Racial Discrimination in the novel The Kite Runner

Racial Discrimination
“His people pollute our homeland, our watan. They dirty our blood.” This line in the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is an example of the racial discrimination that occurs in the novel. Ethnicity is the focal point of conflict in The Kite Runner. Amir, the protagonist, is Pashtun while Hassan, his servant, is Hazara. Hassan plays a significant role as not only the servant of Amir, but also that of his best friend.   Due to Hassan’s ethnicity and religion, he is alienated from Afghanistan’s society. As a result of his alienation, we are able to assume the moral values and assumptions of Afghanistan’s society.
Hassan and Amir do everything together. They would fire walnuts with a slingshot at the neighbors and they would even shine mirrors at people just for a little bit of entertainment. One of the reasons they have grown so close is that their relationship began when they were very young. Both their “fathers”, Baba and Ali, grew up together and both Amir and Hassan fed from the same breast. Even at that age, they were inseparable. They “were kids who had learned to crawl together, and no history, ethnicity, society, or religion was going to change that either.”
Unfortunately, not all Afghans had the same view point towards Hazara’s. Amir’s father, Baba, was one of the few who treated Hazara’s well in all of Kabul. He gave Hassan and his father, Ali, shelter, food, and most importantly the respect that was not given to them by Afghan society. We are able to see how uncivil Afghanis are towards Hazara’s when Assef, the main antagonist, sexually harasses Hassan at a young age. This very powerful and emotional moment occurs after a kite flying competition which is the most anticipated event of the year for Amir and Hassan. Hassan runs to find the last kite and then is chased by Asset and two of his sidekicks. His sidekicks hold down Assef while he harasses Hassan. Through this action we can see the double standard that exists in...