Khaled Hosseini’s book The Kite Runner revolves around affection, trust, and betrayal towards Amir and Hassan. Though the story is told through the lens of Amir, it succeeds remarkably in showing the value of friendship, loyalty, and social demarcations that arise from cultural, political, and economic backdrops. Since the story revolves around Amir and Hassan as the main characters, comparing and contrasting these two boys can go a long way in exploring the themes of Hosseini’s literature work.
Despite the huge differences between them, Amir and Hassan do share a number of similarities. To begin with, the two grew without the love and affection of their mothers having lost them in their infancy. While Amir’s mother died when giving birth to him, Hassan’s ran away. “While mu mother hemorrhaged to death during childbirth, Hassan lost his less than a week after he was born. Lost her to a fate most Afghans considered far worse than death: She ran off with a clan of traveling singers and dancers” (Hosseini 4). Accordingly, therefore, the two fell short of the benefits mothers add to the children in terms of their social and cognitive development. In this light, Browne notes that mothers’ continued protective and caring function assert vast influence on how children develop and sustain human relationships throughout life (p. 139).
Another similarity between Amir and Hassan is that they liked annoying their neighbors. At one point, Amir observes that “Hassan and I used to climb the poplar trees in the driveway of my father’s house and annoy our neighbors by reflecting sunlight into their homes with a shard of mirror”. In this too, one thing is clear: they shared desires. The only reason they found happiness in annoying neighbors was become they shared some personal attributes. Having fed from the same breast, it is no wonder that they shared some attributes. Furthermore, children learn their behavior from social figures around them commonly known as significant others (Taylor 131). Although from different mothers and fathers, the very essence that they grew in the same environment sharing both Hassan’s father, Ali, and Amir’s father, Baba, is enough reason unto why they had the same likings. Moreover, Amir did point out that they both “fed from the same breasts” (Hosseini 8).
Changing gears to the differences, the two boys had quite a set of them. First, as mentioned above, Hassan’s mother ran from the community while Amir’s mother died. In other words, therefore, Hassan always had the chance of meeting his mother one day unlike Amir. The hope that one day he would meet his mum was actually enlightened when one soldier said he knew Hassan’s mother. The very fact that somebody knew his mother would also translate he would most probably know where she went. Actually, the narrator used to wonder whether Hassan used to think about his mother since he never spoke about her. In this comes yet another difference, but significantly related. Hassan never ached for his mother but Amir never did.
Another equally notable difference between the two was their historical and cultural background. On the one hand, Hassan stemmed from the Hazara people. On the other hand, Amir belonged to the Pashtuns. On top of this, the two tribes had different religions. The Hazaras were Shia and the Pashtuns were Sunni Muslims. Even further, the Pashtuns had a superior state over the Hazaras in terms of popularity and political strength. In this tune, the Hazaras, including Hassan had to face stereotyping and discrimination on daily basis, right from playgrounds at home to school textbooks. At home, children from the Pashtuns used to call Hassan “flat-nosed” because of his Hazara mongoloid features (Hosseini 7). At school, text books barely made any substantial mention of the ancestry of the Hazaras. Even worse, the teachers despised the Hazaras when any student posed a question as to show interest in their ancestry, the case in point herein being when Amir took a book detailing the history of the Hazaras to his teacher. But besides the ethnic difference, the two boys seem like brothers, though illegitimate and incompatible ones.
In addition to the differences in their ethnic background and family bloods, Amir and Hassan also came from two social-economic classes. Amir belonged to the high class of society. Hassan stemmed from the low class. There are numerous pointers to the reality that they two boys did hail from completely different social economic statuses. On the one side, Amir’s father was the richest in Kabul. He had built carpet-export business, a restaurant, an orphanage, and two pharmacies. Even more, Baba and his family lived in a mansion. Further, Baba had married a well-educated woman, Sofia Akrami. Akrami was not only a lecturer at the university but also hailed from the royal family. On the other side, Hassan’s came from a very poor background evidence by his lack of education and poor health. Hassan’s suffering from congenital paralysis is quite a clear expression that the family did not have access to vaccination and immunization. Further, the narrator observes that the family lived in a mud shack, had only two mattresses, a wooden table, and a three-legged stool in the house.
Turning from economic wellbeing to personalities, the two boys were like the exact opposites of each other. Beginning with Amir, he was self-centered, discriminative, and jealous. This is seen in the fact that though Hassan viewed Amir as a friend, Amir never treated him as one. Instead, Amir viewed Hassan as one inferior because of ethnical background. Also, Amir did not want to share his father’s affection with Hassan. The selfishness and jealousy is so ingrained that Amir lies about Hassan just to make sure he never shared his time with the father with anybody else. Turning to Hassan, he was always loyal, good-natured and loyal. As a servant to Baba’s family, he always prepares Amir for school without fail. In terms of being forgiving, unlike Amir who felt he was the reason his mother died, Hassan never blamed himself or the mother for leaving. Even further and probably most importantly, Hassan is contempt with what he has in life despite the fact he has very little to show.
In conclusion, Amir and Hassan have quite a number of similarities and differences. Through their lives, it is evident that ethnical backgrounds can affect one’s human relationships throughout life. However, being free-will agents, every human being has the power to choose what path to take in life: either one of selfishness or one of sacrifice where one does not live for himself or herself alone but for the good of others.
Works Cited
Browne, Naima. Gender Equity in the Early Years. Maidenhead, Berkshire: Open University Press, 2004. Print.
Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. Bandung: Qanita, 2008. Print.
Taylor, George R. Practical Application of Classroom Management Theories into Strategies. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2004. Print.
