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How Does Amir Use Discrimination In The Kite Runner

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Throughout The Kite Runner, racism and discrimination are shown by the treatment of Hazaras, specifically Hassan and Ali. They are servants to Amir and Baba but believe their relationship to be more of a friendship. However, Amir struggles to treat Hassan as a true friend due to their power dynamic created through Afghanistan society’s pressure to uphold a reputation of high class. Amir views Hassan as lesser because of his ethnicity and doesn’t return the kindness Hassan displays. Due to this inequality, it is easier for Amir to betray Hassan early in the novel, similar to Baba’s betrayal of Ali, since “no one was going to risk anything for a pair of Hazara servants” (Hosseini 220). During Hassan’s attack, Assef refers to him as “just a Hazara,” …show more content…

The relationship he develops with Sohrab is to replenish and save the relationship he failed to have with Hassan. Early in the novel, Hassan’s attack stems from the kite fight they just won. He refuses to give Assef their kite because “Amir agha won the tournament . . . and (it) is (Amir’s) kite” (Hosseini 72). This kite acts as a symbol of Amir’s abandonment and betrayal. Later in the novel, Amir is kite flying with Sohrab when he “look(s) up at those twin kites” and, “thinks about Hassan” (Hosseini 370). While flying, Amir “thought of the life (he) had lived until the winter of 1975 came along and changed everything. And made (him) what (he) is today” (Hosseini 370). The kite’s symbol develops into one of redemption and satisfaction as Amir helps Hassan’s son fly the kite, the way he should have helped Hassan in the past. It’s a full circle of Amir’s relationship with Hassan, and now his relationship with Sohrab. He struggled to give his friendship in the past due to the barrier between their ethnicity and race. However, he learns the lesson that friendship and kindness trump ethnicity. Amir is trying to improve life for Sohrab, helping a Hazara, and pushing back their boundary. Similarly, in the article, the author believes “We should be equal at the same level, no matter if we are Hazara, Tajik, Uzbek or Pashtun” (NPR para 29). Comparably, both the article and the novel symbolize the importance of looking at what’s inside of a person, not what is seen on the

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As a result, Amir is seen mocking Hassan at various times and making low comments that show how Amir bellows Hassan because of his caste. This is shown in the scene where Amir asks Hassan if he would eat dirt if Amir told him too. This mindset ultimately divulges Amir into a world of regret and guilt. Moreover, every winter, districts in Kabul held a kite-fighting tournament. Likewise, Amir realized that if he became victorious and was the last kite flying, he would finally see the love and pride in his Baba’s eyes; he was right.

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Amir lets Sohrab smiles again by running the kite for Sohrab just as Hassan ran his last kite for him half a century before. He pushes himself into a “servant’s” position. Through Amir’s self-sacrifice, hope for the future is restored. Amir can stand up for others and he is willing to sacrifice himself for protecting his family. He has forgiven himself due to his self-sacrifice, kite fighting reminds him of pleasure instead of pain in the end of the novel.

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He has unfinished business with amir.¨ When it's all done, only one of us will walk out of this room alive,¨ Assef said. ¨if it's him, them he's earned his freedom and to let him pass, do you understand?¨ What Assef is saying is that they have to settle their differences and if Amir wins then he gets to take Sohrab home. Amir is a good person, he is willing to get beat to death to save Sohrab. He is risking his life to save

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In the novel, Amir was shaped and influenced by the other characters. Amir was influence by Sohrab because he helped him redeem himself. Hassan helped him realize that forgiving is a big part in life. Baba made him into the man he is in ways he thought were the best. The author, Khaled Hosseini, is showing us that everyone in our lives have shaped us into who we are today or who were gonna be in the

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Later in the novel, Hosseini writes another passages that shows irony. This is when he writes, “My body was broken--just how badly I would’t find out until later--but I felt healed” (Hosseini 289). This is another significant moment of irony in the novel. Assef, the person who raped Hassan and is the root of Amir’s guilt, returns to the book as an adult but continues to bully small children like Sohrab, Hassan’s son. During this event, Amir is beaten harshly by Assef and he feels as though this is his payment for running away when Hassan needed help.

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In The Kite Runner, two boys, Amir and Hassan, grow up together in Kabul. Amir and Hassan already face a problem because Hassan is a Hazara (lower class), but Amir does not mind. Amir and Hassan come across a group of three boys one day. The leader of the group, Assef, threatens to “beat” Amir for “hanging out with a Hazara,” nonetheless Amir does not listen because he sees no difference (Hosseini 41). Months pass by and the two boys are at a kite fighting tournament.

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The kite represents Amir’s happiness because it connects him with Baba, this is very important for Amir because Baba believes his son is a coward who isn’t strong enough to stand up for himself. Although to impress Baba Amir lets Hassan get raped by Assef so he can bring home the blue kite, he states, “I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba.” Amir has just witnessed Assef rape Hassan and instead of intervening he runs away. Amir says he aspired to cowardice because he believed that what he did was worse than cowardice, he feared that by intervening Assef would hurt him and that was the reason he ran.

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As a Pashtun, he experiences the effects of social hierarchy first hand, and because discrimination is such prominent tradition in his culture, we are able to see the underlying effects it has on his life. The effects that social hierarchy has on people can be seen when Amir isolates himself from the rest of the world after he witnesses the discrimination of Hassan. Amir causes his own isolation by witnessing the rape of his friend Hassan, and failing to intervene causing Hassan to sacrifice himself

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When Sohrab’s kite was the last one standing, he “smiled, and nothing more” (Hosseini 371). By rekindling Sohrab’s memories of Hassan, Amir gained self-redemption. He gave Sohrab a memory of his father and used that memory to bond with Sohrab. Briefly, Amir finds Sohrab and

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In The Kite Runner during the twentieth century, there is a great divide between the muslim citizens of Kabul. The Hazaras are considered inferior to the respectable majority of Pashtuns. Hazaras are persecuted and oppressed, simply because they are Shi’a muslims and Pashtuns are Sunni muslims. Throughout the novel, Hazaras are called various derogatory names such as “[...] mice eating, flat-nosed, load-carrying donkeys.” (Hosseini 10) Because of his cultural background, Hassan becomes a victim of racism, as he has run-ins with bullies, is raped and is constantly told that he is not nor ever will be an equal to Amir.

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Amir, Baba’s son and the main character throughout The Kite Runner, betrays Hassan many times due to the fact of jealousy of the attention Hassan receives from Baba. First, when Amir tries to justify his actions he shows his motivations behind the betrayal. Amir states, “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba” (Hosseini 77). Amir craves Baba’s attention so much that

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The Kite Runner scrutinizes the whole scope of racism: blatant hatred, religious rationale of racism, nonviolent but still nasty racism, racism which coincides with charity and thoughtfulness, and internalized racism which reveals itself as self-loathing. Hassan is a Hazara, an ethnic group that the majority of Afghans (who are Pashtun) deem inferior, though Hosseini makes it coherent that Hassan is Amir’s equivalent and in numerous ways morally and intellectually superior. Despite racial tensions, the plot proposes, the very ethnicity that Pashtuns treat so poorly is closer to them than they may think- Amir finds out that Hassan, a member of the ethnic minority, is his half-brother. When Amir spots Assef violate Hassan in the alleyway, he dwells on if he really needs to save Hassan from the immediate danger because “He was just a Hazara, wasn’t he?”

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He resists for Amir whom he loves with his whole heart. Amir witnesses this struggle, but he does nothing; he runs away since “he was just a Hazara, wasn’t he?” (Hosseini 77). Amir has always believed, deep down, that his father favored Hassan, a Hazara, the dirt of Afghan society, over him, his own son. Seeing Hassan reduced to that level of baseness is perversely satisfying for him.

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