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Stereotypes In 'The Kite Runner'

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Can the negative actions of a malicious person change the purity of a person’s heart? A pure heart can lead someone to see the best intentions of all those around them. But, a pure heart does not protect any person from other’s impure actions. In the Kite Runner, Hassan is the character that suffers the most due to the pervasive betrayal at the hands of Amir and Baba and discrimination he faces. The betrayal Hassan endures through unrequited loyalty and deception is deeply rooted in his suffering. Hassan’s foremost loyalty is to Amir, and it leads him to sacrifice himself to Assef’s assault for the sake of Amir’s relationship with Baba. Despite the opportunity to change Hassan’s fate, Amir stays silent in the face of brutality and justifies …show more content…

Hassan’s Hazara status is a mark of persistent discrimination, and other frequent insults because of the little consequences they face because of the systematic oppression of Hazaras. Hassan must suppress any anger he faces and keep it inside of himself in a way Amir and the Pashtun children do not have to. Additionally, Hassan faces stereotypes of distrust because of his heritage. When Rahim Khan leaves for Pakistan, he leaves Baba’s house to Hassan to care for. The Taliban regarded the Hazara family alone and executed Hassan because they said “he was a liar and a thief like all Hazaras”(Hosseini 218). Even though Hassan had many neighbors standing up for him, the Talibs did not care and refused to listen to the words of someone of the Hazara race. Hassan was powerless to fix the situation because of the lack of respect his heritage receives. Hassan did not receive a happy ending due to the extreme discrimination his ethnic group faces. Cruelty to the Hazara race caused Hassan suffering from constant harassment and pervasive stereotypes. Hassan experiences great suffering in the Kite Runner, from the loss of his relationships to experiencing lifelong

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During this scene Hassan is confronted by Assef and a couple his friends. Assef demanded that Hassan give him the kite that Amir had won in the kite competition. Assef taunts Hassan, but Hassan does not back down. As Amir watched from around the corner, Assef and his friends overpowered Hassan and Assef violated him. Amir tried to justify not intervening in his head, but he knew that his reasons were only excuses.

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Hassan said the village was his home now; he and Farzana had made a life for themselves there… Then he asked me about your father… In the morning, Hassan told me he and Farzana had decided to move to Kabul with me… ‘We don't have that much to drop, Rahim Khan,’ Hassan said. His eyes were still red and puffy. ‘We'll go with you’”(206-207).

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Khshayarsa also known as Xerxes the great by the Greeks, and westerners; was the King of the Persian Achaemenid Empire and ruled from 486-465 BCE. Son of Darius the Great, Xerxes was accepted as a great king before having to prove himself. Arrogant in the knowledge of his lineage Xerxes lived by his own rules. Throughout his life Xerxes was led multiple invasions and conflicts, his swift and aggressive technique led him to numerous victories. Historians argue as to whether Xerxes can be either villain or vilified.

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“Assef gritted his teeth. ‘Put it down, you motherless Hazara.’ Please leave us be, Agha’ Hassan said’” (Hosseini, 41). This scene is an example of how daring Hassan is because he is threatening someone who could easily hurt him, but he’s doing it because he feels as if he has no choice, and he believes he needs to protect not only himself but his friend, Amir.

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559 Words | 3 Pages

Amir would even argue that Baba treats Hassan better and with more love than he treats his own blood in Amir. So, to Amir, Baba is treating him cruelly by not showing him the love and affection that a young boy needs and deserves growing up. What is interesting about this situation is the cruelty that Amir is describing and is upset with actually stems from cruelty in Baba’s past. The plot in The Kite Runner takes a turn when it is revealed that Hassan is actually Baba’s real son, and the only reason that Baba and Ali (Hassan’s “father” who raises him and also is a servant for the family) cover this up is due to the natural cruelty of the class system in Afghanistan. Hassan’s mother is a Hazara, and in this time period, Hazaras were looked down upon and seen as inferior.

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1089 Words | 5 Pages

Amir first realizes the depth of his cowardice as he watches Assef rape Hassan in the alley and thinks, “I could step in into that alley, stand up for Hassan—the way he stood up for me all those times in the past—and accept whatever happened to me. Or I could run” (Hosseini 77). He has an epiphany that he could choose to be brave and selfless like Hassan and step up to Assef regardless of any physical consequences. However, despite his understanding that the noble choice would be to interfere and stop Assef, Amir is unable to act on it because his fear of Assef overwhelms him. The guilt that consumes Amir in the weeks following Hassan’s rape indicates that he understands the extent of his selfish behavior and needs to resolve it before he can forgive himself.

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As Hassan stands up against Assef, out of his moral obligation, knowing the consequences he will face beacuse of it, Assef says to him; “‘But before you sacrifice yourself for him, think about this: Would he [Amir] do the same for you? Have you ever wondered why he only plays with you when no one else is

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By his actions, Hassan, one of the most loved characters in the Kite Runner, can be described as naive and loyal. Hassan was raised a Hazara and a good Shi’a Muslim his whole life. Ali instilled within Hassan morals and values from birth. Hassan was always such a loving person that would never do anything against the rules or even yet, against the people he loves. While talking to Hassan one day, Amir thinks to himself saying, “And that's the thing about people who mean everything they say.

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I was afraid of Assef and what he would do to me. I was afraid of getting hurt. That’s what I told myself as I turned my back to the alley, to Hassan.” This proves that Amir would have helped Hassan but he froze up and ran away

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578 Words | 3 Pages

Amir is a rich afghanistan boy and he has a hazara servant named hassan but he treats him more like a friend then a servant. Amir had the choice of saving hassan when he was in trouble but instead he ran. Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, teaches the reader that betrayal will happen but there will be time to redeem yourself. When amir watches hassan get raped and then runs instead of helping. But later he saves hassan's son from assef, the same guy that hurt hassan.

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785 Words | 4 Pages

These feelings would be nightmares for him for many years to come. Irony may also lead to one forgiving him or her self. In Hosseini’s novel Amir later discovers an important piece of information that could change his life forever. As Amir discovers the truth about his relationship with Hassan, and also gets the news

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688 Words | 3 Pages

In The Kite Runner, the author tells a story of the close friendship of two boys who come from different social classes, Amir being the wealthy boy and Hassan the servant. It takes place in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1978, a time where the separation of Hazara Shia Muslims and Sunni Muslims took place. A part in the book where we witness betrayal of their friendship and this division of culture is after the yearly kite tournament where Hassan goes after the kite Amir won and promises to bring it back to him. During his search for the kite, Hassan encounters Assef and his friends, who constantly bullied Amir, threatened Hassan to give up the kite or pay the price. Being that Hassan was loyal and wanted to keep his promise to Amir, he decided to pay the price which was rape.

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2175 Words | 9 Pages

In The Kite Runner during the twentieth century, there is a great divide between the muslim citizens of Kabul. The Hazaras are considered inferior to the respectable majority of Pashtuns. Hazaras are persecuted and oppressed, simply because they are Shi’a muslims and Pashtuns are Sunni muslims. Throughout the novel, Hazaras are called various derogatory names such as “[...] mice eating, flat-nosed, load-carrying donkeys.” (Hosseini 10) Because of his cultural background, Hassan becomes a victim of racism, as he has run-ins with bullies, is raped and is constantly told that he is not nor ever will be an equal to Amir.

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765 Words | 4 Pages

Hassan, on one hand, was brave and did not fear defending people he cared about, like when he, “held the slingshot pointed directly at Assef’s face,” (42) when the bully confronted Amir in an aggressive fashion. When the tables turned and Assef proceeded to rape Hassan, Amir proved to be cowardice by running away because, “[he] was afraid of Assef and what he would do to [him],” (77). Loyalty was also one of Hassan’s prominent qualities as shown when although, “[h]e knew [Amir had] seen everything in that alley,” he was willing to rescue Amir, “once again, maybe for the last time,” (105). Contrastingly, Amir not only betrayed Hassan but attempted to have him and his father dismissed from service by lifting, “Hassan’s mattress and [planting his] new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it,” (104). Yet despite all this, the two boys still had a sincere love for one another, although it may have been temporarily painful.

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823 Words | 4 Pages

In the Kite Runner, Afghanistan is divided into Pashtuns and Hazaras. Pashtuns are the Sunni Muslim while the Hazaras are Shia Muslim. According to the book, Shai 's are minorities and they don’t have the freedom and ability to express their feelings and voices. At the beginning of chapter four, Amir unceremoniously began a diatribe against Hazaras. Amir states as a child he never viewed of Hassan

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