Kite Runner Essay

In The Kite Runner, there are many examples of cruelty towards either the characters or their race as a whole. Two examples of cruelty include when the Afghanistan soldiers pick on Hassan, and one of them states that he has had sex with Hassans’ mother, and the other example is Amir setting up Hassan for stealing, in order to get rid of him. In the first example, the soldiers refer to Hassan as â€Å"You! The Hazara! † The lack of a noun here, i. e. Hassan’s name, demonstrates that Hazaras are treated as second class citizens, and aren’t deserving of being called by name. This has the effect of making Hassan appear to be an outcast, and it makes the reader feel sympathy for him, at being treated so harshly. The use of the sexually suggestive hand gesture by the soldier, when he’s making fun of Hassan because he had sex with his mother, again backs up the idea of Hazara’s being second class citizens. The metaphor â€Å"what a tight little sugary cunt she had† is used in a derogatory sense to further emphasise the contempt which Hazara’s had to endure back in 1970 Afghanistan. This achieves the effect of making the reader feel indignant at how Hassan is being treated, and that it is completely unjustified and is basically an advanced form of bullying. When the soldiers address Hassan, one of them says â€Å"Look at me when I’m talking to you! †. This is an imperative sentence, as the soldier is ordering Hassan to look at him, instead of requesting that he does so. The soldier is being demanding due to the fact that he believes his race is the superior race in comparison to the Hazaras, and that Hazaras always have to obey orders given to them, without question. In the second example of cruelty, Amir wonders to himself â€Å"how and when I’d become capable of causing this type of pain† As this is told via a first person perspective, it really helps the reader to understand what Amir is feeling, which emphasises the sense of cruelty, as the character who has committed the cruelty himself realises what he has done. Also, as he is speaking the past tense, with the use of the word â€Å"When†, it suggests that he wants to know what changed him to be so cruel. The use of the simple sentence â€Å"That was when I understood the depth of the pain I had caused†, is a great way of displaying the cruelty which Amir has shown in setting Hassan up for stealing his watch and money, and the sentence after it â€Å"not even Ali’s paralysed face could mask his sorrow† ,also helps to show this. These two simple sentences suggest that Amir realises that there is no justifying what he has done, that all he feels is relentless guilt, and that there is no other way of evaluating his decision. In conclusion, these two examples are strong demonstrations of the cruelty displayed in the Kite Runner, as they cover racism, which is shown in the first example, and in the second example, the words used e. g. â€Å" depth of the pain I had caused† clearly display Amir’s feelings of cruelty at what he himself has done.