Examples Of Paradox In The Kite Runner

The Societal Paradox Society in itself is a paradox in which, although people are brought together through the sharing of common ideals, it is also the very reason many are pushed apart. Between every separation there is a barrier and in the case of society it is interclass division. In the book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the aforementioned class division is shown in Afghanistan where the book takes place due to the ideologies of the Hazaras being inferior to the all-mighty Pashtuns. The paradox that is society is the very reason Amir a Pashtun, is lead on a path to atonement for the sins he committed against his best friend and half brother Hassan who happens to be a Hazara. Through the influence of societal pressures brought on

It is always ideal in a society to combat racism however, Assef is an example of the racists of the society. One example where his negative viewpoints are shown is when he states,“‘Afghanistan is the land of the Pashtuns. It always has been, always will be. We are the true Afghans, the pure Afghans, not this flat nose her. His people pollute our homeland our watan. They dirty our blood’” (40). Most people would say that Assef is an extreme extent to discriminatory beliefs, and that he possesses an attitude most people wish to eradicate from society. However, he was also an example of how societal pressures from everyone can mold the youth into a monster that can not be reformed. Meanwhile, Baba on the other hand was a Pashtun who everyone looked up towards. Even the issue of him having a son was covered due to that fact that, “It was a shameful situation. People would talk. All that a man had back then, all that he was, was his honor, his name and if people talked…” (223) it would be bad for his reputation. By conforming to society’s beliefs Baba became no better than someone like Assef who would go out of the way to impose his racially biased beliefs in society. Baba gave up a chance to father his son Hassan just due to his image and reputation being prioritized higher than the desire for his own son. Baba essentially furthered the

Through the bias enforced by society Amir had a pretty good idea about the boundaries race put up in society and how he felt “history isn't easy to overcome. Neither is religion. In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shi'a, and nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing” (25). However, with the power he possessed as a higher position in society he was able to take a step to uproot the ingrained racism that Baba wasn’t able to combat. When General Taheri spoke of Sohrab being a Hazara, Amir, dedicated to change the General’s mindset stated, "You will never again refer to him as 'Hazara boy' in my presence. He has a name and it's Sohrab" (361). This showed that the racial discrimination will not be stopped unless someone taking a stand and Amir, in doing so, completed the cycle of atonement he wished to put an end to. Racism and societal pressures phased everyone including Baba however, in taking a stand Amir fought for moral justice and righted the wrongs society’s impact led him to commit in the first