Vainavi Mahendra

M.A English
Ms. Gunjan Gupta
18 April, 2018

Hassan and Sohrab: an Allegorical

Representation of Afghanistan

Khaled Hosseini is an Afghan-born American novelist and physician. After graduating

from college, he worked as a doctor in California, an occupation that he likened to "an
arranged marriage.” He has published three novels, most notably his 2003 debut The Kite
Runner, all of which are at least partially set in Afghanistan and feature an Afghan as the
protagonist.
An allegory is a narrative prose or verse in which agents and actions along with setting
is combined by the author to make a coherent sense of “literal” or primary level of
significance, at the same time to communicate a secondary, correlated order of significance.
Hosseini. Within the novel, Hosseini used the trope of allegory heavily. However, the
ultimate allegory can be derive through the main characters-Amir, Hassan, Sohrab and Assef.
Hassan, in the novel, is introduced as a character who is everything good. He is
described as having a China doll face, green eyes, and a harelip. Hosseini regards him as a
flat character in terms of development; he is "a lovely guy and you root for him and you love
him but he's not complicated” as stated by Hosseini in an interview with the Guardian.
Hassan is embodiment of everything good and innocent. His vivacious nature and happy-go-
lucky attitude is what makes stand out as allegorical representation of Afghanistan before the
Soviet invasion. Just like Hassan, Afghanistan with it’s rich culture and beautiful landscape
was a vibrant land. Both Hassan and Afghanistan were looked down upon by those in power,
but they didn't let it bother them much. Similarly, Hassan’s rape by Assef, a Pashtun, can be
correlated with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Though Assef was an Afghan, his mother
was German lending credence to this theory as he was obsessed with “cleansing” the world of
filth, Hazaaras. His half parentage coupled with his Nazi like belief makes him more of a

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foreigner than an Afghan. Lastly, his death at the hands of the Taliban signals the death of
Afghanistan’s vibrant and rich culture. It signals the death of the innocence of Afghanistan, it
signals the end of Afghanistan as the people knew it.
In continuation with that, if Hassan was Afghanistan, Sohrab, Hassan’s son, represents
the children of Afghanistan-it’s citizens. Hence, his abuse at the hands of Taliban is
emblematic of the abuse, torture and subjugation suffered by the citizens of Afghanistan
under the rule of Taliban. Subsequently, him being rescued by Amir is emblematic of U.S
forces’ attempts at freeing Afghanistan from the tyrannical rule of the talibans. Even in the
end, his depressive mood and inability to be able to emerge from the trauma is emblematic of
the deep scars etched into the memory of the people of Afghanistan for whom normalcy of
life is fear fetched hope.
Where Hassan and Sohrab represents Afghanistan, Amir is the representation of
western powers, U.S mainly. It starts with Hassan, in the alley, where Amir didn’t do
anything while Hassan was being raped just as U.S didn't intervene when the Soviet forces
invaded Afghanistan. This representation really fits as, in the novel, Amir migrates to
America and becomes American citizen. As mentioned above, Amir’s attempt at rescuing
Sohrab is similar to the U.S forces rescuing Afghans.
Lastly, Assef is a character who sits perfectly in the role of both- a soviet force and a
taliban leader. His resemblance to Osama Bin laden is uncanny as both were people from the
rich privileged family, both were highly educated and yet both derived pleasure from
controlling Afghanistan through sheer terror.
Having stated that, it would be remiss of me to not state that according to Khaled
Hosseini, it is not allegorical, because the correspondences are not exact as the person who
rapes Hassan is also an Afghan, not a foreigner. As a repartee to that one would like highlight
how the fictional allegory does not offer the kind of exact parallels that are like strict
allegories. Hence, it cannot be dispensed as not being an allegory. It is an allegory just not
exact mirrors of events that we are used to seeing.