Love In The Kite Runner

A smile, one of the rare human notions deciphered across every language barrier in the world. Another, watching two people walk down the street holding hands, whether a mother protectively helping her child walk across the street, or a couple on a date out on the town. Both scenarios indicate a sign of love. Throughout Hosseini's novel, The Kite Runner, love runs throughout the plot. However, it does not matter if it is brotherly, platonic love or a romantic relationship between a man and his wife, Hosseini's view of love seems to come with a price. Whether or not many become overjoyed by the outcomes of love, more suffer from the idea that to love, one must do whatever he can to make sure the receiver stays content. Amir and Hassan signify

Amir spent most of the novel striving to gain the acceptance from Baba. He also struggled with wondering why Hassan got just as much love as he did. It turns out, Baba had to love the boys in two different ways. One acceptable and one a forbidden love in the unspoken laws of the Afghans. Hassan, unfortunately, never found out the identity of his real father, which hurt him by keeping important knowledge from him. Because of his stance in the afghan social hierarchy, a son considered illegitimate in Afghan culture lost love from his rightful father. Baba’s pride outweighed his love, which then left him grieving and hurt. No matter what, a parent’s love for a child vastly exceeds all others. Furthermore, Baba’s ‘tough love’ for Amir hurts their relationship even more. , His words leave a negative impact on Amir rather than a positive one however, he only wants his son to succeed. A pair of authors wrote a piece on educational love and stated, “... if the love of the teacher is not directed at what the student is, it is not really directed at the student at all, because the student is not (yet)—and may in fact never be—what the teacher wants him or her to become.” (Jasinski; Tyson) While this piece mainly focuses on the love a teacher may have for his student, the kind of love Baba emits towards Amir manages to fall in the same category. Since Amir did not fit the image, he felt overwhelmed.

In a situation similar to Amir’s, yet with a more positive ending, Baba grew up with Ali, the household servant and Hassan’s father. After a series of unfortunate events Ali decides to take Hassan and leave the house, which in turn left Baba pleading for them to return. Watching Ali leave must have been excruciating. Even more painful because his son left with him as well. Especially when Baba knew Hassan had no idea of his real identity. Rahim Khan also fell victim to the events going on in the skewed family He knew of Hassan and Baba and he had to keep the secret from everybody involved while looking at them right in the face. His loyalty to Baba put a strain on himself and those surrounding him. Furthermore, “according to Kierkegaard and Levinas, preferential love potentially victimizes others - both the one who is favored above all others, and the others who are left behind.” (Welz) Rahim Khan obviously chose Baba over any of the others involved in the secret, which hurt them without their knowing because it essentially took a brother away from each of the boys. Overall, Baba essentially broke his own golden rule. The person receiving preferential love is the only winner. All the rest involved suffered in some way whether they recognized it or