Senior Thesis
Analysis of Khaled Hosseini
& best selling novel “The Kite Runner “
The story of the Kite Runner is fictional, but it is rooted in real political and historical events ranging from the last days of the Afghan monarchy in the 1970s to the post-Taliban near present-day. Hosseini also pulls from his own memories and experiences growing up in the Wazir Akbar Khan section of Kabul and his adaptation to life in California. Khaled Hosseini’s aim was to not only call attention to the devastation in Afghanistan; he set out to remind the world that before he last few decades under the world’s scrutinizing eye highlighting the negativity of the country, Afghanistan was a generally peaceful nation.
Afghanistan gained international attention after the coup of 1973. From 1933 until 1973 Afghanistan was ruled by monarchy.On July 17th 1973 power was seized from the monarchy and by April 1978 the power of the country lied in the hands of the PDPA -- or the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan. The military coup was nearly bloodless, but was still a very frightening time for the people of Kabul who heard rioting and shooting in the streets; as is depicted through the eyes of Amir, the protagonist of The Kite Runner. The PDPA instituted many political and social reforms in Afghanistan, including abolishing religious and traditional customs. The reforms incensed groups of Afghans who believed in adherence to traditional and religious laws. 1979 brought the beginning of an occupation by the Soviet Army which would last a decade. This is the historical point in the Kite Runner where the protagonist and his father leave Afghanistan.
The Muslim internal forces, or mujahedins, were represented by the character Farid and his father who engaged in the resistance against the Soviets on the side of Islam. In 1992, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the mujahedins finally won Afghanistan and converted it to an Islamic State. Despite the Soviet