The Kite Runner Marxist Analysis

A Marxist Analysis of The Kite Runner In Afghanistan, the Hazara people were formerly a majority ethnicity at about 67 percent of the population, however once the Pashtuns began taking political actions, the Hazaras were massacred until they only formed about 9 percent of Afghanistan’s total population today (“Afghanistan-Hazaras”). Because of their minority status, the Hazara people face much prejudice in Afghan society as shown by the book. Similarly, Afghani people compose 3 percent of America’s population, wherein they also face prejudice. In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, which takes place in Afghanistan, the social divisions are shown both in Afghanistan, between the Pashtuns and Hazaras, and in the United States, between the wealthy

For instance, when Amir returns to Afghanistan for Sohrab, the character Farid states while lamenting on the current state of the lower class of Afghanistan, “‘That's the real Afghanistan, Agha sahib. That's the Afghanistan I know. You? You've always been a tourist here, you just didn't know it’” (Hosseini 197). This statement shows how the upper class of Afghanistan lives a very different lifestyle than the upper class, which is also the case in the United States. The upper 1% owning most of the wealth of the capitalist system live much easier and privileged lives, which is also shown by The Kite Runner when Baba and Amir transition from being an upper class citizen in Afghani society as a Pashtun to a lower class citizen in American society as an immigrant. The transition is made very clear when the author writes, “Six days a week, Baba pulled twelve hour shifts pumping gas, running the register, changing oil, and washing windshields” (Hosseini 109). This quote shows how Baba struggles with the transition from a privileged, wealthy citizen to one who is of a much lower status and working long hours for little pay because of his status changing from a majority to a minority