Scalzo 1

Aileen Scalzo

Mr. N. Gwozdz

AP Language and Composition

13 March 2019

Battling Bias

Imagine living a life being subservient to others because of your beliefs. In Afghanistan,

Hazaras are known for being the third-largest ethnic group in Afghanistan (Barfield). However,

they have been treated unfairly because of labels being placed on them as servants.

Society contains a plethora of diverse religions, cultures, and social classes with vastly

different beliefs and morals. Unfortunately, some people believe that because of their religion,

culture or social status, they are superior over someone who is different than them. Khaled

Hosseini uses characters in his novel, ​The Kite Runner,​ to condemn those that believe people of a

different religion, culture, or social class are inferior. He is arguing that something that is

inevitable, such as a religion, culture, or social class, is not a valid reason to be used against

someone with malicious intent just because they are different.

Hosseini utilized three different characters all with different understandings of the issue

on social discrimination. Amir, the protagonist, is representative of the group of people who are

easily persuaded by what society says is and is not traditional. The reader discovers Amir’s battle

with himself on being biased of different religions, cultures, and social classes to discovering that

those labels do not identify a person. Amir’s father, Baba, is a figure who stands up for the

people who are discriminated against for being different. The older Amir gets, the more he looks

up to Baba for guidance. Assef, the antagonist, represents the social intolerance of people who do
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not know how to accept individuality of others. Hosseini utilizes these different characters to

represent the groups of people in society that have different experiences with social

discrimination.

Hosseini uses Amir as the protagonist for his novel as a symbol for the enlightenment

that some people go through regarding the issues on religious, cultural, and social class

backgrounds. Amir came from a wealthy Pashtun family who had a large house in Kabul with

Hazara servants. Despite the stereotype for Hazaras, Amir knew that Hassan and Ali meant more

to him and his father rather than just being their servants, he just could not figure out why.

Growing up, Amir always felt ashamed to admit to others that he was friends with his Hazara

servant because of their lower social label. As the plot of the novel progresses, Amir struggles

with himself to find the courage to stand up for what he knows is right. Hosseini utilizes Amir’s

ignorance as a symbol for those in society that are easily persuaded to believe what society says

is right.

Amir encounters times where he is faced with the question of what Hassan means to him.

He knows that he and Hassan were like brothers. They have grown up together, share memories

together, and do everything together, but the stereotype of Hassan being inferior to him holds

Amir back from admitting that Hassan means any more than just being a servant. Amir

mentioned how he felt about his relationship with Hassan when he admitted, “I never thought of

Hassan and me as friends either… In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was a

Sunni and he was a Shi’a, and nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing” (Hosseini 25).

Amir struggles to overcome the societal pressure being put on him of acquainting with a Hazara

being a bad thing. One of Amir’s biggest concerns was to be disliked by others. This
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demonstrates Hosseini’s claim because Amir is not doing what is right, even though deep down

he knows that him and Hassan do everything together despite their religious differences. He is

representing the group of people in society who are persuaded into believing that someone of a

different religion, culture, or social class is less than someone who is viewed as more socially

acceptable.

While Amir acts cowardly when he is faced with issues that could possibly sacrifice his

reputation of being a Pashtun, his father, Baba, is a role model for him, further reinforcing

Hosseini’s claim to not scrutinize others regardless of their religion, culture, or social class. Even

though Baba has servants who are Hazaras, it is apparent very early in the book that he views

Hassan and Ali as more than just his servants. Baba had grown up with Ali for over forty years,

so he treated him and Hassan as family. Amir had asked Baba at one point if they could get new

servants, Baba reacted with a sense of anger when he said to Amir, “‘You bring me shame. And

Hassan… Hassan’s not going anywhere, do you understand?”’ (Hosseini 90). Baba reacting in an

infuriated manner shocked Amir because it was then that he realized that Ali and Hassan meant

more to Baba than just being their servants. This idea of Baba treating Hazaras as family was odd

to Amir because of what society had made Hazaras out to be. Baba aids Amir in recognizing that

doing what is right, may not always be easy.

A specific moment that Amir admired his father for being unbothered by stereotypes was

when Baba successfully built and funded an orphanage. It is mentioned that Baba did not have

any architectural experience to build an orphanage, but because he wanted to help others, he put

his idea into effect. This was shocking for Amir because despite skeptics telling Baba that he

would not be able to build a successful orphanage, Baba did what he knew was right. Amir
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mentioned this when he said, “Skeptics had urged him to stop his foolishness and hire an

architect. Of course, Baba refused, and everyone shook their heads in dismay at his obstinate

ways” (Hosseini 13). Baba proving the skeptics wrong is just one of the various instances of

Baba doing what he wanted to do, not what others were telling him to do. This was shocking for

Amir to see because he knew that other people were discouraging his father. Baba is a role model

for Amir to do what is right regardless of what others say. Thus, furthering Hosseini’s argument

of standing up to discrimination of others regardless of their religion, culture, or social class.

Assef, fulfilling the role as the antagonist in the novel, is representative of the social

discrimination in society towards those who are a different religion, culture or social class than

what is considered traditional. Assef is a family friend of Baba and continuously taunts Amir

with his powerful and cruel presence whenever Hassan is around. With Hassan being a Hazara,

he has a label of being viewed as inferior to someone like Assef, who is a Pashtun. Assef always

describes to Amir that Hazaras are “garbage” (Hosseini 284) and that they do not belong in

Afghanistan. When Amir goes to save Sohrab from him, Assef preaches on his experiences with

ethnic cleansing, “We’d shoot them right there in front of their families. Let them see. Let them

remember who they were, where they belonged” (Hosseini 277). Hosseini implements this idea

that there are some people who believe that their religion, culture, or social class is far more

superior than a different one. He illustrates this through Assef to show how cruel, immoral, and

inhumane an act such as this is, thus implying that there are several false justifications of

religion, culture, and social class in society, furthering Hosseini’s claim that people who are

different than the majority of society are unfairly discriminated against.

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Khaled Hosseini demonstrates his argument of the immorality of those who discriminate

against others because of their religion, culture, or social class in his novel ​The Kite Runner

through different characters and their experiences. The reader can begin to see these issues

through the eyes of the characters while reading the story. Hosseini conveys the notion that doing

the right thing may be frowned upon by others and how it can be a struggle for some people to

go against popular belief.

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Works Cited

Barfield, Thomas. “Ethnic Groups.” ​Family Structure and Marriage - Norwegian Afghanistan

Committee​, ​www.afghanistan.no/English/Afghanistan/Ethnic_groups/index.html​.

Hosseini, Khaled. ​The Kite Runner,​ Riverhead Books, 2012.