The Kite Runner Gender Roles Essay

“There is a way to be good again” (2). This is the line that rolls through Amir's mind over and over throughout Khaled Hosseini's novel, The Kite Runner. This is the story of a mans struggle to find redemption. The author illustrates with the story of Amir that it is not possible to make wrongs completely right again because its too late to change past. In this novel Hosseini is telling us that redemption is obtainable, and by allowing us to see Amirs thought process throughout the novel, Hosseini shows us that it guilt is the primary motivation for someone who seeks redemption. Hosseini also uses not only the main character, but other secondary characters to show how big of a part that guilt plays in the desire for redemption. In this

“ For you, a thousand times over”. This one sentence sums up the immense love, loyalty and friendship Hassan had for Amir.

One cultural facet of Afghanistan that really stood out was what controlling husbands do to their “unimportant” wives which Hosseini was quite candid about. Firstly, in one example, Rasheed is so upset with Mariam’s cooking, that he goes out, brings some pebbles in, and forces her to chew on them until her molars crack (Hosseini 94). This scene shows that husbands were in complete control in nearly every household, and the wives could not do anything. Secondly, when Laila and Rasheed are having an argument about what to do with their daughter Aziza (because they have become poor and it is hard to support all of them as it is), Rasheed becomes extremely infuriated and puts the barrel of his gun down Laila’s throat (Hosseini 267). After reading this, one can easily infer that in a controlling relationship, especially in Afghanistan, the husband can literally do whatever

These “differences” that the Talib speaks of is one of main ways patriarchy is defended, since God made man and woman differently, the Afghan community assumes that they must be treated differently as well. Also, there must be one sex that is superior to the other then, many communities along with the Afghan community chose to place men above women due to sexist beliefs of the characteristics of a man which should be strong, confident, overbearing, and sex-driven and the characteristics of a woman which should be quiet, obedient, and nurturing. When the Talib mentions of how “we require only one male witness but two female ones”(Hosseini 324) in the court process, he reveals the extent to which patriarchal views are woven into the fabric of society, as far as the criminal justice process. For Mariam, this means that her chances of winning in court is very low since there was only one witness, another woman, Laila, so the court is less likely to believe or take into account Laila’s words. Religion impacts Mariam’s life by plaguing the minds of the courts and judges with her inferiority as a woman which inevitably leads to a flawed rationale rectifying her severe punishment as a result.

The Kite Runner is a book based among many themes like Sin and Redemption, Family Ties, Homeland and Nationality, and also Women/Children’s rights. In Afghanistan culture women have lost their rights to a majority of things because that’s the role they think they need to play to satisfy their significant other or male leaders in the community. Women are very limited to what they can do and what they can say and it shows this concept throughout the book. It’s really portrayed within the character of Soraya. Hosseni’s gave Soraya a strong role in the book so he can emphasize on women’s rights.

Laila, Mariam, and Rasheed settle into a routine. After Rasheed leaves for work, the women do their best to avoid each other throughout the day. Finally, over dinner one night, Rasheed insists they act as a family. Rasheed then tells Laila that Mariam is a bastard, then he gives Laila the same lecture he once gave Mariam — she must wear a burqa in public. This time, Rasheed goes one step further and tells Laila that she's not to leave the house at all — if Laila needs anything during the day, she should send Mariam out for it. Rasheed then threatens Mariam to enforce these guidelines, making it clear that Mariam will be the one who suffers if Laila breaks the rules.

Women seem to continually face the grandest penalties for the most insignificant crimes in Afghanistan. Where as men have a birthright to enjoy all life has to offer. This is eye opening toward Rasheed’s motivations for wanting a son instead of a daughter with his wives. Initially we believe that he hopes to have a boy to replace the son he previously lost, but taking a deeper look at the quality of life men have over women, it is safe to say a boy will have more opportunities in his future than a girl would. Rasheed’s negative actions toward Laila giving birth to a girl (Aziza) now seem to have context. Aziza is worthless to Rasheed in his eyes because to him, women are insignificant to society. Women grow up only to be married off at a young

These laws that limit the freedom of women within the country give men more freedom, which leads to abuse in Mariam and Laila’s family. Rasheed is physically and mentally abusive towards both of his wives, and because of this, the women attempt to run away, only to be sent back home by police. The reaction from Rasheed shows that he knows he holds the power: “‘You try this again and I will find you. I swear on the Prophet’s name that I will find you. And, when I do, there isn’t a court in this godforsaken country that will hold me accountable for what I will do.’” (Hosseini 272). Rasheed’s threats are serious; many times, the verbal abuse escalates into physical harm towards his family. Moreover, without any support from the Taliban, the women are forced to obey their husband and sustain his

My peers and I worked diligently on his kite and I could not be anymore proud of the fact that we worked around our own differences of how we believed should have been the direction of our kite, and instead generated a common theme that we all agreed would be best to pursue. We collectively decided that it would be best to focus on the relationship between Hassan and Amir, and highlight the sort of differences and relations between their social class, relationship, and the qualities that make up their characters. We designed the kite to be split in half in order to accentuate these differences, but also to show that they come from the same background, but are treated differently for many reasons.

Growing up and living in Afghanistan as a woman has its challenges. Parents choose who can marry you and they choose everything for you. In this book, Laila and Mariam both show the struggles it is to be a girl, and how much disrespect they get in Afghanistan. Both Mariam and Laila are married to the same man, and he is abusive to both of them. They also live under Taliban rule, and the rules that they set are very unfair for women. In Khaled Hosseni’s novel, he has many different themes but the most prevalent one is of woman inequality, and that is shown through multiple accounts of abuse, disrespect, and unfairness.

Equality is something we humans crave for when we are in a time of hardship. When we are being discriminated against, we feel the utmost pain and the need for freedom. Discrimination has lingered since the beginning of time, and ending it is impracticable. A French novelist, Honore de Balzac proclaims, “Equality may perhaps be a right, but no power on earth can ever turn it into a fact.” Here, Balzac is acknowledging that an individual is born a free man and is just as equal as any other man. But, an individual will never be fully equal as they desire. Some parts of society will try to act superior to a certain quality of someone’s life, like their race, religion, culture, etc. This statement proves to be valid in Khaled Hosseini’s novel,

After Afghanistan is invaded by the communists and are "liberated" by the Mujahedeen and the Taliban, women lose many of their rights. Shari'a law is enforced which dictates women to wear covering and forbid them from traveling without a male relative. The "other" in this novel are women forced to live in conditions where men view them as lesser individuals and restrict their freedoms. They are stripped of an education, adequate healthcare and the basic freedom to walk outside alone. Later in the novel, Laila is in labor with her son, and she tries to visit the local hospital. They will not treat her because it is a men's only hospital. She must travel to an underfunded and inadequately supplied hospital where women are treated. This clearly demonstrates how women are viewed in lower standards compared to

Laila is aware of the rejection and neglect that baby Aziza will be given when she is born and Rasheed finds out she is not his daughter. To make sure that Aziza is protected from what is coming to her, Laila endures going through a painful night of Rasheed on top of her to make him think that Aziza is his own. “Later, when she was sure that he was asleep, Laila quietly reached beneath the mattress for the knife she has hidden there earlier. With it, she punctured the pad of her index finger. Then she lifted the blanket and let her finger bleed on the sheets where they had lain together” (Khaled, 220). Laila makes the choice to go through a painful night with Rasheed, in order to protect baby Aziza from his horrors and neglect. In the meantime, Rasheed has a breakdown after all the built up anger and irritation, and takes it all out on Laila by pinning her down and strangling her. Near to death, Mariam makes the decision to act quick and kill him, before he kills her: “I’ve killed our husband. I’ve deprived your son of his father. It isn’t right that I run. I can’t. Even if they never catch us, I’ll never...I’ll never escape your son’s grief. How do I look at him? How do I ever bring myself to look at him Laila jo” (Khaled, 358). Mariam made a hard decision to act quick

The expression "riddled with guilt" is a good way to describe the main character's life, Amir, in the book The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini. The Kite Runner is a story about an Afghan boy, Amir, who has many hardships throughout his life as he grows from a boy living in war-torn Afghanistan, to a successful writer living in America. Amir experiences many events that caused him to carry a great amount of guilt throughout his life. So much guilt that it even turned him into an insomniac. He needed to find a way to make amends which would allow him to forgive himself and hopefully, one day, be able to sleep soundly again.

The Taliban implemented laws restricting the movements and actions of women in Afghanistan in public places. While attempting to visit her child in a home for young girls, Laila is beaten within an inch of her life as a consequence of walking outside without a male escort (Hosseini). The extreme course of action, beating a woman for walking alone, demonstrates the illogical and unjustifiable actions the Taliban promotes the practice of in Afghanistan. The women and men have dramatically unequal rights.