what are the similarities between hazara and pashtun?

The Kite Runner: A compare and contrast of Amir and Hassan

By Joseph Eulo

In Khaled Hosseini’s book, The Kite Runner the author brings the reader on a journey through Afghanistan’s history through the eyes of the central character of the story: Amir. The Kite Runner is a haunting tale about the friendship between Amir and Hassan and the choices they make while growing up in Kabul. Although, Amir and Hassan are raised in the same household, and are fed from same breast, they grow up in different realities: Amir a Pashtuns and the son of a rich man, Hassan a Hazara and Amir’s servant. In this paper, I will discuss the similarities and differences between Amir and Hassan based on their social status, religion, personality and parental relationships.

Religion is a significant element in Middle Eastern cultures, and is important to the theme of this story. According to Hafizullah Emadi, “the Sunni majority dominated political power, suppressed the Shia minority and subjected them to the Sunni legal system” (Emadi 165). Although Amir and Hassan are both Muslims, they approached their faiths differently. Hassan, a devout Shi’a Muslim, embraces his religion and demonstrates how his faith provides him strength in the face of adversity. His devotion to his faith is revealed through the eyes of Amir when Hosseini writes, “Hassan never missed any of the five daily prayers. Even when we were out playing, he’d excuse himself, draw water from the well in the yard, wash up, and disappear into the hut” (Hosseini 69).

Amir, a Sunni Muslim, is confused and uncertain about his faith. He exposes this when he recalls the winter when he and Hassan were running kites, “And may God—if He exists, that is—strike me blind if the kite didn’t just drop into his outstretched arms” (Hosseini 55) Amir toward the end of the story turns to his faith in a desperate moment “I bow to the west and kiss the ground and promise that I will do zakat, I will do namaz,…” (Hosseini 346). . ” Sunni Muslims preserved their unity by coming to accept four rival but equally valid legal Islamic schools of thought” that Shia Muslim do not follow (”Does it have to be war?”). Amir’s uncertainty about God and his faith affect his decision-making often with negative consequences. Amir choices not only affect him but also Hassan, Ali, and Baba.

Amir and Hassan’s social status not only affect the way they interact with each other but how others interact with them. Amir, a Pashtun, is the privileged son of a wealthy merchant. His father, Baba, fulfills his every want and need. Amir has the opportunity to attend school and to receive an education. Amir discovers differences between Hassan and Himself from one of his mothers books, “The book said part of the reason Pashtuns had oppressed the Hazaras was that Pashtuns were Sunni Muslims, while Hazaras were Shi’a” (Hosseini 9). At times in the story, Amir is protected by his father’s social status. Hassan is a Hazara and the son of Amir’s crippled servant Ali, and is Amir’s playmate and servant. Hassan irons Amir’s clothes and prepares his meals with his father. Amir only plays with him when there are no other children to play with. Unlike Amir, Hassan does not have the opportunity to attend school, and remains illiterate throughout most of the story. Hassan is often harassed whenever Amir and Hassan go out in public.

The parental relationships that Amir and Hassan have are an important element in this story. Hassan grows up motherless. Sannaubar, his mother, abandoned him and his father five days after his birth. However, Hassan has a loving relationship with his father Ali. The love that Ali shows Hassan is clear throughout the book. Like Hassan, Amir too grows up motherless. However, Amir’s mother dies during his birth and feels guilty for her death. Amir longs for his father’s affection and acceptance and believes that he is to blames for the lack of interest of his father. Amir contemplating his father acceptance after winning the kite tournament reveals this when the Hosseini writes, “Maybe he’d call me Amir jan like Rahim Kahn did. And maybe, just maybe, I would finally be pardoned for killing my mother” (Hosseini 56). Amir’s longs for his father’s acceptance and love, and will do anything to meet achieve his desire.

Although Amir and Hassan both grew up together motherless, under the same roof, this is where their similarities end. Hassan, very mature at his young age remained loyal to Amir throughout the entire story. He had a strong relationship with his father, Ali, and embraced his religion. In contrast, Amir unsure that God existed had a strained relationship with his father. Amir’s desperate need for his father’s acceptance is the impetus to please his father. Amir sacrifices his friendship with Hassan in his attempts to become closer with his father, and turns a sweet victory into an agonizing defeat that carries on to his adulthood.

I do not believe that's correct