Love Diminishes the Idea of Race (The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Analysis)

Throughout the story of The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, several characters face the challenges that they put on themselves. The Kite Runner takes place in Kabul and centers around Amir, a Pashtun who is the son of a well known man in Kabul named Baba. In connection to them are Ali and Hassan, two Hazara’s who live with Baba as servants. A major issue in Afghanistan during this time period is the discrimination against Hazara’s, which is a major sin Baba and Amir continuously commit. Even though they committed numerous sins, they end up redeeming themselves by doing good deeds for others.

Throughout his childhood, Amir acted in a selfish manner and belittled the other people around him. Though he might not have understood what he was doing or seen his actions as poor, he created an awful image for himself. One reason for this was the area and stigmas he grew up around. As a Pashtun, Amir was always told how second-class Hazara’s are, which was a conflict since his “best friend” was Hassan, a Hazara. Amir continuously treated Hassan as a burden instead of a friend. A specific instance where readers spot Amir’s issues with admitting his friendship with Hassan was when he stated, “In the end, I was Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shi’a, and nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing” (Hosseini 25). Amir acknowledges the fact that they cannot be friends due to race and religion. If Amir were truly an ethical person and free of sins, he would be able to face the fact that religion and race was not what makes up a person and shouldn’t be the reason for friendship. Even as Amir aged into a mature man, he never actually understood how much Hassan meant to him until he received the call from Rahim Khan, Baba’s best friend and co-worker, saying that, “There is a way to be good again” (Hosseini 192). Rahim Khan’s precise instructions gave encouragement and hope for Amir to fix his wrongdoings. 

Amir needed to redeem himself for the way he treated Hassan and every other Hazara he wronged. Rahim Khan told him that in order to give himself salvation, he needed to save Sohrab, Hassan’s son. Instead of being cowardice like he was as a boy, he stepped up to the challenge in order to correct his past. During his trip, there were countless instances where Amir showed he would stick up for Sohrab no matter what. Readers saw Amir stick up for Sohrab in the presence of General Taheri, his father in law, when Taheri asked why Amir was taking in a Hazara boy. Since adoption was frowned upon in the Sunni religion, especially when it’s a kid who practices Shi’a, Taheri was confused by Amir’s actions. In response, Amir made it extremely clear to Taheri that, “You will never again refer to him as a ‘Hazara boy’ in my presence. He has a name and it’s Sohrab” (Hosseini 361). By doing so, Amir showed bravery for sticking up to someone he would never have imagined speaking back to and showed how much he loved Sohrab. While Amir seemed to be the only true character who received the opportunity to fix his past actions, Baba had problems that needed to be redeemed in different ways. 

Baba was always known as a powerful and superior man. Growing up, his family adopted Ali and made him a servant to make sure he was safe. However, even the best people have their own personal sins. Baba, in many cases, pushed away the Hazara’s in his life and didn’t want to lose his reputation over a Hazara. Baba tried to act as though he was an exemplary man, but viewers realize his fault when Rahim Khan tells the story of Hassan. Rahim Khan told Amir that Baba had an affair with Sanubar, Hassan’s birth mother, and Baba is actually Hassan’s birth father. When being told this, Amir replied, “‘Did Hassan know?’ I said through lips that didn’t feel like my own. Rahim Khan closed his eyes. Shook his head” (Hosseini 222). Since Baba and Hassan had passed away at this point, we learn that Baba was never able to confess to his sin of adultery. He also kept up the illusion that Hassan was just a servant and nothing more because he didn’t want his reputation to be tarnished. In connection to Hassan, Ali, Hassan’s supposed father, ended up with the worst of Baba’s bias. Since Ali was a Hazara and Baba was a Pashtun, viewers recognized the correlation between Baba and Amir. Amir relayed the information to the audience that, “...in none of his stories did Baba ever refer to Ali as his friend” (Hosseini 25). Both Baba and Amir struggled to confront their feelings toward Hazara’s and in correlation to that, destroyed friendships with the people closest to them. While Baba’s affair with Sanubar can be pushed to the side as adultery, his actions toward Ali can only be described as discrimination due to his failure to act in his favor and show him he appreciates his company. Since Baba died before he could apologize, Baba repented by standing up for the people around him even if they were Hazaras.

Baba never let that ruin his personality. He, no matter what, stuck up for others and brought comfort to them. Baba’s course of atonement was doing good deeds for everyone around him. To illustrate his redemption, he used his strong voice and emotions to stick up for Hassan when Amir suggests getting new servants. Baba raised his voice back at him and said, “He’s staying right here with us, where he belongs” (Hosseini 90). The way he relayed this message showed his true love for Hassan and that he would never want to be apart from him. Baba then shows this passion again when Ali suggests that him and Hassan move away. Baba opened up his heart and uttered, “You’re the brother I never had, Ali, you know that. Please don’t do this.’” (Hosseini 106). This display of emotion showed Amir and readers how much Baba loves Ali, whether he wanted to admit it or not. 

Baba and Amir are similar in ways that they never could have fathomed. Both of them committed the offense of discrimination against the ones closest to them. While they are the main characters that commit this error, multiple characters in The Kite Runner exhibit sins of all kinds and try to redeem themselves for it. Baba and Amir learned their lessons the hard way and did the right thing in the end to make themselves better overall. People’s environment may have consisted of casual racism and it being socially acceptable. They proved that there is a way to grow as a person and away from the bigotry people experience as a child.