Inequitable Societal Structures: A Call for Justice and Equity

“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe. ” (– Frederick Douglass) The Kite Runner is based on two boys named Amir and Hassan. Amir is from an upper class, called the Pashtuns and Hassan is from a lower class, called the Hazaras. Pashtuns are Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group. Pashtuns are Sunni Muslims and Hazaras are Shi’a Muslims.

Pashtuns consider Hazaras a disgrace to Islam and are considered a minority.

Hazaras have been discriminated for many centuries. Because of this class difference, there are limitations to Amir and Hassan’s relationship. The Kite Runner would not exist if there is no class difference between Amir and Hassan because every conflict in the novel revolves around the class difference between Amir and Hassan as well as Pashtuns and Hazaras. Amir and Hassan themselves would be two completely different people if it weren’t for the labels of Pashtuns and Hazaras and the political issues that are ongoing in Afghanistan would be non-existent as well.

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The Kite Runner is based on the class difference between Amir and Hassan. There would be no conflicts or issues in this novel if it weren’t for the discrimination against Hazaras and the superiority of Pashtuns. The conflict between Assef and Hassan would be non-existent because if there was no class difference in the novel, Assef would have never teased Hassan.

Assef even raped Hassan because he was a Hazara. Assef is the village bully and has very low tolerance for Hazaras, especially Hassan. Hassan was raped to be dominated by Assef and to prove that Hassan is inferior to Assef.

Every confrontation Hassan and Assef have, Assef constantly states that Pashtuns are real Afghans and Hazaras are not. “Afghanistan is the land of Pashtuns. It always has been, always will be. We are the true Afghans, not this Flat-Nose here. His people pollute our homeland, our watan. They dirty our blood. ” – (Assef, Chapter 5, Page 43) He also claims that Hazaras pollute Afghanistan and should be killed just like how Hitler murdered 6 million Jewish people because they were considered minorities in Germany. Another conflict that would also make the novel non-existent would be the limited relationship between Amir and Hassan.

When Amir and Hassan participated in the Kite flying competition, Amir controlled the kite and Hassan was the kite runner. This already shows the domination Amir has over Hassan and how Amir will always remain the controller and Hassan will always be the runner. Amir only treated him like he was inferior because of he was a Hazara and also because of the favouritism between Amir and Hassan from Baba. 26 years later when Amir is in living the USA and Hassan is still in Afghanistan, Hassan protected Baba’s property with his wife and his child.

Hassan and his wife were killed because he was protecting his home and was claimed a liar by the Taliban’s, also because he was a Hazara. The class difference in this novel was not only between Amir and Hassan but between the Talibans and Hazaras as well, which caused a lot of political tension. Overall, most conflicts introduced in The Kite Runner are inflicted by class differences between Amir and Hassan. If it were not for the class difference and discrimination, there would be no story at all.