Discrimination As A Theme in The Kite Runner
Discrimination As A Theme in The Kite Runner
Discrimination As A Theme in The Kite Runner
ENGLISH 11
Frank Lloyd Tiongson
Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner follows the lives of two boys, Amir and
Hassan, who grow up together in Kabul, Afghanistan. Amir is a well-off Pashtun, whose
father is a rich businessman he calls Baba. Hassan and his father, Ali, are Hazaras, and
thus work as servants for Amir and Baba. Despite their close childhood, their lives take
on two very different paths – all due to their contrasting ethnicities. Thus, Khaled
Hosseini opens his novel by illustrating how the discrimination of the Hazaras is
widely accepted and practiced by the Pashtuns. The differences between these two
ethnicities have led to the designation of the Pashtuns as the majority group and the
engrained that it has led to the establishment of social classes. Pashtuns are superior,
while Hazaras are inferior. Amir and Baba have the opportunities to receive an
education and to establish their own business, while Hassan and Ali may only work as
servants.
discriminate Hazaras based on the difference in their appearance. Hazaras are of Asian
descent, with “Mongoloid features” and described as “[looking] a little like Chinese
people” (9). In line with this, Pashtun children often jeer at Ali, calling him a “flat-nosed
Babalu” (9).
Another reason for the Pashtuns’ discrimination of the Hazaras is the difference
in their religion. Hazaras are Shi’a muslims, while Pashtuns are Sunni muslims. This
leads to an even deeper hostility between the two ethnicities. Amir notes how his
Pashtun teacher openly displays his disdain for the Shi’a-practicing Hazaras, observing
how the man “wrinkled his nose when he said the word Shi’a, like it was some kind of
disease” (10).
Amir comments that in school, Hazaras are “barely mentioned” and their ancestry
“referred to […] only in passing” (9). When Amir finds a book about the Hazaras in his
mother’s old library, he sees that “the book said a lot of things [he] didn’t know, things
[his] teachers hadn’t mentioned” (10). As mentioned previously, Amir’s teacher was
blunt about his opinion toward Hazaras, despite being in front of a young and
impressionable student.
culture feels toward the Hazaras. It seems as if they have no reservations in passing this
mindset onto their children. Amir recalls how he has heard even the young
and a “load-carrying [donkey]” (10). Even Baba does not bother to explain to Amir the
toward the Hazaras as well. Baba and Ali grew up together as playmates, much like how
Amir and Hassan did a generation later. However, in all the stories Baba and Ali recall
about their childhood mischief, Amir notices how “in none of [Baba’s] stories did he
ever refer to Ali as his friend” (27). Amir follows suit, realizing that he has “never
thought of Hassan as friends either” (27). Despite the days and nights they have spent
Hazara, I was a Sunni and he was a Shi’a, and nothing was ever going
When Hassan points out a plot hole in a story Amir has written, “[a] voice, cold and
dark, suddenly whispered in [his] ear, What does he know, that illiterate Hazara? He’ll
never be anything but a cook. How dare he criticize [him]”? Thus, Hosseini illustrates
how society, in its two basic units: school and family, continues to perpetuate
discrimination.
German Pashtun child and Hitler admirer, is a prime example of this. The feeling of
superiority so inculcated in him, he mentions to Amir his dream to “ask the president to
[…] rid Afghanistan of all the dirty, kasseef Hazaras.” The discrimination is so rooted in
his psyche that it has developed into hate. Assef later does the unthinkable when he and
his two friends trap Hassan in an alley. Despite his friends’ protests, calling Assef’s plan
sinful, he does not care. In his mind, Hassan and the Hazaras are worthless and must be
Hosseini also writes about the Hazaras’ resistance yet ultimate resignation to
their fate and perceived inferiority. When Assef and his friends gang up on Hassan, they
tell him that to Amir, he is “nothing but an ugly pet” and “[to not] ever fool [himself]
and think that [he’s] something more” (79). Hassan protests, saying that he and Amir
are not slave and master but two friends. However, as Amir secretly watches Hassan’s
rape, he recognizes the look in Hassan’s eyes – “the look of the lamb” (83). Just like the
if “[he understood and saw that his] imminent demise [was] for a higher purpose” (84).
Hazaras are portrayed as having accepted their inferiority to the Pashtuns. After
Amir and Baba flee to America, Rahim Khan is tasked to take care of their home. He
requests Hassan, now twenty-three years old and with a wife and child, to help him in
the household. Hassan rejects Rahim’s invitation for Hassan’s family to live inside the
house, saying “it was a matter of ihtiram, a matter of respect” (224). He would rather
live in small hut in the backyard, where he grew up. Though he is unsure if Amir and
Baba are still alive, he, as a Hazara servant, refuses to disrespect his Pashtun masters.
It is not just the Pashtuns of Kabul who discriminate Hazaras, but many other
Afghans as well, such as the Taliban. Rahim recalls that as the Taliban invaded
Afghanistan, they massacred the Hazaras in Mazar-i-Sharif. In fact, the Taliban officials
are responsible for the death of Hassan. While Rahim is away, the officials find Hassan’s
family on Baba’s property. They execute him and his wife, despite the neighbors’
testimonies that they have permission to live there. Here, Hosseini shows how
mansion littered with garbage, and someone has to take out the garbage” (307). He has
no shame in his mission of “ethnic cleansing” (307). Once just a young bully who hated
Hazaras and now a Taliban leader, Hosseini uses Assef to demonstrate how enduring
Despite living in America, the discrimination toward the Hazaras still persists.
When Amir brings Sohrab, Hassan’s orphaned son, to America, General Tahib exclaims:
So, Amir Jan, you’re going to tell why you have brought back this boy with
you? […] I have to deal with the community’s perception of our family.
People will ask. They will want to know why there is a Hazara boy living
The General is an example of how people are willing to discriminate in order to protect
their reputation. He would rather have Sohrab back in Afghanistan, at risk of death,
Gender discrimination
daughter or wife, is tied to a man’s. Baba tells Amir “the man is a Pashtun to the root.
He has nang and namoos. Nang. Namoos. Honor and pride. The tenets of Pashtun
men. Especially when it came to the chastity of a wife. Or a daughter’” (157). However,
nothing is said about how the mistakes of a man affect the women in his life. It is ironic
how women are judged by higher standards, yet are perceived as inferior to men.
Augmenting this, Soraya, Amir’s wife, explains the double standard between men
and women.
Their sons go out to nightclubs looking for meat and get their girlfriends
pregnant, they have kids out of wedlock and no one says a goddamn
thing. Oh, they're just men having fun! I make one mistake and suddenly
everyone is talking nang and namoos, and I have to have my face rubbed
Men are encouraged to go out and explore, but women are stuck within the confines of
their homes. Soraya also points out how warped it is that a man will be excused for
impregnating a woman, but the said woman will be criticized and shamed. In addition
to this, Hosseini shows how despite the Afghans’ migration to America, they retain the
lives of the different characters in The Kite Runner. He shows how many people are
discriminated because of circumstances they have no control over, such as the ethnic
group they are born into or their sex. Hassan is just one example of the discrimination
and persecution Hazaras face. They are belittled, mocked, and killed not for their
actions, but for merely existing. Soraya, an Afghan woman who once ran away with a
man, lives with the shame of disrespecting her father. She cannot be in peace with her
past because of the guilt she feels for dishonoring him. These two characters show how
both Hazaras and women have long been under the oppressive rule of society and
culture.
The Kite Runner illustrates how discrimination has become so widespread and,
in fact, normal because society allows it to perpetuate. Culture passes this belief down
from one generation to the next, transforming it into an intense, unwarranted, and even
Bibliography
Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead Books, 2007.