Masculinity In The Kite Runner

Compare and contrast the presentations of masculinity in The Kite Runner and All My Sons.

Both Khaled Hosseini and Arthur Miller represent masculinity through the stereotypical money-making, dominant characters. Baba in The Kite Runner is a respected man in Kabul and represents everything a man aims to be and have, money, family and power. Joe Keller in All My Sons is desperate to cling to his success despite the unethical crimes he took part in because he wants to provide for his family. This need for both father figures to be respected leads to a strained dynamic between father and sons in the novel and the play.

Both Baba and Joe both represent respected household figures and encapsulate perfectly into the stereotypical moulds.

Joe is described in all my sons as ‘a heavy man of stolid mind and build, a businessman these many years, but with the imprint of the machine-shop worker and boss still upon him...A man among men.’ The stereotypical representation of Joe as he is referred to as ‘a man among men’ saying he is part taking in a job usually what all men would aim for and want to do in 1946 America. The description of having a ‘stolid mind’ represents the lack of emotions men are presented to have. Chris tells Keller ’I know you’re no worse than most men, but I thought you were better. İ never saw you as a man. İ saw you as my father.’ Chris hero-worships his father and is aware of the stereotypical limitations of men, Chris his tone is of disbelief as he looks at his father in an elevated way compared to how he looks at other men as he was Chris his role model, that is now crushed as it is revealed that joe was responsible for the crash that essentially killed Larry. İn The Kite Runner, Baba stands up for other women and feels a need to protect them, when fleeing Afghanistan and encountering Russian soldiers who want to rape a woman, Baba defends her and prevents it from happening, ‘Tell him I'll take a thousand of his bullets before I let this indecency take place.’ Baba says this as he is held at

The lack of a mother figure and present father figure in The Kite Runner, strengthens the patriarchal aspects of this novel. The feminised character of Amir through his passion for poetry and literature is looked down upon by Baba, he mutters 'good’ when Amir proudly tells his father he won a poetry competition at school. The literacy of Amir plays a big role as he uses it to have power over Hassan, who Amir is frequently jealous of as he is the son Baba always wanted. ‘I was reading to him and was suddenly stranded from the story. ' Amir mocks Hassan as it makes him feel better about himself. Amir is very aware that he is not meeting Baba's expectation of a son, the patriarchal masculinity is continuously portrayed throughout The Kite Runner, with baba continuously wanting to replicate this through Amir, Baba ‘cannot relate to Amir’ and ‘if I hadn't seen the doctor pull him out of my wife with my own eyes, id never believe he’s my son.’ Amir is seen as different and even atypical in Afghan culture. Afghanistan during the 1970s when the country was under a forty-year rule of Zahir Shah , ‘bloodless coup’ by his cousin, the soviet invasion, the Taliban rule and the 9/11 events following it. His passion is writing, this is seen by Baba