Quotes From The Kite Runner

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.

3. Hazaras are servants. They don’t get educated and usually spend most of their lives serving the wealthy. Ali and Hassan, who are Shi’a Muslims, have been the only Hazaras introduced so far.

Amir and Baba eventually leave Afghanistan as well, forced out by the Russian invasion of their beloved country. Everything he does at this point proves that he truly loves Amir; he sacrifices his wealth, business, and life to bring Amir to the safety of the United States. In response to this new country, filled with new people and languages, Amir and Baba’s relationship drastically transforms. Before, Baba was all powerful and knowledgeable, but now, Amir guides his father in the American way. Nowhere is this more evident than when Baba vandalizes the Nguyen’s store after they ask

In that novel, there were two main social classes, one being the Pashtuns and the other Hazara. The Hazaras were seen as below the Pashtuns and they would use them as servants and abuse them. They didn’t have that respect for the Hazaras so they would treat them differently. They were not only treated differently, but seen as different. Without the respect between these two classes, the Pashtuns went on to believe that they were superior and better than the Hazaras.

Baba seems to be calling Amir a coward, as if he needs someone to do everything for him. Amir always tries to impress Baba, however Amir truly disappoints Baba. Amir wouldn't have heard this conversation, but this leaves him with major regret. The one thing he cares about the most is pleasing Baba and he can’t even do that. This quote also becomes true later in the book. After the kite competition Amir searches to find Hassan who is running the blue kite. As Amir comes to a dark alley he hears voices. He peeks around the corner to see Hassan being interrogated by Assef, Wali, and Kamal; “I opened my mouth , almost said something. Almost. The rest of my life might have turned out differently if I had. But I didn’t. I just watched. Paralyzed” (73). In the book this is Amir's biggest regret and it hants him. He could have stopped Assef from rapping Hassan if he just said something, but as Baba said he “can’t stand up for anything”. Khaled Hosseini makes the audience

When Amir fails to interfere with Assef’s rape of Hassan due to fear for his own wellbeing, Amir sets the conflict in motion. He refers to Hassan as, “the price [he] has to pay” in order to win Baba’s affections, and says that, “he was just a Hazara” (Hosseini, 77). Amir decides that,

Later on in the novel, the audience is confronted with the fact that Baba, just like Amir, betrayed his best friend as well. Both Amir and Baba spend many years of their adulthood living with guilt over their head. While no one knew, Baba attempted to atone for laying with Ali’s wife and fathering Hassan: never forgetting Hassan’s birthday, paying for his lip surgery, and always inviting him along with Amir on road trips. Although Baba attempted to make up for his wrongdoing, he truly never confronted the fact that he did it. He continued to lie to Ali, Hassan, and Amir, robbing them of the chance to the truth.

There are two different types of people in Afghanistan, the Pashtuns and the Hazaras. The Hazaras are not wanted in Afghanistan so they were treated differently. While the Pashtuns would go to school, the Hazaras were made into slaves. Amir, the narrator of the story, is a Pashtun; his best friend, Hassan, is a Hazara. Later on we find out that Amir and Hassan are actually half brothers.

Critics, such as Franz Spiegel argue that, “The Hazaras act as servants to their Pashtun superiors, but also part of the family clashing with social norms”. I agree with Franz statement. Hassan is Amirs “best friend” and “servant”. This is shown throughout the novel, but it’s clear that Hassan and Ali are more like family to Amir and Baba. It is shown to be a complicated relationship between the characters as during the time Hosseini wrote the novel, it wasn’t the norm for races such as Pashtuns and Hazaras to have a relationship like Amir and Baba have with Hassan and Ali.

The Pashtuns persecuted Hazaras, they were very violent and killed many Hazaras. This is showed to be true as the novel says “ I found my mother’s history book.. the Pashtuns has persecuted and oppressed the Hazaras… the book said that my people killed the Hazaras, driven from their lands, burned their lands, and sold their women” (31). The Pashtuns showed a tremendous discrimination towards the hazard by calling them names. One of the names they would call them is “flat-nosed”. The novel says “People called Hazaras mice eating, flat nose, load-carrying donkeys” (32).

More than 8000 Hazaras have been killed just in Afghanistan from 1993.(The) The Taliban have been constantly performing attacks towards the Hazaras . In fact, the Hazaras have already been considered as people from the lower social class while the Pashtuns are classified as the superior. One of the worst attacks that has occurred against the Hazaras before the Taliban massacre took place on February of 1993 where over one thousand Hazaras were killed. What was even more surprising was that this attack was directed by the President Rabbani. Rabbani was the President of Afghanistan from 1992 and 1996. The Taliban then started to control Afghanistan after 1996 which worsened the situation as mentioned earlier. They tried to force their own law for all Pashtuns and Shias to follow, such as how all men have to wear beard, banning kite running and banning heels, etc. Most Afghans chose to obey due to fear towards the Taliban caused an unbalanced relationship with the Taliban. However, some Pashtuns and Hazaras came together and protested together for the rights of Hazaras against the government for the first time in history on 23rd July, 2016. (The) The Pashtuns were realizing the unfairness in the treatment towards Hazaras, and some decided to send a hand. However, due to this protest, at least 80 people died along with 230 injured in a bomb blast by ISIS. There were also followed up attacks from ISIS directed against Hazara as a

In the beginning we learn much about the situation between Amir and Hassan. Amir allowed Hassan to be ambushed to some degree in light of the way that he thought bringing home the kite would win him Baba's warmth. He only thought of himself and didn’t consider what Amir went through. All this just so that it will his guilt over his mother's downfall will be gone and also to gain happiness for himself. To some degree, Amir may be right. He was alone his father didn’t even think of him as a son but after this his father finally recognized him. Baba contributes a more noteworthy measure of his time with him, invites him out to a film when it was constantly Amir, who required to ask, gloats about his triumph in the kite rivalry, and forms a significant social occasion of his birthday.

Amir, representing the Pashtuns and high-society Afghanis, allows himself to degrade Hassan, the face of the mere Hazaras of the lowest class rank. Through the eyes of Amir, it seems as though Baba preoccupies himself passing time with his comrade Rahim Khan; when he sporadically attempts to involve Amir in his life, Baba always suggests that Hassan accompany them in their daily adventures leaving Amir questioning why his father tries desperately to avoid alone time and bonding moments with his son. The initial occurrences in which Amir witnesses Baba's immediate affection for Hassan drive Amir's negative mental attitude and envy towards his only companion Hassan.

Ethnocentrism is the key cause of prejudice in the Afghani society. An example of prejudice in the novel is the verbal harassment of Ali and Hassan due to their racial and physical bias. Due to Ali's mongoloid features and physical disabilities, the neighborhood kids taunt Ali. In the quote " Who did you eat, you flat nosed Babalu?"(Hosseini 19) ties in with the theme of agony, as Ali and Hassan undergo physical, psychological and emotional agony because of racial discrimination Another example of ethnic apartheid is the death of Hassan. The Taliban, primarily Pashtun, want to exercise ethnic cleansing by annihilating the Hazaras. This is proven by the mass massacre of Hazaras in Mazar-i-Sharif. The chief factor in Hassan's death is racial prejudice. The quote "The Talibs aid he was a liar and a thief like all Hazaras and ordered him to get his family out by sundown."(Hosseini 218) proves the racial ethnocentrism

As said by Amir in ' Kite- Runner' , " Never mind any of those things. Because history isn't easy to overcome. Neither is religion. In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was a Sunni and he was a Shi'a and nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing ." Many past events have occurred where social differences have influenced mindsets of people, taking the Nazi ideology where removal of Jews from the whole world was thought as a priority .In Afghanistan, till date Shias and Sunnis are segregated, Hazaras are ill -treated and are called mice eating and load carrying donkeys. Pashtuns, on the other hand are the high classed majority. Despite all these contrasts in Race, religion, caste or origin, socials differences are overcome and