Discrimination in the Kite Runner

Discrimination is still an issue in countries all over the world, including Canada. People still get discriminated in our society today for the way they look, talk and their religious views. Discrimination is shown in The Kite Runner ,written by Khaled Hosseini and The Chrysalids ,written by John Wyndham. Hassan, one of the main characters of The Kite Runner is treated like an animal for the way he looks and his religious views. In The Chrysalids, the main character David Storm is considered a “mutant” for being able to communicate with his mind to other people with the same power. Once the people of Waknuk found out he was a mutant, they turned on him. People can learn from these tragic events that happened to Hassan and Davis Storm. Both Novels show how discrimination can lead to death, war and depression.
Discrimination can lead to death. In the novel The Kite Runner a man named Hassan was murdered in the middle of the street, along with his wife for being Hazara. The Taliban’s murdered Hassan because they thought he was a squatter living in Amir’s house. He told him he was their servant and was taking care of the house while they were gone. As Rahim Khan is telling the story of Hassan to Amir he explains that “The Taliban’s said he was a liar and a thief like all the Hazara’s and ordered him to get his family out of the house by sundown” (Hosseini, 230). Rahim Khan is implying that Hassan didn’t do anything wrong, he was just looking after the house for a friend. The Taliban’s think the Hazara people are liars and thieves so they didn’t believe him. When they told him to get himself and his family out by sundown he argued with them, they shot him in the middle of the street while people were watching. His wife, witnessing what happened, ran out into the street and the Taliban’s shot her to. Both dead, leaving their son to be sent to an orphanage. Hassan shouldn’t have been murdered for such a senseless thing like that; he was treated like trash just for his religious views and the way he looked. Similar to The Kite Runner the discrimination in The Chrysalids also leads to death. The best friend of David Storm, Sophie, is murdered by the people of Waknuk for no other reason then that she was a mutant. The people of Waknuk were hunting the mutants, Sophie has to basically fend for her self and try to get away from the Waknuk people, “An arrow pierced through her upper arm, but she held on, with it lodged there. Then another took her in the back of the neck. She dropped in mid-stride, and her body slid along in the dust…” (Wyndham, 187) is how the Waknuk people murdered her. These people murdered an innocent girl for having 6 toes on each foot. This goes to show how much hate is built up in these people.
Discrimination has been and still causes war between countries and people, this happens in both The Kite Runner and The Chrysalids. When the Taliban’s decided to take over Afghanistan, discrimination was everywhere. The Taliban’s thought they were better then everyone else in the country. This caused war in Afghanistan. The Taliban’s discriminated everyone except for them self’s. Assef joined the Taliban’s because he hated Hazara people. Assef tells Amir that “Afghanistan is like a beautiful mansion littered with garbage, and someone has to take out the garbage” (Hosseini, 298). Assef is implying that Afghanistan is a wonderful and beautiful place with “terrible” people like Hazara’s and the Taliban’s are here to take out the trash. The Taliban’s are trying to take over Afghanistan killing anyone who gets in their way; they really hate the Hazara people. They think that the Hazara’s are thief’s and liars and don’t deserve to live in the same country as the all mighty Taliban people. So the Taliban’s starts a war in Afghanistan. All because they think they are better then everyone else and that who ever isn’t a Taliban, is evil and deserves to die. Something similar happens with the mutants and the people of Waknuk in The Chrysalids. The people of Waknuk think all mutants should be killed. The village people find out about David Storm’s mutant powers along with all the other mutants. The people of Waknuk declare that the mutants are outlaws. David Storm and the rest of his mutant friends are forced to flee from the village, where the people of Waknuk, including David’s own father, pursue them. The villagers feel that “[A]ny creature that shall seem to be human, but is not formed thus is not human. It is neither man nor woman. It is blasphemy against the true Image of God, and hateful in the sight of God” (Wyndham, 13). This shows how these village people seem to think that these “mutants” are a threat to their village. They think that they need to take action, so they try to kill them, causing a war between the mutants and the people of Waknuk. Discrimination can also lead to depression. After Assef rapes Hassan for being Hazara, Hassan becomes very depressed and stops playing with Amir and never comes out of his room. Amir starts to get very worried about Hassan, everyone in the house thinks Hassan is just sick. Amir asks Ali “Would Hassan be able to play today?” (Hosseini, 85). Ali answers with “Lately, it seems all he wants to do is sleep. He does his chores- I see that- but then he just wants to crawl under his blanket” (Hosseini, 85). Showing how depressed Hassan is after being raped. Before the incident Hassan and Amir would play every day. Hassan was so happy before. It goes to show how discrimination can really lead to depression. He was raped because he didn’t want to give Assef his kite. So he was “punished” for not listening to Assef. If it had been Amir, it wouldn’t have happened because Amir is a Pashtun, the same religion as Assef. The Chrysalids also shows how discrimination can lead to depression. David Storm finds other people who have the same power as him; they all decide to keep this power a secret so they don’t get killed. One of the mutants named Anne wants to marry a “normal person”. The group thinks that if she were to marry this man, she would tell him about them. Anne ends up marrying him but sadly a week later he is found dead in the forest. Anne goes through a deep depression and eventually kills herself.”Anne’s suicide was a tragedy, but no one saw any mystery about it. A young wife, pregnant with her first child, thrown off her mental balance by the shock of loosing her husband in such circumstances; it was a lamentable result, but understandable” (Wyndham, 93). This innocent man was murdered by one of the mutants because if she had told him, he would have told the rest of the people in the village, causing the mutants to be murdered. If the towns people didn’t hate the mutants as much as they did the mutants never would have had to kill an innocent man, but they did it for survival. These Village people of Waknuk think that these “mutants” are a threat, they are so scared of them that they think they must kill them. Anne would still be alive if they people of Waknuk were different, so would her husband. Death, war and depression were all demonstrated because of discrimination in both novels. Discrimination leads to death in both novels, Hassan is killed for being a Hazara and David’s best friend Sophie is killed for being a mutant. Discrimination also leads to war in both novels. The Talibans started a war in Afghanistan because they thought that they were better then everyone else. The people of Waknuk thought that the mutants were a threat to their village so they tried to kill them, causing a war between the two. Depression is also shown because of discrimination. After Hassan was raped for being a Hazara he stopped playing with Amir and never wanted to leave his room. Anne, a mutant, went threw deep depression after her husband was murdered and she eventually committed suicide while she was pregnant. People need to stop treating people different for the way they look, the way they talk, etc. If discrimination ceased in this world, there would not be as many problems as there is today.