How Far Do You Agree with the View That the Kite Runner Is a Celebration of the Bond of Brotherhooh
How far do you agree with the view that The Kite Runner is a celebration of the bond of brotherhood? Brotherhood is a strong theme throughout the book and there is evidence supporting that it is a celebration of the bond of brotherhood but also that it isn’t. I think that The Kite Runner could be seen as a celebration of the bond of the brotherhood because of the relationship between Amir and Hassan. Although there are signs of disloyalty by Amir there are also signs of brotherly love between them.
Amir shows that he cares for Hassan when he says ‘then he [Ali] would remind us that there was a brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that not even time could break. Hassan and I fed from the same breasts. ‘ In this quote Amir implies that because he and Hassan fed from the same breast, they are like brothers. This shows that he does see a connection between he and Hassan. However, this is ironic because they are brothers in a way because they share the same father.
When Amir says ‘But we were kids who had learned to crawl together, and no history, ethnicity, society, or religion was going to change that either. I spent most of the first twelve years of my life playing with Hassan’, It shows us that Amir does love Hassan and they are close, however later on in the book he oppose this statement when he forces Hassan away. Ten years after Amir leaves Hassan he says ‘I wish Hassan had been with us today’, this tells us that although he drove Hassan away, he misses him and wishes things had turn out differently.
We know that Amir memories with Hassan are his happiest memories as when Baba asks Amir to think of something good, Amir has an flashback of a memory with Hassan. Hassan shows most of the signs of brotherhood through his undying loyalty towards Amir, Hassan is a loyal and caring friend to Amir. He shows this before he is raped when Assef says “But before you sacrifice yourself for him, think about this: Would he do the same for you?
Have you ever wondered why he never includes you in games when he has guests? Why he only plays with you when no one else is around? I’ll tell you why, Hazara. Because to him, you’re nothing but an servant. ‘ We know that Amir wouldn’t sacrifies for Hassan as he is a Hazara for him and his servant. This shows the reader that Amir believed it wasn’t right to stay with someone of your own race and also because of Amir being of a higher social class.
The ‘father-son’ relationship between Amir and Baba doesn’t agree with the brotherhood of celebration because at the beginning of the novel, Khaled Hosseini gives an impression to the reader that Amir is looking for the love, respect and approval of Baba he felt he has never had. Whereas Baba feels that his son is not living up to his physical, social, religious and cultural expectations and provides little time for him.
However, as the novel unravels the strength of the relationship between these two key characters increases and Amir’s is constantly eager for Baba’s attention producing positive results in the relationship. With Amir feeling that “Baba hated me a little” and Baba feeling that Amir is one of those boys “who won’t stand up for himself and becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything”, the reader is able to understand the sketchy relationship between Amir and Baba – through the depiction of the characters and their interaction.
