Loss Of Innocence In The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

By experiencing cruelty and the obstacles of ethnic differences, Amir’s closest and most loyal companion, Hassan, must deal with the issues that uncover the negative side of society causing Hassan’s loss of innocence throughout The Kite Runner. The foremost goal of Hosseini describing Hassan’s transformation from an ingenuous child to an individual warped by humanity’s imposed malevolence is to accentuate the character’s loss of innocence. As immorality shatters the purity within his life, Hassan encounters spite that is forced upon him, which contributes to the demise of his childhood naivety; for example, Amir views Hassan being sexually assaulted and threatened due to his ethnicity: “Hassan didn’t struggle. Didn’t even whimper. He moved

It was the look of the lamb” (Hosseini 75-76). Hassan bears Assef’s wrath resulting in his exposure to vice. Because he uncovers the darkness in people, Hassan’s unique and youthful smile shifts to “the look of the lamb” indicating that he changes, and the exposure to evil strips his adolescence away from him. Assef’s rage fractures the light and happiness in Hassan’s core, which contributes to his melancholy childhood. Therefore, Hassan’s vivacity wither away resulting in a lugubrious, forlorn disposition. This new, obscured side of Hassan, who puts his own life at risk for Amir, relates to a sacrificial lamb representing atonement for debaucheries by letting the blameless suffer. When “Hassan d[oes not] struggle. D[oes not] even whimper,” he seems stoical to his fate as the betrayed friend and the target of exploited power. The brutality Hassan experiences influences his innocence in which it diminishes along with the purity in his life. Shattering the illusion of society as virtuous, Hassan manifestly understands that evil is always lurking in the shadows. Deliberately, Hassan’s acceptance of cruelty foisted on him connects to his realization that traumatic endeavors can happen to virtuous