The Kite Runner Analysis

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.

The illegitimate son of Baba and Amir’s half-brother (which he didn’t knew until after Hassan’s death), Hassan was a truly good and beautiful person even though he's had his fair share of hard times. In my opinion, Hassan has it tougher than Amir from the beginning. Not only did Hassan lose his mother (like Amir), his mother flat-out rejected him But Hassan, unlike Amir, is a selfless and joy-filled creature. They spent most their childhood together playing games, reading books and flying kites until that fateful day where he was deprived of his pride. Hassan had a very good relation with Baba as it would later prove out to be his father as well. After the war stricken years, Rahim Khan asked him to come back to the house in Kabul and agrees after thinking about it. He felt that he was near Amir by living in that house and that he’s loyal. His loyalty and integrity are the essence of his character. He and his wife were slaughtered by the Talibans in the earlier part of 2000, thus ending the life on an inspiring individual.

Different people have various beliefs and their own way of doing things. Hassan was one exceptional character whose loyalty overruled all betrayals in the novel. Just as any other individuals Hassan dealt with hardships in life however

When Hassan went to run the kite he was raped and he allowed this to happen because he saw it as a sacrifice so that Amir could gain the acceptance from his father that he always longed for. Also, Hassan died at the hands of a Taliban soldier in an attempt to protect Baba’s home. Hassan is too good and too loyal which is what makes him a christ-like figure, but also what leads to his death in the

Eventually, Amir received a call from his old mentor, who told him to come back to Afghanistan because "there is a way to be good again." What Amir learned while he visited his mentor would lead him to what he considered redemption. Hassan had been killed, which Amir partially considered his fault, but Hassan's son, Sohrab, was still alive. With the idea of giving him to a good placement organization, Amir set out to save Sohrab. Amir found Sohrab in the possession of a Taliban member, the same man who had raped Hassan when they were children. In order to save Sohrab, Amir had to fight the man, and he was injured very badly in doing so. Despite his injuries, he felt better about himself. He felt free, at peace. He finally had the courage to tell his wife about what he had done, and that took a weight off of his shoulders, as well. Even though Hassan had forgiven him long ago, Amir refused anything less than Hassan's fate.

The dynamics of father-son relationships are central to both novels. In The Kite Runner, Amir has a very complex relationship with his

Hassan is considerably Amir’s sidekick, but he is also Amir and Baba’s servant. Amir is completely discourteous towards Hassan, and Amir is notorious to take advantage of him throughout the novel. Subsequently, following Hassan’s death, Amir discovers himself and Hassan are brothers, but as for Hassan it is too late. Regardless Hassan seeming benevolent, the story is completely being told

While Baba is a large presence in the novel, the most prominent character in respect to self-sacrifice is Hassan, Amir’s servant and illegitimate half-brother. Very early on in the book, Amir describes Hassan as “incapable of hurting anyone” (Hosseini 11), and Hassan lives up to that nature. Hassan hurts nothing and no one, taking what is given to him without any complaint. For example, when Amir and Hassan make mischief by annoying their neighbour with a shard of glass, Hassan takes the fault. However, the most famous example of self-sacrifice in the novel is after

Hassan seems weak at the beginning of the story, but his strength shows as the story progresses. Hassan is portrayed as a follower and a servant to Amir, but he actually is the one who has strength and protects Amir from danger. Hassan always stands up for what he believes is right. When the Taliban comes to Amir’s old house where he is staying and demands him to get out, he stands up for himself, his family, and all of the Hazara people. “They told Hassan they would be moving in to supposedly keep it safe until I return. Hassan protested again. So they took him to the street..and ordered him to kneel..and shot him in the back of the head” (219) Hassan believes that he should stand up for what is right and that is what ultimately costs him his life.

There are many examples where Hassan has gone out of his way and sacrificed his own body to let others not get hurt. Hassan is known as the best kite runner even with those asian like eyes that people say he has. The ultimate sacrifice that Hassan committed was the one for Hassan’s happiness in the alley and the title really signifies the person that the story was built on and who that person was know as. Hasaan could have possibly knew that Amir was around the corner and sacrificed his own body sacrifice so that Amir does not have to get hurt. The choice of Hassan to not yell and not show any signs of resistance as Amir described “Hassan didn't even struggle. Didn't even whimper.”(81) displays a sign of surrender and acceptance of why people are treating him differently . For Hassan to let that happen to him and feel like he deserves it shows the sign of surrender and sacrifice from him. Hassan has been thru many situations of discrimination like the soldiers or when Assef called him a “Babalu” (p.42) because of his facial characteristics. Hassan and Ali were servants but Hassan was more than that and became a friend of Amir's. Hassan goes through a lot of trouble for Amir and the event that shows this is when Hassan says “Yes” (p.111) too stealing Amir's watch and money just so that Baba is not ashamed in Amir and Amir does not get in trouble. This is the last moment that Amir and Hassan get to see each other's faces and the last sacrifice that Hassan does for Amir. Hassan is willing to sacrifice his home and Ali's life for Amir's. A human must be really forgiving and loyal to have

Hassan is unwaveringly loyal, courageous, and humble, as well as emotionally and physically strong; but although these are his strengths, they are also some of his greatest weaknesses. Hassan has many great traits to contribute to making him the person he is, but those traits also were some of his greatest flaws. For example, Hassan's loyalty brought him to his death as read in this quote, “They told Hassan they would be moving in to supposedly keep it safe until I return. Hassan protested again. So they took him to the street—" (Hoessini 179).

Hassan’s inferior character is presented by the way he serves Amir, ‘While I ate and complained about homework, Hassan made my bed’, which implies that no matter how close they may be, Hassan remains the servant which he accepts and is content with, ‘I’d hear him singing to himself in the foyer as he ironed’. Also, Hassan addresses Amir as ‘Amir agha’ which highlights his respect to Amir. However, despite their divisions, when they are alone together they consider themselves equal, ‘”Amir and Hassan, the sultans of Kabul”’, creating irony as they are both aspiring the same hopes and dreams but we know that it is unattainable.

Throughout the novel, Amir endeavors to be approved by his father, Baba, who is admired by people in Kabul. Unfortunately, Baba believes that Amir, unlike him, is very unmanly “and [that he] never fights back. He just... drops his head ” (Hosseini 24). Since Baba wishes for a son who would stand up for himself, he can’t help but observe that Amir’s friend Hassan, as the guy who “steps in and fends the [bullies] off” (Hosseini 24) is his idea of the ideal son. Though aware of his father’s expectations, Amir is unable to change himself and instead envies Hassan and the fact that Baba treats him like his own son by“[patting]Hassan on the back. [and even putting] his arm around his shoulder [like a fatherly figure]”(Hosseini 15). Despite the manifestation of this hatred in Amir, he continues to recognize the bond that he shares with Hassan, “ brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast” (Hosseini 11) which is because both their mothers died during birth. The confusing emotions he feels for Hassan has Amir face a situation in which he acts inappropriately and allows the guilt to manifest upon him. After winning a very important kite tournament for the first time and “seeing Baba on that roof, proud of [him] at last” (Hosseini 71) Amir begins to search for Hassan who had gone to run his kite earlier. Finally, Amir finds him in a dark alley and as he “peeks around the corner” (Hosseini 75) he witnesses a sight that eradicated not only his relationship with Hassan but also Baba’s brotherly relationship with Ali, Hassan’s father. Peeking through the corner of the alley, like a bystander, he watches his one and only friend getting raped. The guilt that came upon him was for two reason; one, his lack of courage to stand up to

Amir stumbles upon an alley. In the alley, he sees the Hassan trap by three boys named Assef, Kamal, and Wali. All they asked of Hassan is to give up the blue kite. However, Hassan’s loyalty and friendship toward Amir prevented Hassan to give up the kite. As the tension built, Assef lets Hassan have the kite, but in-return he does unthinkable. Assef rapes Hassan as Amir watched unnoticeably from the alley (Hosseini 62-66). This was Amir’s chance to prove his true friendship by stepping in to save Hassan. Instead, Amir ran “because I was a coward. I was afraid of Assef and what he could do to me. I was afraid of getting hurt. That’s what I told myself as I turned my back to the alley, to Hassan” (Hosseini 68). According to Amir, “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba” (Hosseini 68). “He was just a Hazara, wasn’t he?” (Hosseini 68).

Through the portrayal of a society where politics are ethnic-based, masculinity being amplified is only one of the few thematic ideas that are present, others include the atonement of sins, resentment, immigration, expectations in a father-son relationship and barriers between different classes or castings. Concentrating primarily on subject of immigration, another significant parallel is present. In a biography of author Khaled Hosseini, Great Neck Publishing discusses Hosseini’s life, “The family subsisted on welfare during their first year in the country, with Hosseini 's father working at a flea market for extra income before finding a job as a driving instructor”. Relating back to the revelation of multiple themes, Hosseini depicts the struggles immigrants face while adapting to a new culture and environment of an unknown abode in The Kite Runner, similarly as he did himself, through Amir and Baba’s life abroad in America. Although Baba was a well reputed man back in his homeland, he too struggled, like Hosseini’s father, to being financially stable, which is evident through his job at the flea market, ultimately representing how they had to start over. Hosseini conveys the struggles of his characters in a fictitious text as a portrayal of his real life experiences which quite pointedly makes the novel more influential for readers to grasp onto the events that take place around the world thereby acknowledging the minorities, such as the