Social Inequality In The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner is a powerful story about two boys whose friendship is threatened by deception & betrayal yet withstands the weight of social barriers and lawful limits. Their joyous childhood memories outlive their tragic separation led by lies and deceit. The themes in the Kite Runner connect to the author Khaled Hosseini’s life through the author’s numerous experiences with social inequality, assimilation, and the economic impacts of the war in Afghanistan during the late 1900’s on the people of Afghanistan.
The author’s experiences with social inequality during the late 1900’s in Afghanistan as it was dominated by racial and ethnic prejudice clearly connect to those of the main characters in the book. As the story unfolds, Amir, the main character, reveals more about his friendship with Hassan, his companion and servant and it becomes more evident that he has the upper hand in their relationship due to his place in afghan society factored by his religion. For example, Hassan always takes the blame when the two get in trouble for annoying the neighbors and Amir says that Hassan “…wouldn’t deny me. Hassan never denied …show more content…
This war affects all of the characters in the book as well as Khaled Hosseini and his family. Amir and his father leave the country and arrive in the United States, beginning everything over. His father goes from being the man handing out jobs to the man receiving them. The two struggle to make ends meet in the new world they still haven’t entirely acknowledged. In Hosseini’s case, his family had to come from a comfortable existence to “rely on economic welfare until they reached economic equilibrium”. This shows the significant effect of the war and how the financial issues were shared by everyone, no matter what religion. (“Khaled Hosseini, Biography”