Second part (pages 102-207).

By reading The Kite Runner, the westerner truly gets an insight into the Afghan society. The Afghan class system consists primarily of two groups, a majority of the people are pashtun and a minority are hazara. The groups are characterized  by ethnic and religious differences, which creates a huge social gap between the citizens in Afghanistan. Amir is a Pashtun, which allows him education and material comfort. Unlike Amir, his best friend Hassan, is a hazara. By being a hazara, he is a second class citizen and born to serve the pashtuns. By letting only some people in a society have access to education, shows that there are great injustices. Hassan has to endure discrimination everyday for being a hazara.

In my opinion, there are  differences between the class systems in the 70’s Afghanistan and Sweden of today. There was no real industry in Afghanistan, with what we would call working class labourers, but instead most people were farmers or hearders. For people of hazara living in cities, the only option was to serve in pashtun families. This is the background of the story.

I belive, that injustice can work on many levels. On the "society-level”, we know that Hassan has the least of opportunities in life, since he can not rise from his present social level. He is discriminated in every way. But on the personal level, Hassan is lucky to have a pashtun friend, and through Amir’s family he has more privilgies than most hazaras. Instead, Amir has more priviliges by being a pashtun, but in one way the social pressure has a big role in his life. He does not have the courage to play with his friend among other children. In that way, he does not have that much of freedom. We dont know the consequences if you dont obey the social rules. For instance, we dont know what the religious authorities will do if social rules are not followed.

In the second part of the novel, you follow Amir  and his father’s journey to Pakistan, and then to their final destination, America. When coming to America, Amir and his father has to adjust to a new culture. After belonging to the Afghan upper class, in America they are now beloning to the working class.

The main character’s life is still marked by his lack of loyalty to his friend. But one day Amir gets a call from an old friend in Pakistan. When comming to Pakistan there is a quest for him. Amir knows that this quest is the only chance to find redemption, for what he had done to his best friend Hassan.

The novel has absolutley been interesting, but it is now, when it really gets excitning!

 

Elin.N

27 september 2009 20:21

I am happy to say that you, once again, have succeeded with your blog! The vocabulary was advanced, yet not to formal and you used good words such as "social level" and "lack of".

In addition, I liked your comparison between Sweden and Afghanistan. It really made me want to read the book. In fact, I think I am going to chose “The kite runner” the next time we have to read an English novel in school.

Like you mentioned in your comment, there are some similarities between the novels when it comes to status and social levels. Because even though the injustice is not as clear in my novel as in yours, the social classes play an important part in both books. But luckily, there are characters from both “Atonement” and “The kite runner” who do not seam to care about the term “class society” and who like people for who they are and not for their status.

One thing I noticed is that religion seams to play a big part in “The kite runner”. I McEwans novel on the other hand, there has not been any information about neither God nor any religious traditions yet. In other words, the importance of religion is very different in our books.

Last but not least, I would like to wish you good luck with your final blog. Considering how good your English is, I am sure it is going to be excellent.

http://elinsp08k.bloggagratis.se

 

Sarah

13 oktober 2009 16:21

Almost too late but anyway, well done with your second blog! Your language is varied and it caught my interest from the start. You manage to compare the class differences in a clear and very good way.

Our books are most likely similar. Our protagonist’s relationship between their fathers is almost the same, such as the impact from their religions.

GJ!

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