The Reflection of The Hazaras Discrimination in Khalid Hosseinis Kite Runner

An Essay
Literary work is a reflection, a picture or a reflection of people's lives. Through literature,
the author tried to reveal the ups and downs of people's lives that they saw or experienced.
Literature also presents a portrait of life with social issues in the community. Because literary
works discuss about the issue of the human, the relation between literature with humans
cannot be separated. Literature with every expression is a reflection of human life. The
human problems are the inspiration for the author to express themselves with media
literature.
One of the literary works that reflects the human life is Khalid Hosseinis Kite Runner.
The Kite Runner is a novel that was made in 2003. It tells about loyalty, forgiveness,
friendship, redemption, and sacrifice with the setting of Kabul, Afghanistan before and after
the Rusia-Afganistan war and also during Taliban rule Afghanistan and also the background
of Pashtun-Taliban conflict in it. The reflection of human life in this novel can be analyzed
and judged with mimetic criticism which views the literary work as an imitation, or
reflection, or representation of the world and human life, and the primary criterion applied to
a work is the "truth" of its representation to the subject matter that it represents, or should
represents (Abrams & Harpham, 1999, p. 51). One of the issues in Afghanistan that exist until
now and reflected in the novel is the conflict between the Pashtuns and Hazaras that leads to
the Hazaras discrimination. This essay will analyze the reflection of the Hazaras
discrimination in Khalid Hosseinis Kite Runner.
Colonialism involves an interaction between colonizer and colonized, the colonizer is as
much affected by its systems as the colonized (Guerin, 2005, p. 305). In Khalid Hosseinis
Kite Runner, there are two races of the Afghanistan people that are mentioned, The Pashtun
and the Hazara. When the Mongolian rule Afghanistan, the Mongolian becomes the
colonializer while the Pashtun, the native Afghan is the colonialized people the culture and
the politic between these two race affect one another. But after Afghanistan enter the
postcolonial phase which was mentioned by Guerin (2005, p. 303) as a historical phase that
undergone by third world country after the decline of colonialism, the position is reversed,
the Mongolian descendent or the Hazaras becomes the colonialized people and receives
discriminations from the Pasthun. The reflection of Hazaras discrimination can be seen in
clearly in the beginning of the novel, when the setting is in 1975, before the Russian-

Afghanistan war. When Hassan, the hazara boy, walks with Amir, the main character in the
novel, to the Cinema Zainab for a new Iranian movie and meets a group Afghan soldier,
he is discriminated by the soldier which supposed to protect them only because he is a
Hazara.
You! The Hazara! Look at me when Im talking to you! the soldier barked. He
handed his cigarette to the guy next to him, made a circle with the thumb and index
nger of one hand. Poked the middle nger of his other hand through the circle.
Poked it in and out. In and out. I knew your mother, did you know that? I knew her
real good. I took her from behind by that creek over there.
(Hosseini, 2003, p. 7)
When the Afghan soldier who is a Pashtun calls Hassan , he uses the word Hazara rather
calling him nicely. He does othering, The practice of judging all who are different as less
than fully human which divides the world between us (the civilized) and them (the
others or savages) (Tyson, 2006, p. 420). Calling Hassan by his race rather than using
other word which more proper shows that he does othering to Hassan. He does not consider
Hassan as a part of of Aghanistan society just like him. The soldier then continues his
discrimination by insulting Hassan, saying that he and Hassans mother have done improper
things as if Hassans mother was a hooker.
This discrimination is done not just by the Pashtun adults, but also the children. In
quotation below, the Kids in Kabul discriminates Ali, Hassans father by calling him flatnosed Babalu on the street. The Pashtun children do not respect Ali even though he is much
older than them. They consider themselves to have a higher degree than Ali, who is a Hazara.
With this calling, they dehumanize Ali who is a Hazaras and consider him not more than
monsters or animal not human like them.
Who did you eat, you at-nosed Babalu?
(Hosseini, 2003, p. 9)
When Amir accidently found his mothers old history book and read it. He found that the
Pashtun was already discriminate and oppressed the Hazara long before he was born.
It also said some things I did know, like that people called Hazaras mice-eating,
at-nosed, load-carrying donkeys.
(Hosseini, 2003, p. 9)

The book said that my people had killed the Hazaras, driven them from
their lands, burned their homes, and sold their women.
(Hosseini, 2003, p. 9)
We can see from the quotations above that in the past the Pashtun not just discriminate the
Hazara by calling them with bad nicknames but also killing them, took their homes and even
sold the Hazara women, a treatment that is not supposed to be done for a fellow human
beings.
The form of othering by calling with nicknames does not stopped even after the
Pashtun had been migrating to United State. When Amir takes Sohrab, Hassans son to his
home in America and meets his father in law, general Sahib, The General who is already lived
in United States for a long time still calling Sohrab with Hazara and his treatment is still
the same as any Pashtun in Afghanistan.
While youre busy knitting sweaters, my dear, I have to deal with the communitys
perception of our family. People will ask. They will want to know why there is a
Hazara boy living with our daughter. What do I tell them?
(Hosseini, 2003, p. 360)
General Sahib, who is a Pashtun, feels ashamed because there is a Hazara boy live with
his daughter. He does not consider Sohrab as a orphan who need shelter and protection, he
only consider him as a Hazara.
In having a house or a place to stay, the Hazaras are also discriminated. They are not
allowed to have or to stay in a luxurious even after the Taliban, that the Hazara thought can
help with their condition, rules Afghanisthan, they cannot stay or life in a big house.
They accused him of lying when Hassan told them he was living with me even
though many of the neighbors, including the one who called me, supported Hassans
story. The Talibs said he was a liar and a thief like all Hazaras and ordered
him to get his family out of the house by sundown.
(Hosseini, 2003, p. 218)
When Hassan waits for Amir in Wazir Akbar Khan, Amirs house which is empty, The
Taliban who is also Pashtun comes to the house and interrogated Hassan. They consider him
lying because he is a Hazara and accused him of stealing the house rather than believing his
story and ordered him to leave the house.
The discrimination to the hazaras is also in the form of abuse. The Pashtun considers
themselves has right to abuse the Hazaras people because they think that they are the native

people of Afghanistan, not the Hazaras. The abuse comes in the form of sexual abuse (raping)
and also killing the Hazaras before the Rusian-Afghanistan war.
Your father wont nd out, Assef said. And theres nothing sinful about teaching
a lesson to a disrespectful donkey.
(Hosseini, 2003, p. 75)
Assef, who is a pashtun, considers himself has the right to rape hasan because he is a Hazara.
He, who hates the Hazara, thinks that raping hassan is unsinful because Hazara is lower than
them who is a Pashtun.
.

Bibliography
Abrams, M. H., & Harpham, G. (1999). A Glossary of Literary Terms (7 ed.). United States
of America: Earl McPeek.
Guerin, W. L. (2005). A handbook of critical approaches to literature (5th ed.). New York:
Oxford University Press.
Hosseini, K. (2003). The Kite Runner. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group.
Tyson, L. (2006). Critical theory today : a user-friendly guide (2nd ed.). New York:
Routledge.