Political Effects Of The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner is the first novel of Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. It tells the story of Amir, a boy from Kabul, Afghanistan, whose closest friend is Hassan, a young Hazara servant. Novel turns around these two characters and Baba, Amir’s father, by telling their tragic stories, guilt and redemption that are woven throughout the novel. Even in the difficult moments, characters build up to their guilt and later on to their redemption. Their sins and faults alter the lives of innocent people. First, Amir and Baba fail to take action on the path to justice for Ali and Hassan. Moreover, Amir and Baba continue to build up their guilt due to their decisions and actions. Although Amir builds up more guilt than Baba throughout the novel, he eventually succeeds in the road to redemption unlike his father. After all, Amir and Baba have many chances to fix their atonements but Baba chooses not to and Amir does. Baba uses his wealth to cover up his sins but never atone himself while Amir decides to stand up and save Sohrab and finally finds peace. Amir and Baba’s reaction to sins essentially indicate their peace of mind and how they react to guilt and injustice.

One major theme that is evident in The Kite Runner is that scars are reminders of life’s pain and regret, and, though you can ease the regret and the scars will fade, neither will completely go away. We all have regrets and always will, but though it will be a long hard process we can lessen them through redemption. The majority of The Kite Runner is about the narrator and protagonist, Amir. Almost all of the characters in The Kite Runner have scars, whether they are physical or emotional. Baba has scars all down his back from fighting a bear, but he also has emotional scars from not being able to admit that Hassan was also his son. Hassan is born with a cleft lip, but for his birthday Baba pays for it to be fixed, which left a small scar above his mouth. Hassan also has emotional scars from being raped. The reader is probably shown the emotional scars of Amir the most. Amir has emotional scars because he feels that he killed his mother, and also because his father emotionally neglects him. In the end of the novel, Amir receives many physical scars from getting beaten up by Assef, when rescuing Sohrab. Though scars will never go away and are a reminder of the past, not all scars are bad.

These laws that limit the freedom of women within the country give men more freedom, which leads to abuse in Mariam and Laila’s family. Rasheed is physically and mentally abusive towards both of his wives, and because of this, the women attempt to run away, only to be sent back home by police. The reaction from Rasheed shows that he knows he holds the power: “‘You try this again and I will find you. I swear on the Prophet’s name that I will find you. And, when I do, there isn’t a court in this godforsaken country that will hold me accountable for what I will do.’” (Hosseini 272). Rasheed’s threats are serious; many times, the verbal abuse escalates into physical harm towards his family. Moreover, without any support from the Taliban, the women are forced to obey their husband and sustain his

John Piper once said, “Redemption is not perfection, the redeemed must realize their mistakes.” One can see an idea similar to this in Kahled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. In the story, the author sends the message that redemption can be a lifelong pursuit, and until achieved, happiness will not be obtained.

Mariam and her mother ‘Nana’, reside in a kolba (hut) outside of Herat. Her father was a successful businessman named Jalil who was a polygamist and had nine children. Mariam disobeyed her mother’s wishes and hiked into town to see her Father. Mariam returned to her kolba to her mother’s suicide – forcing her to live with Jalil until he insisted an arranged marriage with Rasheed who was thirty years elder. Once in Kabul, Mariam discovered her infertility complications. Rasheed became angry towards his wife’s inability to carry a child – in particular a son, so he became extremely abusive. Laila grew up in Kabul with Tariq who eventually became romantic despite the boundaries between unwed men and women. War took over Afghanistan and Tariq’s

Ultimately, Mariam and Laila attempt to escape, but fail, which in turn infuriates Rasheed even more. These two women then work together and protect each other, and in due course, kill Rasheed during one of his “ritual” beatings. In the end, Mariam is killed for murdering her husband, and Laila, with her children, Aziza and Zalmai, finds Tariq and marries him; then, together they start their own family. Throughout the course of the story, not only was a passionate, well-written story presented, but also a clear picture of what Afghan culture and its aspects are really like.

Imagine a community being perfectly happy living life just how the people would like and having the freedom to do what they will, now imagine this freedom being taken away from them and along with it, the people's happiness, all because a group of people want you to live like they do. Doesn't seem too happy anymore, does it? In the book, Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples, this exact incident happened to the protagonist Najmah. Although in the book, the Taliban is portrayed as a cruel group of people who make unreasonable rules and discriminate against women, the book only mentions some less harsh events than the ones that happened in the reality of Afghanistan.

The Taliban implemented laws restricting the movements and actions of women in Afghanistan in public places. While attempting to visit her child in a home for young girls, Laila is beaten within an inch of her life as a consequence of walking outside without a male escort (Hosseini). The extreme course of action, beating a woman for walking alone, demonstrates the illogical and unjustifiable actions the Taliban promotes the practice of in Afghanistan. The women and men have dramatically unequal rights.

Najmah had been strongly affected by the Taliban when they took away her brother and father. She was left alone to take care of her mother and when the Taliban started bombing near her house, her mother and baby brother died. “And then I hear a strange whistling sound that seems to grow louder and louder, and the ground heaves and a loud thump echoes from somewhere below” (65). Nusrat was affected by the Taliban through her husband Faiz. He was from Afghanistan before coming to America and marrying Nusrat. When the Taliban became fiercer and he feared for his family's safety. Faiz thought about going back to Afghanistan with Nusrat. After many injuries in bombings conducted by the Taliban, it was clear that Faiz was going back to Afghanistan to work as a field Doctor. “A field hospital is no place for a woman” (96). When Faiz and Nusrat had arrived in Afghanistan, Nusrat went to live in a safer place while Faiz went to set up his field hospital. Since then, Faiz had not written back to Nusrat and Nusrat feared that he was dead. Najmah and Nusrat were both affected by the Taliban in different ways. Najmah had been through her father and brother being taken away by the Taliban while Nusrat had been through her husband wanting to help the people affected by the Taliban and

Middle Eastern Texts: Examining the Causes Behind Hatred of Western Societies The belief in the ideals of the American dream: equal opportunity, social mobility, and most importantly, the idea that hard work achieves success and prosperity, drives many Americans to steadfastly support their capitalistic representative government. However, the same cannot be said for many Middle Easterners. As a result of an oppressive government, many Middle Easterners adhere to a Marxist ideology, favor a socialistic/communistic government, and believe in a deterministic fate governed by economic standing.

Laila attended school as a child. When the Taliban came into power, she could not attend school anymore. Women who wanted to be educated were punished. Laila’s father, hakim, believes in women’s education. He states to Laila “ I know you’re still young, but I want you to understand and learn this now. Marriage can wait, education cannot. You’re a very, very bright girl. Truly, you are. You can be anything you want, Laila. You can be anything you want, Laila. You can be anything you want, Laila. You can be anything you want, Laila. I know this about you. And I also know that when this war is over, Afghanistan is going to need you as much as its men maybe even more. Because a society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated, Laila. No chance”(103). Hakim emphasizes the importance of women being educated. He hopes that one-day, Laila will pursue education and help rebuild Afghanistan after the war. In order for a country to flourish and succeed, men and women must be educated. Nonetheless, the Taliban did not understand the importance of educating women, and so they are not allowed to be educated, and thus, they cannot achieve anything in life. This brings us back to one of Nana’s many teachings, “what’s the sense of schooling a girl like you? It’s like shining a spittoon. And you’ll learn nothing of value in those schools. There is only one, one skill a women like you and me needs in life, and they don’t teach it at school… only one skill. And it’s this: tahamul.

The effects of war in The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini are not only limited to those caused by international conflict but also between individual characters and races/sects. These place an ongoing burden on the protagonist, Amir, who is motivated to atone for his cowardice at the beginning of the novel. Similarly, Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks portrays not only the physical, but psychological effects of the war on the protagonist. Both novels represent the effects of war in a way typical of the genre, in terms of crisis in masculinity and emotional turmoil. Overview the extract – context

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 Kite Runner, on the other hand, had different negative effects. One of them was the loss of friendship. After Amir watched his best friend Hassan be sexually assaulted, he was guilty for not stopping it and not telling anyone. Hosseini helped convey this loss through Amir’s thoughts, “Either way, this much had become clear; one of us had to go” (102). Amir could not handle the guilt anymore, instead of confronting Hassan or talking to an adult, he decided to accuse Hassan of stealing which led to him and his father leaving. Since Hassan left Amir’s family, he did not get to go to America; that further led to the death of Hassan. If Amir had talked to Hassan or told anyone, Hassan would have been able to go to America, which would have prevented

“Explore the theme of politics and political extremism used within the novels 1984 and The Kite Runner, referencing the contextual issues of their time.” What is meant by the term “Political Extremism”? The term political extremism refers to extreme beliefs, which are held by a person or a group and diverge from the society’s normal principals. A modern day example of political extremism in our society can refer to groups such as the Taliban and Hamas, interestingly Hosseini includes the Taliban within his novel. The role of the politics within both novels are a key point within the respective storylines, with 1984 revolving around an authoritarian government which oppresses the people living underneath the party officials, this is also seen in Hosseini’s novel in which the Taliban oppress the people living in the society and we learn about Hassan being killed by the Taliban for refusing to listen to their demands of giving the house to the “government” which is a self- imposed militia which rose to power because they appeared better than the alternative communist party of Afghanistan as Hosseini makes note during the novel,