Kite Runner Society Quotes

The Kite Runner Essay People must sometimes defy the laws of society to overcome challenges in their path. In the novel, The Kite Runner authored by Khaled Hosseini, some characters face a lot of difficulties against the society in general. Hassan being a Hazara has constant opposition throughout his life. Baba finds a great change in his stature when he comes to America. Amir spends 26 years of his life keeping a secret that leads him to discovering many more secrets. Hassan faced a lot of challenges because he came from a social class that was considered inferior to the Pashtuns. Firstly, Hassan was always taunted by the society they lived in in Afghanistan. During a particular incident, a soldier calls to Hassan rudely, “You! The Hazara!
Look at me when I’m talking to you!,” and insults him (Hosseini 7). Here Hassan is referred to simply as the Hazara and Hassan was often reminded of his social status. Secondly, Hassan’s friendship with Amir was not taken well by the people in the upper class who thought that their relationship should be nothing more than that of a master and servant. This is shown in Assef’s response, “Someday you’ll wake up from your little fantasy and learn just how good of a friend he is,” where Assef tells Hassan that he is only a servant and does not share any special relationship with Amir (Hosseini 77). This shows that it was difficult for Hassan to show the society that his relationship with Amir was more than that of a servant to master. Thirdly, Hassan sacrifices himself and suffers for Amir on countless occasions. For example, after the Kite Flying tournament, Hassan preferred to get raped than handing over the blue kite that was so dear to Amir. Hassan is shown to be extremely loyal to Amir on these instances. From the above mentioned points, it is proved that

Hassan led a life of suffering and faced a lot of obstacles in challenging the rules of society. Another character who interestingly also faces a lot of obstacles although they are not very apparent is Baba. Baba confronted a lot of challenges during his life in both Afghanistan and America. Firstly, Baba was never able to openly show his affection for Hassan although he was his illegitimate son. He however does try to treat him like a son. In the quote, ”Do you want to ask Hassan to come along to Jalalabad?,” Baba is shown to be doing exactly that (Hosseini 86). Baba has had to live his entire life knowing that Hassan was his son but never directly showed it in any way. Secondly, unlike most people in Afghanistan, Baba was not a great believer in God. This is shown in the quote, “If there is a God out there, then I would hope he has more important things to attend to than my drinking scotch or eating pork,” where Baba clearly does not put his trust in God (Hosseini 20). Despite the teachings by the Mullahs, Baba does not believe them at all whereas the rest of Afghanistan is shown to be extremely religious. Baba was originally a merchant in Kabul. In fact, he was one of the most prosperous of them. After coming to America, Baba worked at a petrol station. He was quite hard hit by this change in lifestyle. At one instance, Baba gets angry at the fact that Mr. Nguyen asks Baba for a piece of ID. His irritation is clearly shown when Baba says, “What kind of a country is this? No one trusts anybody!” (Hosseini 135). Baba faces this change in his lifestyle and is unable to quickly adapt to it. Baba clearly faces a lot of obstacles in challenging the norms of society. In the following paragraph, Amir is proved to have faced a lot of obstacles in challenging the rules of society. Amir faces a lot of challenges in going against society during his lifetime in

The Kite Runner.
Firstly, Amir must go against the defined rules of society if he wants to accept Hassan as a friend in public. After he realises that he is brother he openly confronts the truth and is no longer attempting to hide it. He is shown confronting it in this quote, “He’s my nephew. That’s what you tell people when they ask.,” where ‘he’ is Sohrab (Hosseini 380). Here he wants the world to now know that Hassan was his half-brother although this is against the rules of society. Secondly, when he returns to Afghanistan to get Sohrab back he can’t believe the condition Afghanistan is in. He goes against the Taliban who have become part of Afghan culture there and heavily influence the lifestyles of people there. A specific example is when the beard patrol comes and Amir looks right at them. This shows that Amir is ignorant towards the new leadership and does not completely accept them. Thirdly, Amir is shown to have tried to redeem himself so that he may feel better. He brings back Sohrab from Afghanistan even though he is a Hazara and knows that questions will be raised about him because Sohrab comes from a socially lower class even though he is Amir’s nephew. This shows that although Amir was brave enough to face the world even though what he had done could have serious consequences on his reputation. All the points above show that Amir had to go against society a number of times due to which he faced many obstacles in his path. In conclusion, any person must go through many hurdles in asserting the rules of society. Khaled Hosseini in his novel The Kite Runner has shown that these characters must surpass these hurdles to challenge the norms of society. As is proved by the three arguments stated above, Hassan, Baba and Amir were characters that braved these
hurdles.