The reason I chose the book, "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini, was mainly because I had heard from multiple people that it was an outstanding read. Throughout my high school career I have mainly only read books for school that take place either more than twenty years into the past or more than twenty years into the future; they never seem to take place in the current time period. This book, however, does take place in the first decade of the twenty-first century, so that is another reason why I chose to read this book as my free-choice assignment. It also covers a topic that I myself am not too educated on, and that is the social structure of countries in the Middle East, with Afghanistan in particular in this novel. It is a topic that I believe all Americans should become educated on seeing as most Americans have the narrow mindset that everything in the Middle East is bad.
In the first twenty-five pages of this book, there already seem to be a few similarities and differences between the Afghanistan society and our American society. One major difference are the social classes. In this novel, the two main characters are Amir and Hassan. Amir is the son to one of the most successful businessmen in Kabul. He comes across as spoiled and doesn't really realize all the opportunities that he is offered by being wealthy. Hassan is the son of Amir's father's servant, so he is in a much lower social class than Amir. Hassan is a hard worker just like his father, Ali. Amir and Hassan seem to hang out everyday after Amir comes home from school (Hassan is not allowed to go to school or know how to read or write). However, Amir says, "I never thought of Hassan and me as friends" (22). Even though Amir and Hassan spend time together every single day, and they live on the same property (Amir in his father's mansion and Hassan in the mud hut Ali is given by Amir's father), the social classes are so divided that Amir can't even view Hassan as a friend. This is much more dramatic than what it is like in America.
Another reason for this great social divide in the novel is because of the religions. In the novel, Amir is Sunni and Hassan is Shi'a and in Afghanistan Sunnis are regarded much higher than Shi'as are. This is another difference from America because there are so many religions in America so we as a country are generally much more accepting.
A similarity between the Afghanistan society and the American society is that while in school, playing sports is definitely the most accepted activity to do. In the novel Amir is very bad at soccer and really into poetry, which is portrayed as a bad thing. This is shown on page 17 where it states, "real men don't write poetry" (17). I feel like at least at Hopkinton High School, this is also portrayed as true. If you are not into sports you are not looked at as fondly as those who are very good at sports. This trend also continues out throughout the country, as it does in Afghanistan. In the novel, Amir's father, Baba, is very disappointed that his son is interested in poetry and not soccer, and while I believe the U.S. as a culture is more accepting of male artists, sports are still viewed as the overall standard that boys should be a part of while in high school.
