Depiction of Friendship and Loyalty in the Novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - Essay Example

Amir searches for reasons to hate Hassan and get rid of both him and his father. With that objective, he soon learns from his father’s friends that the Harara tribe, to which Hassan and his father Ali belonged, were considered inferior people. Amir begins to entertain the ideas of tribal, religious, and class differences for the first time and ‘discover’ that Hassan and his father are ‘worthless’ creatures. Whereas he was rich and Sunni, Hassan was poor and Shi’a and he lives with jealously and disgusts to the fact that his father could be smothered by such lowly creatures like Hassan and his father Ali.

I read from Amir’s actions that he has a lot of jealousy towards Hassan. This especially comes out when Hassan is attacked by boys from the dominant Pashtun tribe, members of the privileged Sunni class, and Amir does not come to his aid. Furthermore, Amir allowed the boys to brutally abuse Hassan. Hosseini () reveals how Amir is filled with shame, especially after coming to terms with the fact that he did not help his friend because he was partly jealous of him, and also because of his cowardice.

To redeem his integrity, he sets out to set up Hassan and his father for a greater shame that would see them leave his home and apparently relieve his problem and pain. His new act of treachery, however, only serves to magnify his shame. In the period of political tragedy and war that follows, Amir’s father takes refuge with his family in Fremont, California. Hassan and his father, being poor, do not have this option and are left to suffer the brut of the war.        Twenty years later, Amir can still not forgive himself for betraying his best friend and he embarks on a journey back to Afghanistan to try to help Hassan and his family.

He is quick to identify himself with Afghans as an entity and not the differences in tribe, religion, and classes when a driver from the Harara tribe, who was driving him back to Kabul, doubted his intentions and genuineness for coming back to Afghanistan. These actions by Amir go a long way to illustrate the theme of friendship, and how important it is to remain loyal to friends, in the novel.