Marxist Kite Runner

Regret is one of the hardest feelings to stomach. The way people act on their emotions causes detriment to the events that unfold as a result of these actions. Khaled Hosseini’s, The Kite Runner, follows the journey of a friendship between two friends, Amir and Hassan, and tells of their precious friendship living in Afghanistan during the late 20th century. Hosseini makes punctual use of Marxist ideology in order to describe the class difference between the two friends and how this effectively resulted in the desolation of their friendship. As a child of a wealthy Pashtun, Amir lives a relatively carefree life with the exception that he did not have a mother, who unfortunately died in childbirth. Similarly, Hassan, a poor Hazara boy, lost

As a young man, Baba was said to have “once wrestled a black bear in Baluchistan with his bare hands” (Hosseini 12). With Baba as a role model, Amir feels as if he has a role to follow in the footsteps of his heroic father. However, Amir never had the inclination that Baba seemed to carry his whole life, to be strong and tenacious. For that reason, Baba remains to treat his son with complete callousness. Amir would be taken to movies and begin “to cry” during the scenes that his father would respect the most (Hosseini 20). On the other hand, Hassan would “[step] in and fend off” the kids who picked on Amir, which is respected by Baba (Hosseini 22). Overhearing this, Amir recognizes how his father feels about him and Hassan. He builds up this bubble of jealousy for Hassan that would be tipped off by his most regretted mistake. During the kite running games, Amir cuts down the final kite and sends Hassan to claim it to achieve the acceptance he so longed for from his father. When Hassan does not return, Amir searches and finds him in an alley surrounded by three boys. Amir watches the boys brutally rape Hassan for being a Hazara and he calmly walks in, takes the kite from Hassan, and return it to his father to win the games. In his mind, “[he] had forgotten what [he had] done. And that was good” (Hosseini 79). Later, the guilt continues to

Amir feels the emotional burden that comes with not helping his friend to due his availibility. In order to completely eliminate this pain, Amir plants his birthday money into the mattress of Hassan as a means of having him and his father, Ali, removed from the household. When Amir tells his father that Hassan stole his money, Baba approaches both Hassan and Ali about this incident and Hassan lies because he understands that Amir no longer wants him there. The Marxist approach taken by Amir to his poor, hardworking servants is brought into light when he refuses to admit to his appalling manner. Even though Baba forgives Hassan for “doing” this act, Ali leaves knowing “that he can’t live [there] anymore” with the disdain he faces from Amir (Hosseini 106). Similar to Hassan, Ali knew his place in the social order and what his son was being framed for. Amir failed to acknowledge what his actions could have done as a result. For that reason, he feels downcast for losing “the person whose first spoken word had been [his] name”. He, in that moment, embraced his Pashtun roots and looked down upon Hassan as inferior and has him removed from his