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The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

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As a child, we are often told that we can be whatever we want when we grow up. Each child has the potential to be a police officer, a firefighter, or an astronaut. Although every destination in life is reachable, depending on the environment of the child, one might have to work harder than the other in order to reach it. Each environment creates a pathway of right or wrong in what the child should believe in, become, and achieve. In the Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini tells the story of a young Afghan boy, Amir, whose childhood interactions with his father and his Pashtun culture shapes his moral compass. He is especially influenced by the pride he desires to achieve by fulfilling his father 's expectations as well as Pashtunwali, the set of …show more content…

The expectations of “Amir” pile up as Baba begins wanting his heir to become more and more like he was. However, throughout Amir’s life, he has always known Baba believed “there is something missing in [him]” (Hosseini 17). Amir has always known he was never able to match the expectations of his father and was never able to feel the sense of “namoos” or pride that he has always dreamt of. This creates a pathway filled with feelings of worthlessness and shame. The largest strike towards his namoos happens in his childhood; with Amir stating in the beginning of the book, “ I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975”(Hosseini 1). That very day, Amir scars the honor and pride of his best friend Hassan by letting him be raped, for “Hassan was the price [he] had to pay, the lamb [he] had to slay, to win Baba”(Hosseini 65). As Amir ran away from this incident, “[he] actually aspired to cowardice.” By stating that “I became what I am today at the age of twelve,” Amir is is emphasizing the fact that he never let go of what happened in his past; letting his childhood shape a path taking him all the way to where he is now. As Amir is fleeing this incident, Khaled Hosseini efficiently uses the words “I actually aspired to cowardice” to indicate that Amir believed his actions were worse than that of being cowardly; that Amir did something even worse than denouncing the Pashtun

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