Author/Historical Background of Kite Runner:
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/hos0bio-1
Criticism of the Historical Background:
While The Kite Runner is not a history
of Afghanistan, relevant background needs to be discussed from a historical
perspective in order to better understand the context of the novel in Afghan
society.
Before the 16th century, the Safavids ruled
in western Afghanistan, the Hazara ethnic group was Sunni but as a matter of
pressure and time they converted to the Shia faith. (Adamec, 2003; Gregorian,
1969; Noelle, 1997). The Hazaras are speculated to have descended from the
contingents ('hazar' meaning thousand or regiment) left behind by the Mongolian
quests into Afghanistan (Adamec, 2003; Gregorian, 1969; Noelle, 1997).
Another Shia group in Afghanistan is the
Qizilbash, remnants of the Safavid dynasty. They were believed to have
furnished the Safavid kings with a cavalier of 70,000 horsemen. The Qizilbash,
literally translating into "red head", were Azerbaijani-Turks of Shia
faith who spoke Farsi. The Qizilbash became noticeable in Afghanistan when
Nadir Shah Afshar, alleged by some to have Safavid lineage, created the
Kandahar and Kabul garrisons during his Indian campaign in 1738-39. The Kabul
garrison consisted of about 12,000 families (Adamec, 2003; Gregorian, 1969;
Noelle, 1997).
When the Afshari king, Nadir Shah Afshar, was
assassinated, his general Ahmad Shah Durrani, a Sadozai nobleman, became
Afghanistan's first formal king in 1747. Ahmad Shah Durrani continued to hold
the Qizilbash as advisors and ghulam khana (royal personal bodyguards). Ahmad
Shah Durrani's rearguard army commander known as Wali Mohammad Khan Jawansher
was given one of the settlements in Kabul, the Chindawal District. When Ahmad
Shah Durrani's son, Timur Shah, moved the capital from Kandahar to Kabul, he
brought with him more Qizilbash families to Chindawal (Adamec, 2003; Ghobar,
1967; Gregorian, 1969; Noelle, 1997). Overall, the Qizilbash continued to serve
in high administrative and army positions in successive administrations.
Not the same could be said of the Hazaras.
However, practically all-immediate descendants of Ahmad Shah Durrani left the
Hazaras in relative peace with the exception of Shah Kamran's 1847 attack on
Hazarajat. Then, in the mid-1800s a distant cousin of Barakzai clan took power
under Amir Dost Mohammad, born to a Qizilbash wife of Sardar Payanda, was not
sympathetic to the Shias and exploited Sunni-Shia differences. Amir Dost
Mohammad aligned the Sunnis and Qizilbash to the detriment of the Hazaras. This
alliance served for his conquest of the Hazarajat after which Amir Dost
Mohammad declared himself 'Amir-al-Mumineen' (Leader of the Faithful)
attempting to compare himself to the Prophet's cousin, Caliph Ali (Adamec,
2003; Gregorian, 1969; Noelle, 1997). In recent times, the Taliban referred to
their leader, Mullah Omar, similarly evoking memories of Amir Dost Mohammad's
conquest.
In 1891 Amir Dost Mohammad's grandson, Amir
Abdur Rahman continued the policy of offering Sunnis and tribesmen the title of
'ghazi' (infidel killer) for his conquest of Hazarajat. The result was the
destruction of the Hazara tribal system, annexation of Hazara personal property
and land, and the enslavement Hazaras to be sold in the Kabul bazaar. What
ensued was the massive migration of Hazaras to Quetta and Mashad, currently in
Pakistan and Iran, respectively.
Amir Abdur Rahman's son, Amir Habibullah (r.
1901 - 1919) had Hazara 'kaniz' (concubines) in addition to 'ghulam-bacha'
(royal slaves who were sons of influential people). Other high-ranking families
also had 'kaniz' and 'ghulam' (male slave). However, he decreed that slavery
should be outlawed but those already enslaved could not break from the economic
bondage or find enforcement of the anti-slave decree. After his son, Shah Amanullah
(r. 1919 - 1929) became king he outlawed slavery, discrimination, returned
seized land and property returned seized land and property emancipating Hazaras
and other Shias (Adamec, 2003; Gregorian, 1969; Noelle, 1997).
While Shah Amanullah outlawed slavery, still
after his 1929 departure from Afghanistan until the early 1970s era when The
Kite Runner's young Amir grows up in Kabul, the slave-like old practices of
Hazaras still continued. While some had broken from this bondage, they were not
treated much better earning low pay as servants ('nokahr' or 'muzdur') laboring
as attendants, cooks, housekeepers, drivers, midwives, cloth washers, and yard
workers in many middle-class to high-ranking households.
In Afghanistan, socioeconomic status was highly
correlated with ethnicity stratifying the greater Afghan society. Income
inequality was vast as most of the upper class came from the royal tribal clan,
while the lower class was comprised of the likes of Hassan's family of The
Kite Runner.
Through symbolic structure, Hosseini deals
with the inequalities and injustices. The book's political dimension reveals
that Hazaras and Shias could never move up the hierarchy unless they denied
their identity or became wealthy. It was not just the Shias and Hazaras but
also the Kuchis, Uzbeks, Turkmen, and 'atrafiyan or deehatiyan' (rural
dwellers) no matter if they were Pashtu-speaking, Panjshiris, or Badakhshis.
It was in reaction to these injustices that
many of the likes of Amir and Hassan assisted in overthrowing the feudal regime
that facilitated or carelessly observed these injustices. Afghans clunk to the
ideologies of the Marxist left or Islamic right, which based on ideology and
not on wealth or race gave them the promise of equal status in a utopian society.
Many attribute the late 1970s coming to power
of rural natives as a reaction to decades of discrimination of the center
against the peripheral Pashto-speakers. In addition, the events of the 1890s
prevented the emergence of social or political organization among the Hazaras
up until 1980 when a member of the Hazara community finally became prime
minister.(
Characters
- Amir: He is the narrator and the main character in the novel. He is the song of a Pakistani business who is wealthy. His closest friend, a Hazara servant, is Hassan
Criticism: In this article I critically examine Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, and specifically the novel's ethical demand, “there is a way to be good again”, in relation to contemporary conceptions of humanitarianism. Using Mamdani's analysis of the distinction between the “good Muslim” and the “bad Muslim”, and reading the novel in dialogue with Appiah's notion of cosmopolitanism and Butler's theory of human interdependence, I argue that The Kite Runner reflects a shift from the supremacy of race and nation as primary markers of political community and identity to the idea of the “modern” as the framework for determining the “human”. As such, I read the novel as an allegory of global ethics. - Hassan: Hassan is a Hazara servant and half-brother. His father is Ali, a servant as well. Hassan is Amir's servant. He is not a very huge character in the book itself, but he does play a large role in the life of Amir.
- Baba: Baba is Amir's father and a very wealthy business man. He is a good father, yet he doesn't know how to connect with his son, and pushes him away.
- Ali: He is Baba's "brother". Ali's father was Baba's fathers servant. They grew up together and Ali was a loyal servant to Baba. Ali was a good father to Hassan and he seemed to always be interested in Hassan life and was always concerned for Hassan's well being.
- Soraya: Soraya is the Generals daughter. After Amir and Baba move to San Francisco,USA and work at the Sunday Swap Meet, they meet Soraya and her family there. Soraya and Amir fall in love and get married. Shes a comforting person for Amir to go to. He depends on her.
- Rahim Khan: Rahim is the man who called Amir from the beginning of the novel. Khan is the business partner of Baba's, he is also the most known father figure of Amir. Baba was always too busy to listen to Amir and his stories while Khan would encourage Amir's writing.
- Assef: Assef is an Afghanistan-German boy who is about the same age as Hassan and Amir. He is the antagonist in the beginning of the novel. He picks on both boys and is the reason of the tension and conflict later in the novel.
- The General Taheri: Soraya’s father and a friend of Baba. General Taheri is proud to the point of arrogance at times, and he places great value on upholding Afghan traditions. He is in many ways the stereotypical Afghan male, both in his roles as a father and husband.
- Jamilia: General Taheri’s wife and Soraya’s mother. Jamila plays the part of the typical Afghan wife and mother. She obeys her husband without question and wants nothing more than to see her daughter married
- Sohrab: Son of Hassan and Farzana. In many ways, Sohrab acts as a substitute for Hassan in the novel, and he is a central focus of the plot in the later sections of the book. He is also an ethnic Hazara and is great with a slingshot. His character arc takes him from being a normal little boy to the traumatized victim of sexual and physical abuse, and he goes from speaking very little to not at all.
Setting
-Afghanistan
-Pakistan
-Kabul
-San Francisco-Kabul
Conflict
-The main conflict throughout the story focuses on the ongoing struggle of Amir, the main protagonist, to seek redemption and forgiveness for his sins he had committed in Afghanistan against his best friend and half-brother Hassan
-Amir had let Hassan get raped and beaten after Amir had one kite flying contest. To forget his guilt, he falsely accuses Hassan of theft. Amir believes that if Hassan is sent away, he may no longer feel guilty about what he did to him.
-When the Russians invade their home, Amir and his father flee to San Francisco, ultimately taking his sins and his sense of guilt with him
-Amir believes that he will find redemption by returning the long lost son of Hassan, Sorahb, back to him, who as of late has been the sexual plaything of Assef, Amir and Hassan's former bully and tormentor. The Novel portrays Amir and his quest to reunite the two and save Sorahb from the clutches of the malevolent Assef
Plot
The novel begins with a call from Pakistan from Amir's long time family friend Rhaim Khan. He tells Amir that he should go to Afghanistan so he could be good again. The novel then shifts to the childhood of Amir as he grew up with his father, Baba, and his friend Hassan, the Hazara servant. The boys embark on many adventures but their relationship is torn when the inevitable happens. After the annual kite fighting tournament that Amir and Hassan win it is custom for children to run after the kites and retrieve them thus the name of kite running. After the boys had won the tournament, Hassan offers to retrieve the kite. He is gone for a long time and Amir decides to look for him. The scene he was about to see was eventually going to torment Amir for the rest of his life, the raping of Hassan by the hands of Assef, the local bully. After that occurrence things do not go back to normal and eventually Hassan and his father leave after an altercation involving stealing goes on at the house. Life in Afghanistan slowly starts to change and so Amir and his father are forced to leave and find refuge in Pakistan. There they find a way the United States where they start their new lives.
Here they must find work selling used merchandise at the flea market. This is the place where Amir finds his future wife, Soraya. She is the daughter of an ex-General Taheri, a friend of the family. The two eventually sped up their marriage due to Baba's deteriorating health. Baba eventually dies and Amir is left alone. Then one day Amir receives a call from Pakistan from a long time friend Rahim Khan. He tells him he must go to Afghanistan to find Hassan's son and keep him safe. This is where the long, well-hidden secret that ties Hassan and Amir is revealed. Hassan is really Amir half -brother after an affair that Baba had with Hassan's motherAmir embarks on the task and is in awe of the state of his childhood home. There is so much destruction it is unrecognizable. The orphanage that had Sohrab, Hassan's son, tell Amir that he is not with them anymore and that to find him he must go to a soccer match later that day and speak to the officer with sunglasses at the game. He goes to the game and sets up an appointment with the officer. When they meet the officer remebers Amir from the past, this officer is the one and only Assef, the one who raped Hassan as a child. He now had Sohrab and was tormenting his life. The two end up fighting only to be ceased by Sohrab and his slingshot. Amir is taken to a hospital to recover from the beating. Once fit Amir tries to adopt Sohrab but the process complicates itself and ends up making Sohrab wanting to kill himself. Amir takes Sohrab to the United States and adopts him. One day at an Afghanistan reunion at the park Amir and Sohrab fight kites and when the kite flys off Amir returns Hassan the favor by going and retrieving it.
