party in London in the year 1984. We learn in the beginning of the story that Winston hates the suppressive government, referred to as “big brother”, and is eager to rebel in anyway possible. In a huge act of rebellion Winston decides to express his thoughts in a journal, in a rage even writing, “theyll shoot me i dont care theyll shoot me in the back of the neck i dont care down with big brother they

Cruelty is something that eventually causes agony in the best of us. In The Kite Runner, the author uses cruelty in the novel to push the story and characters in a new direction. Cruelty acts as a driving force for the protagonist, Amir, and the people he interacts with. The author does this by placing the characters in unfamiliar situations and forcing them to react to those situations. Initially, Amir is placed in an unfamiliar situation when his friend, Hassan, is abused. His actions while he is in this situation set off a chain reaction forcing the characters to navigate difficult situations. Throughout these difficult situations, Amir grows emotionally as a result of the cruelty around him.

Throughout the world marxism has been adopted through government. This is the case with the novel The Kite Runner , this novel is about a young Pashtun boy named Amir and Hassan, a Hazara who is Ali's servants son, they fight kites in the city of Kabul. Hassan is a successful "kite runner" for Amir; he knows where the kite will land without watching it. Amir and Hassan have grown up together yet in two different social class. Marxist criticism is focusing on social class and how their government functions. Marxism plays an important role in the novel The Kite Runner because the book illustrates how different you walk the world as a Pashtun and Hazara. Amir’s is a Pashtun and Hassan a Hazara.

Completely by different circumstances are the members of the middle generation shaped – Amir, Hassan and Assef. Their childhood covers the transitional part of Afghanistan’s 20-th century history. Of course, the boys are really different in nature, but Soviet occupation is what caused such different roads to be chosen by the three characters. And that huge change in their lives determined who they are going to grow into as adults.

Had Hosseini chosen to further elaborate on the story he could have only done it through historical content and facts. The plot that he wrote was enough to cover everything, he had figured that his readers coming to his book would already know the story of the exile of King Zahir Shah, of the Soviet invasion and the devastating civil war that followed, and the rise of the Taliban, since he had meant for people to read it when it was published in 2001. Another thing would be how he was vague about the culture and typical life in Afghanistan. Hosseini writes “Now if you were Americans, it wouldn’t matter. People here marry for love, family name and ancestry never come into the equation. They adopt that way too, as long as the baby is healthy, everyone is happy. But we are Afghans…” (188). He wrote enough that you could make guesses and he hinted at certain aspects such as customs that are oppressive to women, and the relations between Pashtuns and Hazaras. If you want to know more you would be able to research it on

Cruelty is a topic that can function as a major plot point in stories and connect to several different literary elements. An author may use cruelty to express a theme, or a message about the real world, exemplified through a story. Cruelty could also be used as a device in order to progress plot. Even as a character trait, cruelty can give the reader more insight into a story’s plot, setting, or even the characters themselves. In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, cruelty helps to communicate different themes, progress the plot, and give insight into characters.

The conditions in Afghanistan created upon the Russian invasion caused much pain and suffering to the citizens of the country. In Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner,” the consequences of this invasion created a harsh environment for the children and adults of Afghanistan. This environment created the development of mental disorders in Amir, Assef, and Sohrab throughout the novel. By examining the mental disorders such as Narcissistic disorder in Assef, the antisocial disorder in Amir and the adjustment disorder in Sohrab, it will be shown how the events in Afghanistan contribute to these characters mental problems.

One day Asseff rapes Hassan as an act of power, and Amir witnesses the actions but acts in a cowardly matter and simply avoids the matter by ignoring it. Amir then proceeds to cut off the relationships between himself and Hassan, “I actually aspired to cowardice, but the real reason I was running, was that Asseff was right. Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay to win Baba. Was it a fair price? The answer floated to my conscious mind before I could thwart it: He was just a Hazara. Wasn’t he?” Amir did it because the traditional and historical beliefs were more important than friendship. This action displays how being born in a different social class can outweigh all feelings of love and friendship with one of a different social group.

Conforming to society's standards causes children to have close-minded ideas, often limiting their opportunities. The discrimination of Hazaras in Afghan society results in Amir never fully accepting Hassan as a friend. Assef brings this thought to the limelight when he taunts Hassan before raping him: "Have you ever

Reading a text through a Marxist lens can expose one to another layer of depth not initially seen by the average reader. Marxism is a methodology used to analyze class conflicts, especially in capitalism. In Marxist thought, the upper class, the bourgeoisie, is oppressing and using the working class, the proletariat, for their own profit. This strife between the classes will eventually lead to a revolution, bringing a socialist or communist economy. In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, the main character, Amir, struggles with the issue of class, specifically when dealing with the son of his father’s servant, Hassan. Throughout the novel Marxist ideology can be applied but it’s especially relevant in Amir’s perception of Hassan and their

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.

First, Amir’s relationship with his father, Baba, helped create Amir’s identity. Their intricate relationship often left Amir feeling worthless as if he could not live up to the standards of a Pashtun. This negatively impacted Amir growing up; his values constantly changed as he tried to form a close bond with his father. Baba raised Amir to believe that everyone in Afghanistan had a certain role to play in life, but they should all be treated with respect. Baba’s values made Amir think he had disappointed his father. The high expectations that Baba had for Amir showed that he cared about their reputation. Being the child Amir was, he translated Baba’s hardness as though his father were unhappy to have a child such as Amir. Amir recounts the emotion displayed on his father’s face after an afternoon together; he laments, “Mostly I will never forget Baba’s valiant efforts to conceal the disgusted

Dog meat for the dogs” (277). Viewing the Hazaras as subhuman, allows Assef and the Taliban, the group he identifies with, to easily attempt to annihilate them, in the ways Hitler, “a man with a vision,” attempted to rid Germany of the Jews (40). Moreover, wealthy Pashtuns are privy to an education while Hazaras are mostly prone to menial and simple household chores. As a Pashtun living in the wealthy neighborhood known as Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, Amir has the privilege of receiving an education and gaining literacy, while Hassan remains illiterate, cooking and cleaning with his father Ali, in Baba’s home. In spite of illiteracy, Hassan’s shrewdness can be seen when he finds a plot hole in one of Amir’s short stories. Amir himself acknowledges, however, the superior and cold voice within which states, “What does he know, that illiterate Hazara? He’ll never be anything but a cook. How dare he criticize you” (34)? The discrimination between Pashtuns and Hazaras is a strong undertone which advertently and inadvertently affects the relationship between Amir and Hassan.

Hosseini puts an emphasis on the presence of class discrimination in Afghanistan where the Pashtuns are the pure class that dominates over the minority group of Hazaras and the poor in the society. The novel reveals the violence and cruelty predominant in the society against the weak in the society. In fact, people cannot get married in another class that is not of their status and the Hazaras are the most affected class in the story. The Hazaras (people from the low class) are degraded, and this is evident with the emotional, physical, psychological abuse they get from the Pashtuns (Bloom 46). The minority group from the Hazaras is violated by the upper class who are the Pashtuns because they are powerless. A good example is that of Amir and Hassan whereby Amir had established a class distinction between them because his friend was from the minority group and he was the son of a wealthy businessperson in Kabul. Hassan and his father were treated like servants from a low