Class in The Kite Runner Essay

Afghanistan is a coarse and dishonourable place to reside. Khaled Hosseini explains this in his novel The Kite Runner. Afghanistans degrading class system is horrific and inhumane. This inhumane, rigid system allows for ethnic discrimination, constant warfare and poverty.

To begin, Afghanistan is divided into two main ethnic classesthe Pushtuns and the Hazaras. The Pushtuns believe they are better than the Hazaras due to the fact that they are more financially stable. In The Kite Runner, Baba, a wealthy Pushtun and the father of Amir, throws a party for Amir for winning a kite flying tournament. Baba invites only his fellow Pushtuns. He had his servants Ali & Hassan, both Hazaras, wait on the guests. After the party, Ali & Hassan clean the home and cook for Baba and Amir. Another instance where ethnic discrimination is at its worst is when the young Hassan is cornered in an alley, beaten and then raped by a Pushtun boy his own age, named Assef. Hassan is beaten and raped due to the fact that he is just a Hazara (Hosseini, The Kite Runner, p74). Further in the novel, Amir, after moving to America, travels back to Afghanistan to save Hassans son, Sohrab, from the eccentric Assef, who is a higher member of the Taliban. Assef has sexually abused, beaten and forced Sohrab to belly dance, all because Sohrab is just a Hazara boy (p294). To another extent of ethnic discrimination, Baba is Hassans biological father but he will never admit to it for the sake of his honour, (p235) and his name (p235). For if people would find out about this, Baba would be socially casterized. The discrimination of ethnicity throughout Afghanistan is contributing to the decaying class system.

The constant warfare is another main contributor to the decaying Afghanistan class system. Once the Taliban came into power after defeating the Shorawi, (p215) they introduced public executions. The executions happened everywhere, even at soccer games, where a man and a woman were stoned to death for dishonouring the sanctity of marriage (p283). The Taliban believes that every sinner must be punished in a manner befitting his sin! (p283) The Taliban consists of Pushtuns who ruthlessly massacred the Hazaras in Mazor-i-Sharif (p225). The Taliban does not care who anyone is or what their ethnicity is, no one felt safe (p224). For instance, Hassan was verbally abused by a Taliban soldier for how promiscuous his mother was. The warfare has contributed to the decaying class system, which has turned Afghanistan as close as you could get to a proverbial hell on earth (p223).

Throughout Afghanistan, poverty is extremely evident. The streets are littered with mothers and children, and fathers are a rare commodity (p257) to come by. Mothers are not permitted to work in Afghanistan, therefore can not support their children. So, the children are put in a barracks-style (p264) orphanage. Unfortunately, the Taliban does not fund the orphanages, and no one else but the Taliban has enough financial security to donate. For the orphanages to ensure an income, they unwillingly demote themselves into human trafficking. And while the more fortunate children live in the orphanages, there are still children living amongst the rubble (p257) and the rest of the beggars (p257). The Hazaras throughout Afghanistan are, by far, the poorest people. They wear shredded burlap rags, (p257) and they dont have that much (p219). The Hazara villages consist of mud houses, (p216) sand and dust. The cycle of poverty does not allow for the Hazaras to be equal in any way to any other class. Poverty in Afghanistan is a substantial contributor to the failing class system.

The decaying class system of Afghanistan is portrayed in Khaled Hosseinis novel The Kite Runner. The novel describes Afghanistans putrefying class system through ethnic discrimination, how the country is decimated by constant warfare, and the relentless amount of poverty. Rahim Khan questions if there will ever be an Afghanistan with no more rockets, no more killing, no more funerals? (p225)