Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Hassan is a victim of discrimination, bigotry, and class structure in Afghan society. Hassan and Ali are members of the Hazaras, a minority group of Afghanis. Amir and his father are Pashtuns, the majority, who believes they are a better class than the Hazara. Religion was all that separated Amir and Hassan, as did tribe and class. Amir learned from his father that the Harara tribe to which Ali and Hassan belonged, were inferior people. Because of this bigotry and basic class structure, Hazaras are often victims of physical, emotional and psychological abuse. Thus when a crisis comes and Hassan is being attack, Amir not only doesn't come to Hassan's aid, but also allows him to be brutally abused. Morality lacks because of this class structure, which allows people to be treated as second-class citizens. Considerations towards morality and religion helps the reader to broaden there understanding of the novel and it would be impossible to appreciated the book lacking them.

Amir’s mother, Sofia, dies in childbirth; Amir inherits her love of literature and probably her looks to some extent, but, her being dead, never receives any motherly love or guidance, which could have helped him out of the cowardly hole he later digs himself into. Amir’s father’s best friend and business partner, Rahim Khan, tries to give Amir the motherly love he clearly needs, fostering Amir’s love of writing and steadfastly standing up for him when Amir’s father, Baba, criticizes him, but Rahim Khan does not do enough to instill honesty, courage, and strength of conviction in young Amir. Amir’s best friend, Hassan, a servant a year younger than Amir, is everything Amir is not: athletic, brave, loyal, honest, and kind, inciting jealousy in Amir. Assef, a local bully, poses a real threat to Amir, hating Amir for the crime of befriending a Hazara (oppressed ethnic minority), but Amir is protected by Hassan, allowing young Amir to freeze and not stand up for himself in Assef’s presence. Last, but most importantly, is Amir’s father, Baba, and his views on Amir: he blames Amir for Sofia’s death,

Then one day sitting shattered in the coffee house he encountered an old man Mr.Adirubayswamy who guided by telling him the story of Piscine Molitir Patel(also known as Pi Patel). And the plot abruptly changes to another person as the first person of the plot telling his own story which showcases a technique of flashback by Pi Patel, moreover after certain chapters in some of them the author describes the superficial aspects of Pi Patel which is again a transition of the narrator and make readers feel his omnipresence depicting the authorial presence “He’s an excellent cook. “His overheated house is always smelling of something delicious”(Chapter6) and “His house is a temple. In the entrance hall hangs a framed picture of Ganesha, he of the elephant

Throughout Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Salman Rushdie provides a fundamental, yet intricate variety of literary usage. These instances of literary usage provide and framework of support for the text which is to follow and to further accentuate the smaller and unnoticeable details of the story in to vital parts which are necessary for better comprehension and understanding of the meaning of the upcoming events. Symbolism is the most commonly used and most imperative literary device used by Rushdie. 'With the land of Chup, on the dark side of Kahani?This looks like the doing of the leader of the Chupwalas, the Cult master of Bezaban.'(H.S.S. Pg 75) This statement from the text has a very symbolic meaning behind it, both in terms of the

Throughout the novel you can see the corruption of power via characters and their cultures. The Hazaras being a minority group, practicing the Shi’a Muslim religion, they were treated unequally. The affluent Pashtuns have discriminated the Hazaras for decades and considered them as servants. The separation of ethnic groups in Afghanistan, led to the Pashtuns utilizing their power to abolish the Hazaras out of their history. The two groups have a ongoing ethnic conflict that is inscribed into a child at a young age "I found one of my mother's old history books. . . An entire chapter dedicated to Hassan's people! In it, I read that my people, the Pashtuns, had persecuted and oppressed the Hazaras. It said the Hazaras had tried to rise against the Pashtuns in the nineteenth century, but the Pashtuns had "quelled them with unspeakable violence." The book said my people had killed the Hazaras, driven them from their lands, burned their homes, and sold their women."(Hosseini 9) It is not socially acceptable for Pashtuns and Hazaras to be acquainted. Both groups do not believe the other is a “true” Muslim and express this through violent outbursts. Nevertheless, there are exceptions to these social norms. Baba, Amir's father was a Pashtun and wealthy but throughout the novel has not followed the religious expectations of a Sunni Muslim such as despising

Finding redemption is often the only way many people can escape the demons of their past. Actions have consequences and those consequences haunt people for the duration of their lives. Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner, presents seeking redemption throughout his novel by sharing the breathtaking story of Amir, a Sunni boy who struggles to forget his guilt­ridden past. Despite his greatest efforts, Amir finds it impossible to bury his past, so he returns to his home Kabul, Afghanistan to redeem himself of his wrong doings. By incorporating

Humanity is an imperfect medium for God’s works. It smears reference lines, is too motile when warmed, and too insoluble when chilled. The perfect balance is a rare and fleeting moment among millennia of failed attempts, and even then, the canvas is only given a short burst of color, fading quickly back into the neutral tones of moral ambiguity. Likewise, in Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses,” the reader is greeted not with a uniform portrait, but with a twisted triptych of Man’s struggle to find God. His accompanying motif, however, is not any deity, but chimaera of his own making-- discernment.

Amir’s misadventures begin as a boy living in an affluent Afghanistan world. On the day of his birth, his mother hemorrhages to death. Robbed of any feminine influence or comfort, he goes to his overshadowing Baba for love and acceptance. His father denies his only son the tenderness he desires, leading Amir to believe his father despises him. After all, Amir’s

Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner is an award-winning novel and considered one of today’s most popular, contemporary classics. The story is one of familiar themes such as loyalty, forgiveness, betrayal, love, and redemption. It follows the tale of Amir and how he must atone for his sins and find a way to “be good again” (Hosseini 2). The quintessential message of this book relies on the idea of second chances. Themes of redemption, betrayal, loyalty, and forgiveness are not only shown without doubt through this book, but are also common among many literary works and religions. Hosseini is successful in showing the significance of these themes throughout the novel.

In the novel The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini tells a notable coming-of-age story portraying the actions and thoughts of Amir, a penitent adult living in the United States and his reminiscence of his affluent childhood in the unstable political environment of Afghanistan. Throughout the novel Khaled Hosseini uses character description to display his thoughts on sin and redemption.

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.

During his visit to Kahani,Haroun crossed the twilight strip which led them to an evil and forbidding region, “It was a suicidal mission, Haroun became convinced they would be defeated”(121),but after he saw Mudra a shadow warrior his opinions changed. Mudra was performing a martial dance,”The dance of the shadow warrior showed him that silence had its own grace and beauty...and that action could be as noble as words;and that creatures of darkness could be as lovely as the children of light”(125). This emphasizes the change Haroun went from seeing the evil in the Chups to seeing the beauty. Not only did stories change Haroun they changed the people in the Valley of K as well. Rashid told them “Haroun and the Sea of Stories”. The crowd became so impacted by the story they sang along and interacted with Rashid. Eventually the citizens were able to connect and sympathize with people from the land of chup. They realized how their ruler resembled Khattam-Shud and were able to choose leaders they actually liked. Storytelling takes us on a journey that lets us experience moments in a way reality doesn't let us;it changes us in a way no one else

Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner is a remarkable coming-of-age novel describing and revealing the thoughts and actions of Amir, a compunctious adult in the United States and his memories of his affluent childhood in the unstable political environment of Afghanistan. The novel showcases the simplistic yet powerful ability of guilt to influence decisions and cause conflict which arises between Amir’s childhood friend and half-brother, Hassan; Amir’s father, Baba; and importantly, himself. Difference in class The quest to become “good again” causes a reflection in Amir to atone for his sins and transform into the person of which he chooses to be.

In "Haroun and the Sea of Stories", Khattam-shud is a metaphor for Ayatollah Khomeini and Rashid is a metaphor for Rushdie. Khomeini stifled Rushdie’s freedom of speech which caused him to develop writer’s block. He was forced to leave his family to go into hiding, which was the catalyst for his divorce. In the novel, Rashid experiences the same plights. He looses the Gift of Gab and his wife because of Mr. Sengupta, who is Khattam-Shud’s real-world counterpart (155). Khattam-Shud has a cult following called the Zipped Lips, who sew their lips shut as a visual opposition to speech (148). These are extremists, like the Muslim fundamentalists willing to carry out Khomeini’s fatwa. The majority of the Chupwalas do not believe in Khattam-Shud and are only afraid of him (132). Rushdie believes that most Muslims were only afraid of Khomeini, and there was only a small group of zealous extremists that endangered his life.

Because he is likeable and the people enjoy listening to him, they will vote for the person who hired him when Rashid asks them to. Without the endorsement and backing of a good storyteller, a politician’s career is ended. Additionally, when Rashid tells his final story about the corrupt politician Snooty Buttoo, Mr. Buttoo is forced to flee and “was never seen again in the valley of K, which left the people of the valley free to chose leaders they actually liked” (Rushdie 207). Rashid’s tale convinced the people of the valley of K to stand up for what they believed in and, as with the people of chup they turned against Khattam-Shud. The tale of the defeat of Khattam-Shud inspired them to, likewise turn from their poor leader. The influence of storytelling is so great that it has the power to positively or negatively affect the career of a politician.