Punishment In The Kite Runner

Discuss the ways the actions of the major characters in the novel correlate to the punishments they receive and whether or not they are deserving of their fate.
The presentation of good and evil in both ‘The Kite Runner’ by Khalid Hosseini and ‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad does not fulfill the traditional perceptions of morality. It can be argued that the actions of the characters are a mixture of both and not one character purely deserves their punishment. Whilst the innocent characters in the novels are seen to receive poor treatment, villainous characters avoid retribution for much of the story. However, in both novels the idea of a ‘universal balance’ is mostly restored through either death or the possibility of a happy ending. In
Hassan is willingly subservient to Amir, shown through plosive verb “crushed” which has violent connotations showsing Hassan’s willingness to do anything Amir tells him to, even if it means sacrificing himself. However, we know that it is not the same for Amir sacrificing himself because instead even in Chapter five Amir is unable to stick up for himself instead opting to allow Hassan to defend them both against the bullies, and when Assef questions their friendship Amir thinks to himself “but he is not my friend”. He eventually pays the ultimate price for his unrequited loyalty when faced with Assef’s abuse saying “this is his kite”. The use of this statement of fact here emphasizes the passion in Hassan’s loyalty and the absolute lack of willingness to give up the kite. This could be argued as an example of Khalid Hosseini using this as the turning point of the novel, as it is what leads Hossieni to portray Amir as being plagued by guilt during the course of his adult life. Hassan is presented as only a child when his life is changed due to Amir’s lack of intervention. He did no wrong except for being a true
Although they see the riches their ‘masters’ have they do not seem to aspire for greatness for themselves. This is possibly because – more in Heart of Darkness than in The Kite Runner, the slaves are completely ostracised from the rich community of the white men who have colonialized the area. In Hassan’s letter to Amir as a man he describes his inability to protect his wife against beatings from the Talib as “what could I do except stand and watch” As a Hazara Hassan could not dispute the unjustified treatment of his wife as the racial divides meant that a potential for a better existence was impossible. Likewise, the slaves went about their lives peacefully and did not defend their rights because they were so used to the leadership of the white men that they could not see a potential for anything more in their lives. This does however pose the argument that there was not really injustice as the abused groups were not presented as fully understanding to what extent they were being mistreated. Some critics such as Firchow have suggested that Conrad could not have been posing the racial discrimination injustices as writing in the 1800’s due to the social norms it is likely that Conrad will have not considered the possibilities of potential for black people as it was not