Differences that Divide Essay -- Literary Analysis

Throughout most of human history, humans have had a tendency to judge people on the basis of clearly defined qualities, in an attempt to characterize and classify society into more easily understood â€Å"black and white† groups. In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, the characters, representative of the surrounding cultures portrayed, frequently participate in acts of inclusion and exclusion on the basis of ethnicity, religion, and lifestyle as a means of dividing the population into clearly defined, mutually exclusive groups. This underlying expression of discrimination serves as a modern critical analysis against society’s prevalent tenets of inequality. The first form of discrimination, most significant to the character Hassan, is done on the basis of ethnicity. As Edward Hower comments in â€Å"The Servant†, The Kite Runner’s depiction of Afghanistan is frighteningly â€Å"tense with the friction between the nation's different ethnic groups.† Representative of this prevalent Afghan culture, Assef believes in the superiority of the Pashtun people and thus the inferiority of the Hazara people, saying â€Å"Afghanistan is the land of the Pashtuns... We are the true Afghans, the pure Afghans, not this Flat-Nose [Hassan] here†. With these statements Assef self-justifies the distinctly different and unequal actions he displays towards people of different ethnicities. Through Assef’s carefree rationalization of segregation and reason for conflict, Assef serves as a criticism by the author about modern society and how attitudes such as Assef’s can prove harmful to even genuinely good-natured people . To represent such victimized people, Hassan starkly contrasts any form of negativity and fulfills a sacrificial role for Amir’s sake, clearly noted by Asse... ...al analysis of modern society's tendencies. The author requests that rather than operate in conflict, cultures, even those that contrast each other, should act together as a continuous entity, rather than be splintered by differences that divide. Works Cited Bartley, Jim. "Kite Catches and Flies High." Globe & Mail [Toronto] 28 June 2003: D3. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 254. Detroit: Gale, 2008. N. pag. Literature Resource Center. Web. 30 Mar. 2010. Denby, David. "Hard Life." Rev. of The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. New Yorker 17 Dec. 2007: 106. Literature Resource Center. Web. 30 Mar. 2010. Hower, Edward. "The Servant." Rev. of The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. New York Times Book Review 3 Aug. 2003: n. pag. Literature Resource Center. Web. 29 Mar. 2010. Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Penguin Group, 2003. Print.