Racism And Prejudice In The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

When a character is placed into a time of racism and hate he or she might become sullen and numb to feelings. For Amir in the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, this was exactly what happened. Amir is in Afghanistan, with his father, in the beginning of the novel. They then move to America later on, and during the ending of the book Amir spends most of his time back in Afghanistan. When surrounded by many geographical and cultural factors, Amir learns that running away from your problems does not help and he can never be perfect.
Amir’s mother dies when he is first born. During the time period The Kite Runner was written, it was common for Afghan women to die during deliveries. Because Amir’s mother died while giving birth to him, …show more content…
In Afghanistan during this time period, Hassan was of a different race so he was treated less like a human being. He was always being teased and taunted. If Amir and Hassan were in America at this time, Hassan may have never experienced rape and Amir may have never witnessed it. America was still dealing with some racism at this time, but it was becoming a thing of the past and unexcitable. Amir was obsessed with pleasing and proving to his dad that he was a worthy of attention; therefore, Amir did not try and stop the boys attacking Hassan. If Hassan kept the kite Amir could bring it to his father as a trophy. Amir realizes that even though his father is proud of him now, he feels this guilt everytime he sees Hassan. Amir becomes numb when around Hassan, and tries to avoid him as much as possible. He thinks that one of them needs to move away, because he hates seeing Hassan. Amir tries to run away from his guilt and problems, but realizes later on that running does not help in the long run. Hassan’s rape could also be a cultural surrounding, because the boys thought nothing was wrong with doing this deed. If they did think of it as a wrongful thing to do, they did not show emotion that it bothered …show more content…
This was another cultural quality, because during this time period many countries around the world thought that you needed to please your father. You should always look to bring honor to your family; if you did not then you were looked at in a different way. Hassan and his father had such a close bond and maybe he felt jealous, because he did not have that with his own father. This was something that was always surrounding him so he might have felt the pressure to become something better for his father. Amir brings the kite to his father and he is showered with gifts and praise for winning the big kite tournament. This approval from his father makes losing Hassan as a friend a little bit easier. Amir does not tell his father that Hassan was the one to sacrifice so much for him in order to be able to bring back this amazing