The Kite Runner Compare And Contrast

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a novel with a personal experience from the author of what people in Afghanistan had to go through to live a normal everyday life. The main focus of the story is on the two boys named Amir and Hassan who are both Afghan. To the Afghan society, Hassan is in a lower class than Amir and therefore Hassan is Amir’s servant. Amir is a Sunni Muslim and Hassan is a Shi’a Muslim. There is a major religious and ethnic difference between the two. Although their relationship is kind of sad, Amir and Hassan both become friends.

The author, Khaled Hosseini, is from Afghanistan and is a member of the Hazara ethnic group just like Hassan in the story. Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan which is also one of the settings in The Kite Runner. The story starts in Kabul, Afghanistan in the 1970’s when the country was getting out of monarchy. Afghanistan is a
On the other hand, Hassan is not wealthy and is actually the son of Amir’s dad’s houseman. Amir is a Pashtun while Hassan is a Hazara which means they are from different social classes. The Hazaras are considered to be a lower class than the Pashtuns and are therefore only accepted in society as servants for the wealthy people. Amir and Hassan’ friendship is kind of weak because Amir’s jealousy causes problems between them. Amir’s dad favors Hassan which is why Amir longs for his acceptance and feels the need to ridicule Hassan and prove to himself that he’s superior. Amir thinks it’s necessary to put down Hassan because of the lack of attention he gets from Baba. One example of this is when Amir makes fun of Hassan because he’s not as educated, “Imbecile. It means smart intelligent. I’ll use it in a sentence for you. When it comes to words, Hassan is an imbecile” (29). Amir does not get anything from easing Hassan. He’s only proving that he’s smarter, but he still doesn’t have Baba’s