Social Issue Essay Example for Free

Social Issue Essay â€Å"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. † As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, the world must go far beyond than our differences and we must love each other for what we are. And Afghanistan religion is not an exception. Amir is the son of Baba, a wealthy businessman and a Pashtun Muslim, he also goes to school, owns books and wears fancy outfits. Hassan, on the other side of the coin, is the son of Ali, a member of the Hazaras and Amir’s personal servant. He does not attend school and is analphabetic and wears pitiable clothes. And despite the fact they live in the same property, Amir’s dwelling is the most beautiful and opulent house in town, meanwhile the servant child lives in a humble cabin down by their garden. The Kite Runner clearly exposes the social inequality of Amir and Hassan upon the different lifestyles of the characters, the education they are given and of course the discrimination upon the ethnic groups they each belong to. The three main points already mentioned, clearly exemplify the immense social gap inside the Afghanistan culture. To begin with, the ethnic conflict and the discrimination issue in Afghanistan have been around from years in such culture. The Hazaras on one side, are the minority group among the society, they belong to the peasant class and throughout centuries, they have been persecuted and exterminated by the members of the nation’s ruling class: The Pashtuns. â€Å"Afghanistan is the land of Pashtuns. It always has been, always will be. We are the true Afghans, the pure Afghans† (Hosseini, K. (The Kite Runner), 2003 p. 22). Nevertheless, Amir and his father Baba are members of this religious sector; in fact, they are one of the wealthiest families in North Kabul. Hassan and Ali, on the other side, were part of the Hazaras and due to their Mongol features and cultural status, they constantly tend to receive social and physical discrimination. And although these two Islamic branches tend to live together assorted inside the same land, their social disparities are enormous. And which better example to portrayed this idea, than Hassan and Amir themselves. They both live in the same location and nearly eat the same food, but the society’s views about them are completely dissimilar. The Pashtun boy is seen as a fruitful and pure soul; however, Hassan is perceived as a filthy and foolish fellow with no certain future. Second of all, the education received by Amir is completely unlike the one given to Hassan. This Pashtun lad attends an upright school in Kabul, where he is taught how to write and read. At home, he frequently enjoys reading several sorts of tales and even writes his own short stories. Hassan’s education, however, was exactly the opposite: he doesnt know how to write or to read. He works most part of the day and attends no school at all. The only kind of â€Å"education† this poor Hazara child will ever obtain, is the one given by Amir from time to time, when he teaches him the definition of a few words from the books he reads to him. Just for the fact he belongs to a social minority, Hassan will never in his life do anything but to cook or clean before others. And no matter how hard he struggles, he will never be given the chance to attend any school, will never be given the chance to read and will never be given the chance to write. â€Å"After all, what use did a servant have for the written words? † (Hosseini, K. (The Kite Runner), 2003 p. 37). Pursuing this further, the Afghans kids’ lifestyles are completely unlike. When both lads get up in the morning they follow a very similar routine, however lived from utterly different perspectives. When Amir wakes up in the morning, he comfortably eats his breakfast. When Hassan wakes up, he prepares Amir’s breakfast. While Hassan makes his bed, polish his school shoes and ironed his uniform, Amir complains about homework and how tough is school. â€Å"When the sun dropped low behind the hills and we were done playing for the day, Hassan and I parted ways. I went past the rosebushes to Baba’s mansion and Hassan to the mud shack where he had been born, where he’d lived his entire life. † (Hosseini, K. (The Kite Runner), 2003 p. 24). This is one of the greatest example of the social disparity in Afghanistan, where the younger generation’s future is strictly related to the their religious group. Amir, for instance will have a successful life, crowded of opportunities and joyful moments, meanwhile Hassan will grow old enough to become dust in the wind. However, Amir and Hassan both grew under the same roof and spent the first twelve years of their lives playing together. They learned how to crawl together, they even taught each other how to ride a bicycle with no hands. They spent entire winters flying kites, running kites, watching westerns at the cinema and chasing each other between tangles of trees in Baba’s house. Never mind any of those things. Because history isn’t easy to overcome. Neither is religion. In the end, Amir was a Pashtun and Hassan was a Hazara, he was rich and he was poor, and nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing. Given these points, we can conclude the differences upon Amir’s and Hassan’s education, their unlike lifestyle and the discrimination throughout The Kite Runner’s main characters are undoubtedly originated upon their ethnical position. Just for the fact Hassan is not a Pashtun Muslim, just for the fact he belongs to social minority, just for the fact he is different, he is destined to live this rotten life eternally. However, Amir will be given the chance to live his own life. He will study hard and become one of the many wealthy men in Kabul. He will drive his opulent family in an opulent car to his opulent house, where Hassan and his child will be waiting for them inside their mud shack. The same mud shack where they have live their entire miserable life. It is incredible how the religious distinctions between them, greatly affect their existence. But it is a fact. The Pashtuns and the Hazaras discrimination in Afghanistan is happening. And no matter how hard they struggle, Amir and Hassan can not escape from this reality where each of these two innocent boys stands as an example of the social inequality in Afghanistan. Reference List: -Hosseini, K. (2003). The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead.