Kite Runner :: Literary Analysis, Khaled Hosseini

Silence is like pushing the off button on life (Hosseini 361). In the novel Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, Amir is an exceptional model as to how ignoring life can later cause a unlike conclusion. The event of his friend, and later revealed half brother, being raped affected his life towards the end of the story. Throughout the novel, numerous differences come up like customs, everyday objects, and punishments that are not the same as the United States. This book gives a verbal view point as to how the two diverse locations (the United States and Afghanistan) are not even close to being similar at any point in their resident’s lives. Kite Runner gives the privileged citizens of the United States situations that some might not even consider acceptable living environments and conditions. Customs serve as a significant stand out as to why Afghanistan and America are not on the same page in many instances. For example, Afghanistan permits men the right to more than one wife because Baba’s second cousin, Homayoun, family consisted of two wives (82). America’s men are only supposed to be married to one women or else it is considered polygamy. If any American man was married to more than one woman at the time then it would be unacceptable and the punishment would most likely be jail. In the story Amir describes the traditional family dinner he has that consists of eating on the floor while sharing the meal on a common platter in groups (85).However, most Americans eat dinner with their family at a dinning room table and have their own individual plates of food. A life changing moment for Amir was when he asked his father to ask General Taheri for his daughter’s hand in marriage (161). Usually in America the fathers do not have to agree upon the marriage for it to even take place. In other words, Amir would have asked General Taheri himself or he would not have cared about the fathers opinion and just went straight to popping the question to Soraya, General Taheri’s daughter. Customs are what make everyone distinct from each other but it can also cause a discrepancy if they are to unrelated and insulting to one another. The fact that the two places think unconstructively of each other is made apparent in various snippets of the novel.