The Kite Runner Cultural Analysis

The kite Runner is a story written by Khaled Hosseini, it follows the life of Amir. A life which changes with the political situation which occurred in the 1970s in contemporary Afghanistan. A country which has been broken through invasion and internal tension. The life of Amir mirrors that of his own countries instability and chaos.
As a young 17 year old Persian student, reading this for the first time about a country which shares a border with my own, I was challenged by many of the events depicted by the author Khaled Hosseini. The scene where Hassan is raped by an older male, Asef, is graphic and disturbing. It challenges my understanding and ideas of Muslim culture. Amir’s life is occupied with revealing hardships which tend to shadow

From a young child being brought up as a Muslim, my ideas of Muslim culture is that one should be disciplined, patient and forgiving. However, witnessing Asef committing a sexual act on a younger boy as punishment for his wrong doing goes against teachings which I have been exposed to and made the experience of reading the text quite confronting. Considering the boy committing such an act was Muslim, it caused confusion as he was doing everything against Islam. The same goes for the acts conducted by Hassan such as, not saving his friend from going through such an experience. These acts go against the principles of Islam and the general ideas I have composed through the

Amir is brought up in Kabul, Afghanistan where he spends time flying his kites with his friend, later known to be his brother, Hassan. Amir, is known as a Hazara, Persian speaking ethnicity in Afghanistan. For this reason he is oppressed by Asef and his “friends” whom are Tajiks, main ethnic group of Afghanistan. Amir witnesses his friend being raped by Asef, his home invaded by the soviets when they invade and evades Afghanistan for safety purposes. He is depicted in his older life, living in America with his father whom develops cancer of the lungs and later dies. These scenes depicted are just a few of the many struggles and experiences which Amir goes through. In many of these scenes I would question my own actions under such circumstances and in many cases compare his life to my own, in some scenes I was astonished with how he was able to deal with such situations. In-fact, it made me reflect on my own life and depict my own experiences and life hardships. His life made me appreciate my own and how fortunate I have been to not go through such