The Kite Runner And Parvana's Journey

Alienation
The two books that have been examined thoroughly are the Kite Runner by Khalid Hussein and Parvana’s journey by Deborah Ellis. “They called him flat-nosed because of Ali and Hassan’s characteristic Hazara Mongoloid features.” (Hosseini 9) Being alienated from society through poverty and, the minority class, seems to be the most common way that alienation is portrayed. “It was comforting to have a mother taking care of her again too, cooking for her and taking care of her, even though it wasn’t my own mother.”(Ellis 18)Also the longing for love and affection from one’s family and acceptance from friends is summarized very well in both novels. In both novels the main characters are alienated from their friend or family. Amir from
the Kite Runner is foreign from his father’s love, Hassan is alien to his friend’s love and acceptance, and Hassan and Ali are alienated form society for being from a lower cast. In Parvana’s journey Parvana is longing for her family, acceptance from her friend Asif and alienated from society because she is a girl.
Both novels distribute a variety of emotions such as being alienated from the love and affection of family, and friends. In the Kite Runner, Amir is alienated from his father’s love and attention. “If I hadn’t seen the doctor pull him out of my wife with my own eyes, I’d never believe he’s my son.” These are the words of a father for his own son. Baba, Amir’s father has some uncertainty about whether it is his son or not, only because he is nothing like him. Amir is a shy, insecure and, reserved, type of boy who likes to keep to himself. Baba is a respected man, a hero in his country, an over-achiever. “Lore has it my father wrestled a black bear in Baluchistan with his bare hands.” On the other hand Amir does not have the courage to even stand up for himself. “I see how they push him around, take his toys from him, give him a shove here, a whack there. And you know he never fights back. Never. He just…drops his head and …” (Hosseini 24) .There is many differences between both of them which continue to tear them apart. Baba was an athletic, competitive boy when he was young and inspires his son to be like him; even with Amir’s best attempts he fails which keeps on widening the gap between them. Amir tries very hard to get up to his father’s level, but all his attempts fail. The main reason that Amir and Baba are so distant from each other is that Amir does not represent a real boy; a real man in his father’s eyes, because Amir has an interest in literature which Baba would never allow for him to peruse, he expects more out of his son. Baba has this mindset that no boy especially his son be interested in such nonsense such as literature. “Real men didn’t read poetry-and gods forbid they should ever write it!” It’s not Baba’s fault that his mindset is like that, it’s the condition and mostly the upbringing that he has had. Baba is an over achiever he likes things at their best and why wouldn’t he want his son the same way. Baba tries to get Amir interested in other hobbies but fail. Amir does not reach to his father level and there seems to remain a gap between them. Looking at the conditions of Afghanistan, it’s not wrong for a father to want his son to be a bit manlier. Afghanistan is a country which is constantly at war, for someone to be not able to protect themselves is just considered a suicide. People need to have the courage to protect themselves and their families, this is very important especially for a man, who is the breadwinner of the family. The minds of people like Baba are very stereotypical. Baba’s mindset about Amir does not change until they have moved to America. He goes from having wealth and a position of power to working a low-paying job at a gas station and living modestly, that is where Baba’s and Amir’s relationship starts to get better as they have to work together to solve all their problems by themselves. During those rough times only Amir was there for his father, but still his father disapproved Amir for wanting a future in literature.
“I have to find my family.” (Ellis-15) this is parvana’s main goal to find her lost family in the wilderness of Afghanistan.
Parvana has been longing for a mother to take care of her, a sister to fight, with a little brother to hold, and play with. Due to the war Parvana has lost all those close and dear to her. When the war in Afganistan broke out Parvana had to flee with her father as the rest of her family was somewhere else attending a wedding. Her father died due to lack of nutrition and medical attention. They had been in the desert for weeks, months even because they had no track of the time. After her father’s death, Parvana’s main goal was to find the rest of her family, without knowing if they had survived the war or they were dead. On her journey, she met a girl in the same situation. She had been staying at a cabin for god knows how long waiting for her family to come back; waiting for her mother. In the rough conditions of Afganistan the separation and, loss of family is very common. That is the exact thing that is happening to Parvana and her friends. They are longing for love and affection from an elder figure, which seems to be the hardest to find at this
time.
“But he’s not my friend!
He’s my servant.”(Hosseini 44) These are the thoughts of Amir toward Hassan, who believes that Amir is his only and true friend. Hassan was alienated from his childhood friend, Amir. Hassan was Amir’s servant’s son and best friend, they had a unique bond, they have fed from the same breast, grew up together, they were best friend, and half-brothers, but both of them had no idea about this relationship until almost the end of the novel, where only Amir finds out. But there was still a big difference between them and that was that Amir was a Pashtun and Hassan was a Hazara. Hazara is a lower class cast they are known as “mice eating, flat-nosed, load carrying donkeys.” (Hosseini 10) Hassan was very loyal toward Amir, so was Amir but in some places Amir only thought of Hassan as only his servant’s son. When Amir’s friend were around he acted like he did not like Hassan, despite the fact that they did everything together, from watching movies to playing hide and seek together. There was always the element of jealousy that Amir had toward Hassan. Amir had everything he wanted but the thing he longed for was Baba’s affection which Hassan got and that made Amir very jealous. “I wished I too had some kind of scar that would beget Baba’s sympathy. It wasn’t fair. Hassan hadn’t done anything to earn Baba’s affection;” (Hosseini 50). Hassan always came in Amir’s time of need, but when Hassan was in danger Amir just stood there and watched. When Asif and his
gang were bullying Amir, Hassan got rid of his fear and stood up to them and protected Amir. Than one day Asif and his gang cornered Hassan and raped him Amir just stood there and watched. There was a part of Amir that wanted to save Hassan but he could not get rid of his fear also there was one part of his brain thinking if he does not save Hassan he may be able to get the love and affection he longed for from his father. Amir’s and Baba’s relationship will get stronger. “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay the lamb I had to slay to win Baba.”(Hosseini-82) In reality, Baba would have thought highly of Amir if he had saved Hassan. His son was not a coward and maybe their relation might have changed instead, Amir thought of betraying Hassan and getting Baba all to himself. The idea that Hassan would not be around to take his father away from him overdrew his feeling he had for Hassan. At that moment he thought that by not helping Hassan was the right answer at the moment. After that day Amir and Hassan’s friendship had been lost forever.
Parvana has been alienated from her childhood and friends, due to the war, having someone around for a long period of times seem to be the hardest thing. Parvan’s childhood has been stolen from her due to the horrible conditions of Afganistan. Parvana has one friend from her days when she lived with her family, Shauzia whom she writes letters to all the time. But despite her pen pal she has no one to talk to, no friend to play with her and she thinks that is fine because she has a long journey ahead of her and does not want any disturbance. Parvana does not like getting attached to anyone, because she knows that it is hard to let go of them and eventually she has to say good-bye. Parvana finds a stranded cave in her very rough days; she has not had a good rest in a long time, so she decides to stay in the cave for a couple of days. There she finds a boy named Asif, “I met a strange creature today. He’s part boy and part wild animal.” (Ellis 53) These are the mere thoughts of Parvana for Asif.
Throughout the novel we see that Hassan and Ali, Hassan’s father are treated badly, only because they are from a different ethnic group, yes there is the element of poverty, and their appearance, but that is not the main reason for the cruelty that they have to face each day. Ali and Hassan are Hazara 's whereas the majority of people are Pashtuns. The Pashtuns are of the Sunni Muslim religion whereas the Hazara’s are Shi’a. The Pashtuns are the originals of Afganistan, and practice Islam the way it should be. In Islam Mohammad (PBUH) was the last messenger as believed by every Sunni Muslim and they believe that the Hazara’s have twisted their religion and do not practice the faith rightfully. Therefore they are many conflicts between the two ethnic groups. The Hazara’s are treated like dogs, they have no respect, and they even don’t have the courage to raise their voice and end all the torture that is happening to them.
“Afganistan is the land of the Pashtuns. It always has been, and always will be. We are the true Afghans, the pure Afghans, not this flat-nose here. His people pollute our homeland, our watan. They dirty our blood.”
These are the thoughts of every Pashtun living in Afganistan. Ali and Hassan have had a rough life they had to endure so much especially Hassan, because he is young and an easy target. After Hassan’s mother ran away leaving him and his father, when he was only five days old, there was more reason for people to bully him.” You! The Hazara!” a soldier yells out to Hassan “I knew your mother, did you know that? I knew her real good. I took her from behind the creek over there.”(Hosseini 7) This is what a soldier on the streets had said to Hassan. There was nowhere he could go to stop all the bullying. Another reason that Ali and Hassan were alienated from the rest of the people in Afganistan was their appearance. They looked different than the Pashtuns. “Ali’s face and walk frightened some of the younger children in the neighbourhood.”(Hosseini 9) Hassan had a harelip; Ali’s leg was infected by polio, which gave him a strange walk, also he had a “congenital paralysis of his lower facial muscles,” (Hosseini 8) a condition that wouldn’t let him smile. There were many more reasons for Ali and Hassan to be out casted by society. Not only were they thought of lower class by strangers, but also by the people they knew, such as Amir who thought of Hassan as a Hazara and never gave him the respect a friend should have. “Because history isn’t easy to overcome. Neither is religion, In the end I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shi’a, and nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing. “(Hosseini 27) If this is the way your friend whom you believe in, thinks like, than what more can you expect from strangers.
The conditions of Afganistan are very bad, especially for girls, and woman. There are strict rules against girls going out in public, without being covered by head to toe, being out on the streets alone and especially crucial about a girl working. Parvana is a girl alone in the streets of afganistan, if she hadn’t disguised herself as a boy she would have been killed by now or taken away by the Taliban, the terrorist group, ruling over afganistan. When asked by one of the men what parvan’s name was she replies” Kaseem,” giving him her boy -name. She has to hide her identity for her safety. Woman and girls are treated with such cruelty that it is unimaginable. If Parvana had not disguised herself as Kaseem she would not have been able to care for her father, or even go out to get herself and her family something to eat. After a girl becomes a woman she is not allowed to leave her home without her, father, older brother, or her husband. If seen she will be punished. Parvana became Kaseem when her family’s expenses were cut short, and it was hard to survive on the expenses when her father’s school was bombed.
Being alienated from your family is a major point in the kite runner, and parvana’s journey. Both novels indicate a major presence of alienation through family, friends, and society. Parvana, Amir, Hassan, all had to face alienation, throughout the novels that made it difficult for them to reach their potential in life. Alienated from their family and society proved their position in society, this in most cases is the lower caste.

Works Cited
Ellis, Deborah. Parvana 's Journey. Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 2002. Print.
Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead, 2003. Print.