The Kite Runner Cultural Analysis

Their relationship doesn’t flourish because Baba is still showing Hassan more attention than Amir. Amir realises this when Baba is concerned for Hassan and the way he is acting, clueless of confrontation Hassan had with Assef. Amir believed that being the winner of the Kite Running Tournament will make Baba love him more because he has used his talent, to become well known in the community.

Amir and Baba do not try to involve themselves with Hassan and Ali. Just like when Amir starts to understand the low social status Hassan has and accept the status quo. He says “That Hassan would grow up illiterate like Ali

In his novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini depicts his homeland Afghanistan as a host to many different cultures and classes, such as Pashtun and Hazara, Sunni and Shiite, with this dichotomy of beliefs and attributes being powerful enough to shape diverse, sometimes negative relationships amongst the characters of the novel and their behavior to each other, as well as establish that individual’s identity. Each person interprets the impact of the role of belief and social status differently, while all living in the same setting, adding to their complexity and depth as a character in the novel with many different figures tied together by the same geographical and cultural conditions.

Amir’s mother, Sofia, dies in childbirth; Amir inherits her love of literature and probably her looks to some extent, but, her being dead, never receives any motherly love or guidance, which could have helped him out of the cowardly hole he later digs himself into. Amir’s father’s best friend and business partner, Rahim Khan, tries to give Amir the motherly love he clearly needs, fostering Amir’s love of writing and steadfastly standing up for him when Amir’s father, Baba, criticizes him, but Rahim Khan does not do enough to instill honesty, courage, and strength of conviction in young Amir. Amir’s best friend, Hassan, a servant a year younger than Amir, is everything Amir is not: athletic, brave, loyal, honest, and kind, inciting jealousy in Amir. Assef, a local bully, poses a real threat to Amir, hating Amir for the crime of befriending a Hazara (oppressed ethnic minority), but Amir is protected by Hassan, allowing young Amir to freeze and not stand up for himself in Assef’s presence. Last, but most importantly, is Amir’s father, Baba, and his views on Amir: he blames Amir for Sofia’s death,

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.

Baba raised his son alone after Amir’s mom died in childbirth and Baba also helped raise Hassan. Early in the novel Hassan and Amir were best friends and did everything, including taking trips together. Baba was loyal to Hassan and never forgot either one of the boy’s birthdays. Baba gave Hassan the amazing gift of having Hassan’s hair lip repaired. “It’s an unusual present, I know,” Baba said. “And probably not what you had in mind, but this present will last you forever.” (Hosseini 67). Family loyalty taught us that you should always respect your family and do the right thing. It is not until late in The Kite Runner that we found out, and Amir found out, that Hassan was really Baba’s son. This was so important in the story because Amir realizes he betrayed his own brother, he was jealous of all the times Baba gave attention to Hassan, and he was the one responsible for making Hassan and Ali leave their home. Amir betrayed Hassan when they played as kids and Amir egged him on to use his slingshot. When the boys would get into trouble Hassan always took the blame even though it was Amir who initiated the trouble. The worst time Amir betrayed Hassan was when Assef assaulted Hassan. Amir did nothing to stop it, nor did he acknowledge that it happened, he ignored Hassan and tried to get him to leave their home so he would not be reminded of his betrayal. Amir betrayed Hassan by placing money and a watch under Hassan’s mattress so Baba would think Hassan and Ali were thieves. “He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again, maybe for the last time” (Hosseini 132). Hassan continued to protect Amir, and in his own way he showed his family loyalty, no matter how Amir betrayed him. Hassan was the loyal friend and brother. Amir could never get over his guilt for betraying Hassan and that is why it was so important for Amir to

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.

Baba was usually aloof and cold when he was around Amir. Since Baba was interested in sports, he felt like Amir wasn’t his son because he was into writing and was weak. In a conversation with Rahim Khan Baba said that something was missing in Amir. He said that a boy who couldn’t stand up for himself would not stand up for anything. They don’t really have a good father and son relationship because Baba expected too much of Amir. It was that winning kite tournament that somehow bonded them together but after a while, it went back to being the “cold” treatment

In the book the Kite Runner by Hosseini, the main character, Amir, grows up in Afghanistan, and the strong culture affects his moral character while he lives their and after he moves away. He is unable to fit in with the cultural expectations his father puts on him, the religious racism divides him and his half brother Hassan, and the traditional family values cause tension between him and his wife, this all leads back to the theme of Amirs struggle to fulfill his ideals of masculinity.

Furthermore, Amir forgives Baba for not telling him that Amir and Hassan are half-brothers. Hassan gets treated very well by Baba, considering he is a server at Baba’s house. Hassan gets great birthday presents, and he is always welcome to father-son activities with Amir and Baba. Sometimes Amir is jealous and doesn’t understand why Hassan gets treated the same as himself. Amir wants to be treated better, because he is Baba’s son, and Hassan is Baba’s servant. What Amir doesn’t know is that Hassan is his half-brother. Years later, Rahim Kahn tells him this when Amir visits him in Pakistan. Amir learns that a long time ago, Baba had an affair with a Hazara woman, which was socially unacceptable. Out of this affair, a child was born: Hassan. Hassan is not Ali’s son; Hassan is Baba’s son. Baba never tells Amir, and this makes Amir very angry and disappointed. For Amir, his father is a hero and not a liar. However, when Rahim Kahn explains Baba’s situation and why he acted this way, Amir starts to

( Hosseini 25). Amir heard the terrible things he said and wanted to prove himself by winning in the kite running competition. All Baba wanted was his son to be have courage but by not being loving to him he creates a jealous, selfish and cowardly boy. “Maybe Baba would even read one of my stories. I'd write him a hundred if I thought he'd read one.

After reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, I feel that I have a better understanding on Afghan culture than I did beforehand because all I used to know about this country was about its struggles throughout the twentieth and twenty first centuries. Amir’s love of kite fighting especially during the Winter festival in Kabul is a major theme throughout the book as well as an important aspect of Afghan culture. Also, another prevalent aspect of culture which appears later in the novel involves several Afghan traditions relating to marriage. Before reading Amir’s story, I thought Afghanistan was just a desert full of conflict and poverty, but it seems to have a very enjoyable culture where the people try to live lives full of joy and productivity. I learned that when Winter comes around in Afghanistan, one of the most significant events is the ancient tradition of the kite fighting tournament in Kabul.

Shows that the kite fighting tournament is a major event for any Afghan boy in their culture. “ And that was how Baba ended those humiliating food stamp moments and alleviated one of his greatest fears that an Afghan would see him buying food with charity money” said Amir. Quote portrays Baba as an independent and proud person and doesn’t want help from charity. “ Just don’t embarrass me that’s all I ask” said Baba. Shows that Baba is an Afghan with a lot of pride and doesn’t want to be embarrassed in public by someone else's actions.

This displays how racial discrimination is a type of stress and once that stress has put on the shoulders on victims, it causes a great strain on them. It helps readers understand the tremendous effects that victims have to live with and when they are able to hear it from a student physiologist, who studies the brain, they are more reluctant to accept the information. Moreover, these students are able to research brains of victims helping them increase their research and they are working to find a medical treatment (Rodriguez). “The Kite Runner” shows these effects of racial discrimination in Hassan’s life after he is constantly ridiculed by Assef. A prime example of these mental issues affecting Hassan is when Ali states “Lately, it seems all he wants to do is sleep. He does his chores--I see to that--but then he just wants to crawl under his blanket.” (Hosseini 85). This quote is said after Hassan comes home from being raped and verbally tormented by Assef. Assef’s racial abuse towards Hassan causes him to become very secluded. Assef is a very racist person who causes great mental harm to Hassan without any consequences when he

For this presentation, me and Bryan choose the “Importance of culture” as our topic. Our goal was to teach and point out few significant examples that proof the importance of culture in The Kite Runner. Khaled Hosseini used a lot of cultural components when he was writing this novel, and instead of everything in this topic, we picked the two that played the major role in this story, which is race and masculinity. My goal for this presentation was to explain where did race take part and how did it affect throughout the book. In order to meet my goal, I used few quotes to show the situation and the character’s understanding of race. I start off by using some simple examples of how would things be like if the