Preconceived Stereotypes In The Kite Runner By Fleischman

While Fleischman subtly brings the characters’ biases and preconceived stereotypes to the surface, he also dispels them through the characters’ interactions. For example, Amir once believed that Polish women simply “cooked lots of cabbage” (Fleischman para. 4), until he meets a Polish woman and realizes “how much richness [the stereotype] hid” (para. 5). The author brings the preconceived stereotype to the reader’s attention as Amir recalls how he judged Polish women purely based on city gossip without having met them in person. However, Fleischman dispels this notion when Amir talks to a Polish woman and learns of the hardships she had faced throughout the Holocaust, allowing him to see that there is more to the Polish woman than the insignificant

In the beginning of the story, Amir meets the Polish woman through the garden because “[they] both planted carrots” there (para. 5) and “[he] was very surprised that she did not thin them” (para. 5). The garden acts as the driving factor that allows these characters to meet and converse despite the preconceived stereotype Amir has against Polish women. It gives these characters a shared interest they can talk about, providing Amir with the chance to learn that thinning the carrots reminded the Polish lady too much of her troubled past during the Holocaust, showing Amir that her life cannot be generalized by the street gossip that surrounds her race. The garden also heals the old prejudices Amir has against Royce since Royce “began spending more time there” (para. 6), revealing “he watered for people who were sick” (para. 6) and “made other repairs” (para. 6). Even as the story continues, the reader can see the garden creates a common ground between Amir and Royce because they are able to cross paths and interact there. This helps Amir recognize Royce as a good-hearted boy who looks to help the community in exchange for food, instead of the young, dangerous, misfit he initially pegged him for. Towards the end of the story, the garden helps Amir and the Italian lady heal their biases against one another after the lady “admired [his] eggplants” (para. 9) and “told [him] how happy she was to meet [him]” (para. 9). The reader can see how the garden enables them to meet once more and share a real conversation over a common interest that humanizes each character in the other's eyes. As a result, their relationship heals because they can see past the preconceived notions they originally believed to be true, prompting an apology from the Italian woman and encouraging Amir to question the stereotypical thoughts he had in the