Power is the ability to control people in their words or actions. It is a necessary component in any society, without it, all pandemonium would break loose. There must be an established leader, consequently, when it is taken to an extreme, power can be iniquitous and can cause mass destruction. In the novel The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the powerful abuse their power to take advantage of those who have none. One common theme among people in power is using rape to take advantage of the powerless. Rape occurs throughout the whole novel abundantly. The most significant instances of rape are Assef’s rape of Hassan and later of Sohrab. When he is twelve, Amir lingers by and watches as his friend gets raped by Assef. Amir remembers standing
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There is a distinct gap between educated and uneducated people in Afghanistan. Basically, educated people are the Pashtuns and uneducated people are the Hazaras. Amir uses his education to squander Hassan as he plays tricks on him by reading “stories he couldn’t read for himself [Hassan]… my favorite part was when we came to a big word that he didn’t know… ‘Imbecile. It means smart, intelligent’” (29). Because Amir is educated, he has more power over Hassan and instead of using his knowledge to teach Hassan how to read, he uses it to tease him and play tricks on him. Hassan never had the opportunity to learn because he belongs to the Hazara ethnic group that is considered inferior to the Pashtun group of which Amir belongs. Hazaras typically tend to be servants to the Pashtuns. Hazaras are also commonly part of the Shia branch of Islam that believes that Ali was the rightful successor to Muhammad and should be the leader of the Muslim community. The novel clearly illustrates the relationship between Shia and Sunni Muslims that the Sunni have more followers than the Shia and Shia are therefore menial to the Sunni. Hassan belongs to both Hazara and Shia ethnic and religious groups so he is in a very low class and also a minority. Hassan writes a letter to Amir telling him about what has happened to Afghanistan while Amir was away. Hassan writes that “kindness is gone from the land and you cannot
There is a distinct gap between educated and uneducated people in Afghanistan. Basically, educated people are the Pashtuns and uneducated people are the Hazaras. Amir uses his education to squander Hassan as he plays tricks on him by reading “stories he couldn’t read for himself [Hassan]… my favorite part was when we came to a big word that he didn’t know… ‘Imbecile. It means smart, intelligent’” (29). Because Amir is educated, he has more power over Hassan and instead of using his knowledge to teach Hassan how to read, he uses it to tease him and play tricks on him. Hassan never had the opportunity to learn because he belongs to the Hazara ethnic group that is considered inferior to the Pashtun group of which Amir belongs. Hazaras typically tend to be servants to the Pashtuns. Hazaras are also commonly part of the Shia branch of Islam that believes that Ali was the rightful successor to Muhammad and should be the leader of the Muslim community. The novel clearly illustrates the relationship between Shia and Sunni Muslims that the Sunni have more followers than the Shia and Shia are therefore menial to the Sunni. Hassan belongs to both Hazara and Shia ethnic and religious groups so he is in a very low class and also a minority. Hassan writes a letter to Amir telling him about what has happened to Afghanistan while Amir was away. Hassan writes that “kindness is gone from the land and you cannot