Marxism in The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

When you were a child, do you remember ever making a promise to be loyal to a friend? Maybe you exchanged cute heart necklaces or pendants or carved your names into a tree. In Khaled Hosseini 's The Kite Runner, two kids, Amir, and Hassan seem to have a strong friendship, represented in their names carved into a pomegranate tree. However, Amir reveals weakness in their friendship when he betrays Hassan by not intervening when the town bully, Assef, sexually assaults Hassan. In Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol S. Dweck describes two types of mindsets. One is the fixed mindset, which is the belief that a person has a fixed amount of intelligence, and one cannot see growth in error, and a growth mindset, which is the belief that

Marxist literary criticism as defined by Peter Barry approaches a literary text through terms introduced in Karl Marx’ and Friedrich Engels’ Communist economic theory. Their jointly written text titled The Communist Manifesto called for a society with “state ownership on industry… rather than private ownership”. The social theory later became known as Marxism. As stated in Barry’s text, “The aim of Marxism is to bring about a classless society, based on the common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange” (156). One of the theory’s main aspects looks to the “exploitation of one social class by another. The result leaves one class alienated.” Central to Marxism is a belief in its ability to change the material world, which it theorizes. According to Marxist theorists, only through conflicts between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, can the status quo positively change (157).

This research project is focused on understanding a book, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. In addition, the project objective is to understand choices, actions, and processes of characters and what factors led them to arrive to such consequences.

The Kite runner is the first novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini, published in 2003 by Riverhead Books . It takes place before Afghanistan’s revolution and its invasion by Russian forces. The kite runner is a vivid and engaging story that gives a picture of how long Afghanis struggled to triumph over the forces of violence, forces that threaten them even today. In this novel , four themes have been introduced, first of all Redemption is a way to make up sins committed , secondly, Adversities contribute to a person’s personality , thirdly , Fear can lead to severe mistakes and long term consequences, before last, After pain and struggles come survival and lastly, Friendship is the essence of a bond that seek the best mutually.

Marxism is a critical perspective based off of the ideas of Karl Marx, with Marx’s most famous work being the Communist Manifesto. This book illustrates

One of the honors for ‘greatest theories’ in contemporary civilization has to be awarded to Marxism. Invented in late 19th century by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Marxism has had great influences on the development of modern society. Despite its eventual failure, Marxism once led to numerous revolutions that working classes raised against the ruling parties in different countries. Consequently, it paved the way for the erection of the Berlin Wall, the formation of the Warsaw Treaties—communist camp confronting NATO, and the establishment of a world super power, the Soviet Union at the dawn of this century. Even decades later, after all those Marxist milestones

Along with the distinct division of men and women even in America, there was also a class division between Americans and Afghans. While the Americans had all white-collar jobs, Afghans were given the blue-collar jobs, despite some of them being professionals back in their homeland. Amir’s father, once a rich and powerful businessman, was forced to take up odd jobs and transactions to get by. He “sold his Buick and bought a

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.

Within every person, there exists some type of power, but it is the way one uses it that defines if they are good or evil. Power is always unpredictable, it captivates the worst and corrupts the best. In rough times people need leaders to look up to, a voice to guide them and actions to be taken. This leader can either abuse or use the power correctly. For example, in Afghanistan in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the political conflicts caused many people to flee, but some brave individuals stood around to take over the violent and oppressive rulers. This power isn’t just used in political complications but it is also expressed in social life. It is used in homosexual and heterosexual relationships. Usually, one half feels as though they

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.

In the book The Kite Runner, original social status is proven to create barriers in life regarding the aspects of friendship, mindset, and adaptation to change as we observe Baba’s and Amir’s life journeys in order to discover how it affects these aspects. Amir’s friendship with his hazara servant’s son Hassan takes a sudden toll as he ultimately comes to believe that traditional and historical beliefs outweighed true friendship as he was a young child. The mindset of Baba does not adjust when he and Amir are forced to move to America, as he still believes he possesses the same amount of power as he did in Afghanistan. While living in America, Baba never fully adapts to the American culture and way of life as he continues to live and

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.

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

The Marxist literary criticism states that “literature reflects class struggle and materialism.” Someone who reads texts through a Marxist lens tries to identify issues that relate to both money and power, and commonly asks questions about how they deal with the struggles for money and power, along with the roles they play in the work. These criticisms stem from the beliefs and perceptions of popular philosopher Karl Marx that human society consists of clashes and conflicts between the oppressed and oppressing; between the proletariats and the bourgeoisie (Delahoyde).

Marxism is a perspective that was first introduced in the mid 1800’s by Karl Marx and is still applied to situations today. Marxism believes that the mode of production in society determines the social relations of productions (Mack & Ott, 2016). It is considered to be a materialistic philosophy as it has a strong focus on the material world and how it plays a part in human thought. This helps in learning more about the product consumption of the media industry and how social institutions such as family structures, religion and education reflect on different