Racism In The Kite Runner

In Khaled Hosseini’s world-renowned novel “The Kite Runner,” Hosseini tells the story of a young Afghani boy , Amir, and the trials that he must go through to learn who he is. Hosseini uses the narrator of Amir to bring to light not only the devastation that has befallen Afghanistan but to also incorporate universal themes that , no matter who you are, anyone can relate to. Hosseini exemplifies multiple themes throughout his work; however, the theme of racism plays a vital role in the characterization of the characters, but it also plays a major role in the lessonsthat readers can learn from The Kite Runner shown through the Hazaras’ battle with discrimination, Baba’s hatred of Russians, and through the radical ideology of the Taliban.

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The primary conflict of racism in the novel is against the Hazara, who practice Shi’a Islam. The dominant group is the Pashtuns who practice Sunni Islam.

Some characters call Amir’s childhood friend Hassan a “mice-eating, flat-nosed, load-carrying donkey.” The Hazara are immediately identifiable, as they are thought to have stereotypically Mongoloid physical traits. Amir thinks of Hassan as just a Hazara more than once, even though Hassan is the only real friend he has in the story. Baba has a similar relationship with Ali, Hassan’s father. Amir’s grandfather adopted Ali as his own son, and Baba’s brother, but his role is always as a servant.

Amir and his father use the division between Pashtun and Hazara to oppress them in the most insidious of ways, as they pretend to be close to Hassan and Ali, while keeping them at an arm’s distance as servants.

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When Amir and his wife adopt Hasaan’s son Sohrab, his father-in-law protests, “I have to deal with the community’s perception of our family. People will ask. They will want to know why there’s a Hazara boy living with our daughter. What do I tell them?” In some sense, the persecution is a prevalent theme all the way through t…