The Kite Runner

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.

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.

These two ethnicity groups both contain Afghan people but there is a division between them due to their difference in ethnicity and their physical appearance. As Afghanistan is a pashtun majority, Hazaras are oppressed as they are the minority.When is made fun of with being friends with a hazaras who is Hassan, he only wants to play with hassan where he is not seen public because he values social class more than his loyalty to Hassan .We find evidence of ethnic oppression in the ways the Hazaras are discriminated on the basis of their external features. “It also said some stuff I did know, like that people called Hazaras mice-eating, flat nosed, load carrying donkeys. I had heard some of the kids in the neighborhood yell those names to Hassan.” (Hosseini 9). Hazaras are the proletariat essentially in the afghan society which

The Kite Runner is a film based on the first novel of Khaled Hosseini, which was published in 2003 and became a bestseller, thus was translated to many different languages and spread around the world, becoming a discussion topic for quite a while. One of the reasons why this book is so rich and attractive is the variety of characters, which are all born in Afghanistan and spent at least most of their childhood there, but at the same time have different views, virtues and experience. And those characters, depending on the generation they belong to, are shaped by particular circumstances, political and historical events.

In the novel The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini purposely utilizes setting to play a pivotal role in the portrayal of an important focus when narrating a post 9/11 Afghan and American novel. The author’s deliberate incorporation of Afghan and American settings over a 3-decade time frame successfully illustrates the differences and similarities between Eastern culture and Western culture, as well as highlighting the harm each culture cultivates. The emphasis placed upon the discrimination of Hazaras by the Pashtuns not only informs the readers of the socio-economic relations in Afghanistan but also addresses a parallelism of harm towards Afghanis from Americans. Hosseini breaks down post 9/11 stereotypes by showing that a person's socio-economic class or ethnic group does not determine their ability to form friendships, feel guilt and seek redemption. Khaled Hosseini rehumanizes a culture which has been demonized by the generalizations of many individual Americans and many Hollywood films. He does this by developing universal themes which demonstrate that Afghans and Americans

​In the novel, “The Kite Runner”, written by Khaled Hosseini, was taken place in Afghanistan during the 1970’s to the year of 2002. Many historical events happened during this time period and Hosseini portrayed it into his novel. Kabul, the capitol of Afghanistan, was a free, living area for many Afghanistan families to enjoy the life they were given. Until one day, Afghanistan was then taken over and attacked. In the novel, Amir, the protagonist, must redeem himself and the history behind his actions because of his past decisions and make himself good again for the Afghanistan people.

Aside from the themes, the history of Afghanistan is depicted in a first person narration to give the readers a sense of empathy. It is understandable why there is controversy behind Khaled Hosseini novel of his accounts on the oppression of the people of Afghanistan because of how blatantly truthful it is,

In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, he tells a story about a boy, but he ultimately tells a story about Afghanistan. Division and barriers in relationships between Amir and Baba, Amir and Sohrab, Amir and Soraya, and many others is a common theme throughout the book and one of the main examples of this is the social separation of Hazaras and Pashtuns. Hosseini includes the historical, yet horrific, massacre of Hazaras in Mazar-I Sharif in 1998 to maintain a consistent timeline of Afghanistan and further support the theme of disconnection. The conflict between Pashtuns and Hazaras dates back to the time when the Mongols had conquered most of Asia, the Middle East, and were invading Eastern Europe.

Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, takes place in Afghanistan during two different wars. The first war takes place from the nineteen seventies until nineteen eighty-eight, but a part of it has rolled into present day, two thousand fourteen. This war originally involved Afghanistan and the Soviet Union, but is now a civil war in Afghanistan (“The Afghan War”). In 1978, “Afghanistan changed forever,” (Hosseini 34). The power in Afghanistan was overthrown and handed to Marxist-Leninist political parties until the invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet troops in 1979 (“The Afghan War”). The Soviet War with Afghanistan was responsible for ripping apart families and the country of Afghanistan. During this time, 4.3 million Afghan citizens

In the movie, “The Kite Runner”, the political turmoil reveals the effects it has on the lives of two people with different religious and ethnic backgrounds. As a whole, while the movie is about the childhood of a young afghan boy, it also reveals the major political events that happen during the time and how these political events severely affect the lives of those in the movie. Throughout Amir’s childhood, the political transitions of Afghanistan are also shown – for example: first it was the state of Kabul during the monarchy, and then the founding of the republic, and then the Soviet invasion. All of these events each have a significant impact on both Amir and Hassan. The destruction of Kabul forces Amir and his father to leave the country

It is this mentality that gets Baba to where is at the end of his life; he may not be as rich but he is still is respected amongst community. This shows that hard work can get anyone anywhere they want to get in life. While in America Baba is offered a hand out he shows he is only comfortable earning what he gets “I work always. In Afghanistan I work, in America I work.” (Hosseini 286).

Hosseini portrays image filled lines using different techniques to beautifully capture the emotion each characters ambiance. When reading, one is introduced to the immense fear afghans, Baba and Amir in

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

In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini creates a portrait of the beauties and horrors of his hometown Kabul, Afghanistan based on real-life events. Hosseini depicts racial, religious and class issues in Kabul. The setting and social milieu drastically changed from the early 1970’s when the country was a secular regime (people were living their lives as they chose to) to the late 1970’s when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and violence and instability began. The result of violence increased the inequalities between social class and religion. Hosseini shows how the novel’s setting and social milieu in Kabul directly influences and shapes the relationship between two young boys, Amir, an upper class Pashtun, and Hassan, Amir’s servant who is a lower class Hazara.

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.