Gender Inequality In The Kite Runner

After losing his wife while she was in labor, he was burdened until the end of his life. Even his own son could not bring him joy due to the fact that he was not athletic nor could he stick up for himself. He as well as society looked down upon Amir for his lack of manliness. Baba was constantly dealing with his own self conscience yet did good deeds to cover them up and hide them from society so they also would not see how broken he was. He later on died with cancer but was happy for his son. He did not feel dishonored, he was proud of Amir. Like Rahim Khan said “ Children are not coloring books. You can’t fill them with your favorite colors.” This really spoke to Baba before his passing and made him realize that Amir was doing what he wanted to do, taking his own path. Baba found peace in himself with his son and therefore died with no regrets. Some parents passed with grief for their

Two main themes in the novel The Kite Runner are that of social class and gender roles. Everywhere that Amir, the main protagonist, turns, society is divided. From his earliest childhood memories to living in America, there always seems to be some sort of invisible line drawn between his people. There is separation between the Pashtuns and the Hazaras, between Americans and Afghans, between men and women, and between the Talibs and the people of Afghanistan.

In the book, Baba seems to be very tough and masculine. There were even rumors that he once tackled a bear. “ My father was a force of nature, a towering Pashtun specimen with a thick beard, a wayward crop of curly brown hair as unruly as the man himself, hands that looked capable of uprooting a willow tree, and a black glare that would ‘drop the devil to his knees begging for mercy,’as Rahim Khan used to say.” When Amir was young he tried really hard to be like his dad. He joined the soccer team to gain his approval, but he wasn’t interested in that. “Of course, marrying a poet was one thing, but fathering a son who preferred burying his face in poetry books to hunting...well, that wasn't how Baba had envisioned it, I suppose.” Amir couldn’t live up to his father’s expectations because he wasn’t the same person as

Equality is something we humans crave for when we are in a time of hardship. When we are being discriminated against, we feel the utmost pain and the need for freedom. Discrimination has lingered since the beginning of time, and ending it is impracticable. A French novelist, Honore de Balzac proclaims, “Equality may perhaps be a right, but no power on earth can ever turn it into a fact.” Here, Balzac is acknowledging that an individual is born a free man and is just as equal as any other man. But, an individual will never be fully equal as they desire. Some parts of society will try to act superior to a certain quality of someone’s life, like their race, religion, culture, etc. This statement proves to be valid in Khaled Hosseini’s novel,

However, his constant burden of having to pay for his adulterous act, considered one of the ultimate sins in his conservative Sunni Islamic environment, coupled with the tragedy of his wife’s death leads Baba to also be portrayed as a less of a father and more of having an immature personality in the way he deals with his son. Hosseini’s purpose in this complex relationship with Amir was to highlight how different the circumstances were in Afghanistan given more extreme social conditions Americans are unfamiliar with. This conflict leads Hosseini to somewhat reconcile Baba’s bad parenting as being a product of the trade-offs necessary to living in context of that particular belief system. His preoccupation with relieving his guilt prevented him from being the father Amir secretly desired him to be.

Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, Amir was the son of a wealthy social worker. He was brought up with the son of his servant, and perhaps his only best friend, Hassan. Amir had a rocky relation with his father. At times, it seemed as his father loved him but those moments didn’t lasted forever. He thinks Baba (his father) wishes Amir were more like him, and that Baba holds him responsible for killing his mother, who died during his birth. Despite being best friends, Amir thinks that Hassan is beneath him because he belonged to an inferior cast. He used to mock him jokingly or tried to outsmart him. In all fairness, it was Amir’s cowardly nature that

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.

The first time the reader is introduced to the theme comes at a time when Amir is feeling as though he is not deserving of his fathers appreciation. “Because the truth of it was, I always felt like Baba hated me a little. And why not? After all, I had killed his beloved wife, his beautiful princess, hadn’t I? The least I could of done was to have the decency to turn out a little more like him. But I hadn’t turned out like him.” [19] Amir is showing he feels responsible for his father’s misfortunes, and believes his father doesn’t love him since he and his father are so different. Amir constantly tries to redeem himself for “killing” Baba’s wife by trying to become a better son. Amir tries to become athletic like his father, but fails. Then tries to get into spectating soccer with his father, but he can’t do that either. Amir discovers through this that the traits he admires in his father are the things Amir lacks. These traits include strong values, success in business and life in general, as well as athleticism. One can see Amir’s attempts at redemption through his desire to become more like his father, even though he realizes he is

Amirs father, Baba, is a strong man very set in his ways. He represents the independent culture of old Afghanistan. He instills his ideals of masculinity on Amir, and believes he should be stronger, more sports oriented, and able to stand up for himself. “Of

Social status allows the powerful to gain more power, while pushing the struggling deeper into a hole. Hazaras are an ultimately low class in Afghanistan with very minimal rights. In The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini the protagonist Amir is a higher level Afghan citizen who is best friends with Hassan, a lower level Hazara. Throughout the book Amit gradually begins to treat Hassan more like a Hazara is treated by the majority of the population. Assef bullies Hassan to show him his place as a minority in Afghanistan. Due to Hassan being a Hazara, Baba avoids social embarrassment by not exposing the truth of Hassan being his son. Hassan later on gets killed for being a Hazara. In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini shows that an individual's social status affects their future through the way Hazaras are treated in Afghanistan.

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.

In The Kite Runner men and women have roles to play in Afghan society. Men are universally portrayed as physically and emotionally strong. Women as submissive, dependent,and pure. This fits with stereotypes in the world because stereotypically men are viewed superior sex. Examples of characters who are positively shown for there gender specific roles are Baba and Soraya's mother Khala Jamila. Baba obviously is physically strong and does show few emotions his interest and bravery make him the epitome of the Afghan male. Khala Jamila is very submissive to the general and has even given up singing to appease her husband. Characters who don’t fit the mold like Amir and Soraya are in a negative light. Soraya has a rebellious spirit and has to keep

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

The role women play in this novel demonstrates a significant part in how Afghanistan is portrayed. The first most important part of a woman’s life shown in The Kite Runner is her reputation. The level of respect they get is dependant on their reputation of being a proper woman. Maintaining a good social status for Afghan women is a lifelong restriction because when they do something against the role of a good woman, their reputation is tarnished. One example of this shown through the reputation of Soraya Taheri in the novel. Soraya runs

Born in Kabul Afghanistan on March 4 in the year 1965, Khaled Hosseini is an American novelist. He was born in a family of five and was the oldest. His father was a diplomat in Afghanistan while his mother was a high school teacher in Kabul. Hosseini has lived in the US since he was the age of fifteen and currently is an American citizen. While in Afghan, there was a communist coup, which led Hosseini’s family to seek asylum in the US, and they moved to San Jose, California. After high school, he attended Santa Clara University and earned a bachelor’s degree in Biology. Later on, he went to California San Diego medicine school and graduated with a medical degree (Famous authors.org). Hosseini completed his residency at