Kite Runner Friendship Analysis
James Cyr
AP Lit
Kite Runner Rough Draft
In Khaled Hosseini's best-selling novel The Kite Runner, two boys, Hassan and Amir, have a friendship that is not as typical as most children's. Although they do carve into a tree that they are the "sultans of Kabul", their friendship is weak and one sided. These boys grew up in Kabul, and although their childhood friendship may have seemed like something out of a book, complete with pomegranate trees and story telling, it was dark and emotionally wearing. A main reason for this was because of the one subtle difference between these boys, omitting the differences in character. Hassan is a Hazara and Amir is a Pashtun. For this reason the Afghan society has classified Hassan as a lower human being and he, along with his father, is in servitude towards Amir and his family. Amir's lack of self-confidence throughout the novel hinders his ability to have a true friendship with Hassan. Eventually Amir tries to break away from the power of the jealousy and guilt that Hassan has brought into his life.An underlying cause of the problems Amir has with his friendship pertaining to Hassan is that he is jealous of Hassan. This jealousy causes him to test Hassan, and to take advantage of Hassan's unwavering loyalty. This is just to prove that Hassan is lower than he is. Amir confirms this by humiliating Hassan to himself, by taking advantage of Hassan's illiteracy to amuse himself, such as when he convinces Hassan that imbecile meant smart and intelligent. Amir is not accomplishing anything by teasing Hassan except that he is establishing that he is smarter. Amir feels that he has to prove himself because he lacks acceptance from his father, so he teases Hassan in order to become acceptable to his father. Amir once again has to prove to himself that he has the ultimate superiority by testing Hassan when he tells him to eat dirt. Hassan says that he would, which is all Amir needs to expand his ego and confirm that he is still above
AP Lit
Kite Runner Rough Draft
In Khaled Hosseini's best-selling novel The Kite Runner, two boys, Hassan and Amir, have a friendship that is not as typical as most children's. Although they do carve into a tree that they are the "sultans of Kabul", their friendship is weak and one sided. These boys grew up in Kabul, and although their childhood friendship may have seemed like something out of a book, complete with pomegranate trees and story telling, it was dark and emotionally wearing. A main reason for this was because of the one subtle difference between these boys, omitting the differences in character. Hassan is a Hazara and Amir is a Pashtun. For this reason the Afghan society has classified Hassan as a lower human being and he, along with his father, is in servitude towards Amir and his family. Amir's lack of self-confidence throughout the novel hinders his ability to have a true friendship with Hassan. Eventually Amir tries to break away from the power of the jealousy and guilt that Hassan has brought into his life.An underlying cause of the problems Amir has with his friendship pertaining to Hassan is that he is jealous of Hassan. This jealousy causes him to test Hassan, and to take advantage of Hassan's unwavering loyalty. This is just to prove that Hassan is lower than he is. Amir confirms this by humiliating Hassan to himself, by taking advantage of Hassan's illiteracy to amuse himself, such as when he convinces Hassan that imbecile meant smart and intelligent. Amir is not accomplishing anything by teasing Hassan except that he is establishing that he is smarter. Amir feels that he has to prove himself because he lacks acceptance from his father, so he teases Hassan in order to become acceptable to his father. Amir once again has to prove to himself that he has the ultimate superiority by testing Hassan when he tells him to eat dirt. Hassan says that he would, which is all Amir needs to expand his ego and confirm that he is still above