The Kite Runner Reflection

In most advanced classes, the reading assignments rarely captivate the reader  and hold their utmost interest. My 10th grade English teacher changed my perception when she handed me the sought after novel The Kite Runner. Initially, I perceived the novel to be biased toward Americans and not relevant to my life. Little did I know, that I would learn about Afghanistan's culture, that would later reform my opinion toward the ideas of race, betrayal and basic principles of warfare.

The principles of warfare are challenged when one of the protagonists, Hassan is raped viciously by malignant individuals in the middle of the street, just because of his race and non-existent social acceptance.Only to find out that his best friend, Amir, the wealthy school boy was cowardly and refused to stop the immoral intercourse due to his  social expectancy. Throughout the novel, Amir struggles with his noxious secret that was kept inside for years, which would eat him away like parasites. Despite the characters separation, Hassan strived to be Amir’s best friend, which showed his innocence and camaraderie. Amir was ashamed that he had become a bigot throughout the years; he never thought that he would abhor himself so much. Amir admired his father, Baba and he knew that if had ever heard of such a sin he would be disowned.

Baba was the untouchable-unreachable-and far from the ordinary man, so had Amir disappointed his father, the outcome of the novel may have been different. The reoccurring conflict between Hassan and Amir hurt them both, but never did they ever think to question social acceptance and prejudice acts. For example, “The curious thing was, I never thought of Hassan and me as friends either. Not in the usual sense, anyhow. ...Because history isn’t easy to overcome. Neither is religion. In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shi’i, and nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing. (4. 4-5) This quote reaffirms the conflict in not only this novel,but the constant prejudge acts that people have acted on for several years. 

The misconception of others is continually reverted back to and is used in everyday life when trying to define others. Never the less, the only solution to this problem worldwide would be to create laws regarding freedom of religion and other superfluous precedents that would prevent these misconceptions to reoccur. Although America, does have these extra laws set in place, the system is not always have positive outcomes because we do allow freedom of speech, which can create verbal exploitation that can hinder someone’s religious beliefs.

Although I do not believe that misjudgments can be fully eliminated, I do believe that we as Americans can make our own opinions based on how people treat one another. Our country is already on a good start as of November 4, 2008 when we elected our first African-American president. From this novel, I can conclude that no matter who you want to impress the right always surpasses the wrong. There will always be bumps in life, but that is what makes the ride worth while.