THE ISSUE OF CULTURAL IDENTITY IN KHALED

HOSSEINI’S THE KITE RUNNER

Arranged By:

NINA FARLINA
NIM. 104026000902

ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT

LETTERS AND HUMANITIES FACULTY
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY “SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH”
JAKARTA
2008

1
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THE ISSUE OF CULTURAL IDENTITY IN KHALED

HOSSEINI’S THE KITE RUNNER

A Thesis
Submitted to Letters and Humanities Faculty
in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for
the Strata One Degree

Arranged By:

NINA FARLINA
NIM. 104026000902

ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT

LETTERS AND HUMANITIES FACULTY
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY “SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH”
JAKARTA
2008
 3

ABSTRACT

Nina Farlina, The Issue of Cultural Identity in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite
Runner. Thesis. Jakarta: Letters and Humanities Faculty, State Islamic
University Syarif Hidayatullah, September 2008.

In this research, the writer analyzes a novel by Khaled Hosseini entitled The
Kite Runner. This research is focused on the character analysis and Cultural Identity.
The writer uses qualitative descriptive method. The Kite Runner describes two main
characters, Amir and Hassan. They come from the same background, Afghanistan,
but present different ethnic and inter-religion.
The first character, Amir is a Pashtun ethnic, the majority ethnic group in
Afghanistan, who believes he is a better class than the Hazara and who follows the
Sunni sect of Islam. The second character is Hassan. Hassan is a Hazara ethnic, a
minority ethnic group of Afghanis who follow Islamic beliefs called Shi’a. The
different ethnics and inter-religions create civil war, ethnic conflict, and inter-religion
conflict. Amir envies and has internal conflict toward Hassan. Amir creates
everything to wipe Hassan off his life. Amir’s conflict makes him feel guilty and sin
toward Hassan.
Finally, Amir can bury his past memories toward Hassan in America after
bringing son of Hassan, Sohrab. In America, Amir still keeps and uses his cultural
identity as the Afghan especially as the Pashtun.
 4

APPROVEMENT

THE ISSUE OF CULTURAL IDENTITY IN KHALED

HOSSEINI’S THE KITE RUNNER

A Thesis
Submitted to Letters and Humanities Faculty
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for Strata One Degree

NINA FARLINA
104026000902

Approved By:

DINI MASITAH, S.S. M.Hum.

NIP. 150 317 724

ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT

LETTERS AND HUMANITIES FACULTY
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY “SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH”
JAKARTA
2008
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LEGALIZATION

The thesis entitled “The Issue of Cultural Identity in Khaled Hosseini’s The

Kite Runner” has been defended before the Letters and Humanities Faculty’s

examination Committee on September 5, 2008. The thesis has already been accepted

as a partial fulfillment of the requirement for Strata One Degree.

Jakarta, September 5, 2008

Examination Committee

Chair Person, Secretary,

Dr. H. Muhammad Farkhan, M.Pd. Drs. Asep Saefuddin, M.Pd.

NIP. 150 299 480 NIP. 150 261 902

Members:

Elve Oktafiyani, M.Hum Drs. H. Abdul Hamid, M.Ed.

NIP. 150 317 725 NIP. 150 181 922
 6

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my

knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by

another person nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the

award of any other degree or diploma of the university or other institute of higher

learning, except where due acknowledgment has been made in the text.

Jakarta, September 5, 2008

Nina Farlina
 7

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

First of all, the writer would like to thank to Allah SWT, the Lord of the

universe and the thereafter. She is sure that all she has is from Him. Peace and

blessing be upon our prophet Muhammad SAW and all of his friends and followers.

On this occasion, the writer would like to express her gratitude to her family:

her Dad (Nur Ali), her mom (Nur Janah), for their financial support, prayers, hope

and all the contribution she need to finish her study in this university and she also

wants to thank to her brothers (Fahrul, Baidi, Syauqi) for supporting her in doing her

study.

Then, the writer would like to thank to her advisor Dini Masitah, M. Hum for

her great patient and contributions in finishing this study. She thanks for all her

advices that have been given to her, and may God bless her and her family.

The writer wishes to say gratitude to the following persons:

1. Dr. H. Abd. Chair, M.A., the Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Humanities.

2. Dr. Muhammad Farkhan, M.Pd., the Head of the English Department.

3. Asep Saefuddin, M.Pd., the Secretary of the English Department.

4. All lecturers of English Letters Department for having taught and educated the

writer during her study at State Islamic University “Syarif Hidayatullah”.

 8

5. All of the Librarian of Faculty of Letters and Humanities, State Islamic

University “Syarif Hidayatullah” as well as the Librarians in University of

Indonesia.

6. Her beloved (Abanxu Ozi) for giving her some supports, motivation and

moral encouragement to finish this paper.

7. Her cousin (Hannan) for giving her some supports to finish this paper.

8. All of her friends at English Letters Department, especially her classmates:

Rika, Lia, Jay, Cut, Atin, Ne2k for cheering her up in any condition, give her

some spirits and being her friends.

May Allah bless us. Amin.

Jakarta, September 2008

The writer
 9

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………..i

APPROVEMENT……………………………………………………………………ii

LEGALIZATION…………………………………………………………………..iii

DECLARATION……………………………………………………………………iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ………………………………………………………….v

TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………………..vii

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………...1
A. Background of the Study……………………………………………..…1
B. Scope of the Research…………………………………………………...6
C. Statement of the Problem……………………………………………….6
D. Objective of the Research……………………………………………….6
E. Significance of the Research……………………………………………7
F. Methodology of the Research…………………………………………..7

CHAPTER II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK………………………………9

A. The Theory of Character……………………………………………..….9
B. The Concept of Stuart Hall’s Cultural Identity ………………………..12
C. The Culture in Afghanistan……………………………………………15

CHAPTER III. RESEARCH FINDINGS………………………………………19

A. Data Description……………………………………………………….19
B. Character Analysis……………………………………………………..22
C. The Issue of Cultural Identity……………………………………….…33

CHAPTER IV. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ………………………..51

A. Conclusion……………………………………………………………..51
B. Suggestion……………………………………………………………..53
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BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………….….54
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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

America is a destination place for immigrants from many countries. Many

immigrants stay in U.S for different reasons such as studying, working, or running

away from economic or politic crisis, religious conflict and warfare in their

homeland. In America, the immigrants come along with their original culture.

However, they face many kind of problems in the host country; they realize that they

are different with the local people, by having a different name, physical appearance,

culture, ethnicity, and religion among other things.

Nevertheless, they have to adopt and develop in the host country. This is

proved from their success in literature. Many of them produced many literatures such

as novels, essays, and short stories about their life as immigrant in their adopted

country, such as Jumpa Lahiri, Shauna Singh Baldwin1 and Amir Tan. They showed

1
Shauna Singh Baldwin published her first novel, What the Body Remembers (1999), that has
been translated into 11 languages and won the 2000 Commonwealth Writer's Prize for the Canada/
Caribbean region and was longlisted for the prestigious Orange Prize in Fiction. She is also the author
of English Lessons and Other Stories and coauthor of A Foreign Visitor's Survival Guide to North
America. Her short stories have been published widely and have won numerous prestigious literary
prizes in the United States, Canada, and India. (Emily Johansen, Shauna Singh Baldwin, accessed on
September 6, 2008.
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0009820)
 12

that their work is good as well as the other writers from the origin of America. The

other writers who succeed become an established writer is Khaled Hosseini.

Khaled Hosseini is one of the Afghan immigrants who studied in Los Angeles

and decided to become an established writer after releasing The Kite Runner.2 Khaled

Hosseini gets positive respond for his novel The Kite Runner from American public.

His novel becomes best-seller in 2005 according to Nielsen BookScan3. Another

responds come from a famous writer who participates in front of The Kite Runner’s

cover, Isabel Allende Liona4:

“A wonderful work… this is one of those unforgettable stories that stay with
you for years. All the great themes of literature and of life are the fabric of this
extradionary novel: love, guilt, redemption…..it is so powerful that for a long
time after, everything I read seemed bland”.

Liona shows her admiration toward Hosseini that according to her can present

enchantment story in the past for the readers through its themes such as love, guilt

and redemption in a story.

2
Khaled Hosseini,Wikipedia. January 12, 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaled_Hosseini,
p. 2
3
Ibid., p. 3.

4
Isabel Allende Liona, (born 2 August 1942), is a Chilean novelist. Allende, who writes in
the "magic realism" tradition, is considered one of the first successful women novelists in Latin
America. Her works are The House of the Spirits (1982), La gorda de porcelana (1984), Of Love and
Shadows (1985), Eva Luna (1987), The Stories of Eva Luna (1989), The Infinite Plan (1991), Paula
(1995), Aphrodite (1998), Daughter of Fortune (1999), Portrait in Sepia (2000), City of the Beasts
(2002), My Invented Country (2003), Kingdom of the Golden Dragon (2004) Forest of the Pygmies
(2005), Zorro (2005),Ines of My Soul (2006).
Wikipedia. January,12 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_Allende , p. 1-2.
 13

Hosseini’s The Kite Runner which was published in 2003 presents new idea

and color, namely complexity of conflict toward friendship (characters) and other

conflicts that happen in Afghanistan during colonization and post colonization era. It

is very different with other writers that most of them tell about alienation, cultural

shock, and depression. Hosseini can open the eyes of the readers to know Afghanistan

life truly which for a long time is closed from outside. Hosseini wrote about

Afghanistan before the Soviet war because that is largely a forgotten period in

modern Afghan history. For many people in the west, Afghanistan is synonymous

with the Soviet war and the Taliban. Hosseini wanted to remind people that Afghans

had managed to live in peaceful anonymity5.

Afġânistân, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked

country that is located in south Asia. Afghanistan is a culturally mixed nation, a

crossroads between the East and the West, and has been an ancient focal point of

trade and migration. It has an important geostrategical location, connecting South

Asia, Central Asia and Southwest Asia. In the 19th century, Afghanistan became a

buffer state in "The Great Game" played between the British Indian Empire and

Russian Empire. On August 19, 1919, following the third Anglo-Afghan war, the

country regained full independence from the United Kingdom over its foreign

affairs.6

5
Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, Razeshta Sethnah’s interview,
http://www.newsline.com.pk/newsnov2003/newsbeat4nov.htm. January 14, 2008.

6
Afghanistan, Wikipedia. January 6, 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan , p. 3
 14

Since the late 1970s, Afghanistan has suffered continuous and brutal civil

war, which included foreign interventions in the form of the 1979 Soviet invasion of

Afghanistan and the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan, in which the ruling Taliban7

government was toppled. Besides, many conflicts reveal namely internal conflict as

pressure of repression, ethnic conflict and inter-religion conflict that become

dominant conflict in Afghanistan society. The economy has suffered greatly from the

recent political and military unrest since the 1979 Soviet invasion and subsequent

conflicts, while severe drought added to the nation's difficulties in 1998–2001.8 This

history influences Hosseini to lead the writing of his first novel “The Kite Runner”.

Because his memories of peaceful pre-Soviet era, Afghanistan is as well as his

personal experiences with Afghanistan’s Hazara people.9

The Kite Runner reflects condition of Afghanistan society that becomes major

issues such as discrimination, racialism and identity10 that undergoned by the main

7
The Taliban ("Students of Islamic Knowledge Movement") ruled Afghanistan from 1996
until 2001. They came to power during Afghanistan's long civil war. Although they managed to hold
90% of the country's territory, their policies—including their treatment of women and support of
terrorists—ostracized them from the world community. http://www.infoplease.com/spot/taliban.html.
Accessed on January 6, 2008.

8
Economy of Afghanistan.Wikipedia. January 6, 2008.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan , p. 17.

9
Khaled Hosseini (2008), op.cit. p. 3
10
Identity are the interface between a private sense of self that includes conscious and
unconscious feelings, rational and irrational motivations, personal beliefs and values and those factors
that constitute the social context in which we experience those feelings and motivations (for example
age, ethnicity and sex). (Judy Gales and Tim Middleton, Studying Culture, a practical introduction
(Massachusset: Blackwell publisher, 1999). P. 32)
 15

characters, Amir and Hassan in this story. The other conflicts that appears internal

conflict in Amir are ethnic conflict and inter-religion conflict in both of them. As we

know, the civil war in Afghanistan caused by ethnic conflict. Afghanistan is

ethnically a very diverse country, namely Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Aimaq,

Turkmen, Baluch, and other small group.11 In this story, the main characters who

undergone those conflicts come from a Pashtun and a Hazara ethnic. The Pashtun is

described as an ethnic group that has positive attribute and exclusive, namely high

social status, honourable, high class, good appearance and success men. Besides, the

Hazara has negative attribute, namely low social status, poor, low class, physical

defect and low job such as waiter, servant and beggar. In this case, the different

backgrounds in both of them appears the issues of cultural identity12 which Amir also

keep his cultural identity until he lives in America.

Based on the statement that Amir has internal conflict based on the cultural

identity, the writer is interested to analyze the issue of cultural identity in The Kite

Runner. This novel presents the different identities based on two separate ethnical

positions, Hazara and Pashtun. These identities are given meaning through the

language and symbolic through which they are represented. The writer will focus on

11
Background Note: Afghanistan, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5380.htm, p. 3. Accessed
on May 24, 2008.

12
The issue of cultural identity is central to cultural studies, in so far as cultural studies
examines the contexts within which and through which both individuals and group construct, negotiate
and defend their identity or self-understanding. (Andrew Edgar and Peter Sedgwick, Cultural Theory
The Key Concepts (New York: Routledge, 2002), p.183)
 16

the main characters, Amir and Hassan. In this research, the writer wants to analyze

the issue of cultural identity using the concept of Stuart Hall’s Cultural Identity.

B. Scope of the Research

Based on the Background of the Study above, the writer would like to limit

the research in analyzing, namely the characters and the issue of cultural identity in

Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner.

C. Statement of the Problem

Based on the Scope of the Research above, the writer would like to formulate

the statement of the problem that is:

1. What characteristics do Amir and Hassan have?

2. How does cultural identity influence the life of Amir and Hassan in

Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner?

D. Objective of the Research

Based on the Statement of Problems above, the objective of this research is to

explain the main characteristics of Amir and Hassan, and their cultural identity in

Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner.

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E. Significance of the Research

The significance of the research is to broaden up the researcher’s knowledge

regarding to the cultural identity of Afghanistan.

F. Methodology of the Research

1. Method

The writer conducts the research by using qualitative descriptive method.

This method collects variety of source based on the study of cultural

identity and character. This method also describes and analyzes

characters’ cultural identity.

2. Analysis of Data

In this research, the data are qualitatively analyzed by the relevant theory

of Cultural Identity.

3. Instrument of the Research

The research employs the writer herself as the instrument by reading a

novel The Kite Runner and variety of source based on the study of

character and cultural identity, identifying and classifying the information

related to the story.

4. Unit of Analysis

Unit of analysis is the novel of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, 2003

published by Bloomsbury.
 18

5. Time and Place of the Research

The research was done in the English Letters Department, Faculty of

Letters and Humanities, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University

Jakarta on April 2008 and would be ended on July 2008.

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CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Chapter II consists of the theory character and the concept of cultural identity

by Stuart Hall. The theory character is used to analyze the main characters, Amir and

Hassan and the concept of cultural identity by Stuart Hall is important to analyze the

issue of cultural identity in the main characters that influences their daily life.

A. Character

The term character is applied to a literary form,13 for purposes of analysis,

character is someone in literary work who has some sort of identity (it need not be a

strong one), an identity which is made up by appearance, conversation, action, name,

and (possibly) thoughts going on in the head.14

It means that characters do some action according to their part and role in the

story. We also can say that character are presented in dramatic or narrative work who

convey their personal qualities such as names, physical appearances, family, social

13
C. Hugh Holman and William Harmon, A Hard Book to Literature (New York: Macmillan
Publishing Company, 1986), 5th ed., p. 81.
14
Christopher Russell Reaske, How to Analyze Drama (New York: Monarch Press, 1996),
p.5.
 20

status, education through dialogue and action by which the readers understand their

thought, feeling, intentions and motives.

The character in the narrative work, such as novel it self can be major or

minor characters, protagonist or antagonist characters, flat or round characters and

static or dynamic characters.

1. Major and Minor Characters.

Major or main character is a character that holds an important role, very

dominant and always appears in each conflict. On the contrary, the character which

appears only few times and takes the short portion is called minor character.

2. Protagonist and Antagonist Character.

The protagonist is the main character of the novel, the one who deals with

truth and being conflicted by other characters. The opponent of protagonist is known

as the antagonist or in the event that opposing force is not person, we speak of the

antagonist force.15 He / she forces the protagonist character and often gives any

trouble or even conflict to the protagonist character.

Besides, the antagonist character need not be a person, it can be animal, a

superstition, a misconception, fate or any abstraction or force placed in dramatic

conflict with protagonist.

15
Ibid., p. 35
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3. Flat and Round Characters

According to Aspects of the Novel (1927), E. M. Forster defines two basic

types of characters, their qualities, functions, and importance for the development of a

novel; they are flat character and round character.16

Flat character is constructed round a single idea or quality.17 It means that he

/ she undergoes no change or development and tends to stay the same throughout a

story. He / she is not psychological complex characters and therefore readily

accessible to readers.

While round character is character encompass many idea and qualities. He /

she undergoes change and development, as well as entertaining different ideas and

characteristic. It presents us with more facets.

4. Static and Dynamic Character

Static character is usually a flat character. It means that character who remain

stable in his attitude throughout a work. While dynamic character is like to be a

round character, because a character undergoes personal development and change as

he story progresses. In most fiction-even, the greatest-minor character tends to be flat

instead of round.18

E. M. Forster, “Flat and Round Characters,” Essentials of the Theory of fiction, ed. Michael
16

Hoffman and Patrick Murphy (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1988), p. 40.
17
Ibid.
18
X. J. Kennedy, Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (New York:
Harper Collins Publishers, 1991), 5th ed., p. 48.
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B. The Concept of Cultural Identity

Identity are the interface between a private sense of self that includes

conscious and unconscious feelings, rational and irrational motivations, personal

beliefs and values and those factors that constitute the social context in which we

experience those feelings and motivations (for example age, ethnicity and sex)19.

Everybody lives in different countries in the world, with different cultures, religions,

personalities even ethnicities. These differences become his or her identity in society

when they are interacting with one another. And identity is used to know the social

status, such as races, ethnicity, sexual orientation, marital status, etc.

Besides, Cultural Identity belongs to a particular ethnic group and how that

influence one’s feeling, perception, and behavior (Dusek 1996, 162). Other

definitions come from Phenny (Dacey and Kenny 1997, 191) said that Cultural

Identity is that part of a person’s self concept that comes from the knowledge and

feelings about belonging to a particular cultural group. From those definitions, it can

be concluded that Cultural Identity is one’s feeling belongs to particular ethnic group.

This matter also explains that sense of belonging is an important factor in forming

identity.

According to the book Cultural Identity and Diaspora by Stuart Hall, defines

‘cultural identity’ in terms of one, shared culture, a sort of collective ‘one true self’,

hiding inside the many other, more superficial or artificial imposed ‘selves’, which

19
Judy Gales and Tim Middleton, Studying Culture, a practical introduction (Massachusset:
Blackwell publisher, 1999. P. 32.
 23

people with a shared history and ancestry hold in common.20 It is called as identity as

being (which offers a sense of unity and commonality).21

This definition explains that cultural identities reflect the common historical

experiences and shared cultural that show us a ‘one people’. For example is the

language, the Afghans which lived in Kabul speak with Dari (Afghan Farsi) as their

language to communicate to others. Language being use as one of the sign to describe

that they as one people (Afghanistan). Since the language is the one kind of culture, it

means that they all shared their culture through language.

Besides, the strength of our cultural identities involves the degree to which we

see our culture as important in the way we define ourselves. We tend to see our

cultures as important in how we define ourselves. We are in another culture than

when we are in our own cultures. We are more aware of our cultural identities when

we found ourselves in another culture than when we are in our own culture.

In addition, based on the problem that is Amir tries to apply his original

culture (Pashtun) in his host country (America) in his family like his father (Baba)

wants his culture still exists although they are in America. Because of that the

suitable theory will be Diaspora.

Stuart Hall, “Cultural Identity and Diaspora”, Identity and Difference, ed. Kathryn
20

Woodward (London: Sage Publication, 1997), p. 51.

21
Stuart Hall, Cultural Identity and Diaspora, Accessed on April 7, 2008.
http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/Literary_Criticism/postcolonism/Hall.html. p. 1.
 24

According to Stuart Hall, Diaspora does not refer us to those scattered tribes

whose identity can only be secured in relation to some sacred homeland to which they

must at all costs return.22 And also he said that Diaspora defined, not by essence or

purity, but by the recognition of necessary heterogeneity and diversity; by a

conception of ‘identity’ which lives with and through, not despite, difference; by the

hybridist.23 That now says the cultures are hybrid, difference and diversity, because of

that it is so hard to find the pure one. Diaspora identities are those which are

constantly producing and reproducing themselves a new, through transformation and

difference. It means that when they are at the other country they still stick with their

culture and try to develop through transformation constantly.

To find what can material culture tells about Diaspora, it is important to learn

much about the relationship between people and their possessions through this study.

The sentimental and emotional attachment to objects is very strong in people’s

motivation and desires to obtain and maintain certain objects in their possession.

These motivation are combined with several outside factors, including economics and

pressures from those within and outside of one’s family or ethnic, religious, or

socioeconomic group to produce of pattern of consumer choice that is riddled with

indicators of social status and group identity.24

22
Stuart Hall (1997), op. cit., p. 57.
23
Ibid., p. 58.
24
http://soa.il.stu.edu?anthrophologi/theses/Peterson/thesis-Final.htm#_Toc
39565785.Accessed on September 7, 2008.
 25

C. The Culture in Afghanistan

Afghanistan is the land of many ethnic groups, which is why the country has

so many different cultures yet they are all call themselves proudly an Afghan.25 The

culture of Afghanistan reflects its ancient roots and position as a crossroads for

invading ethnic groups and traditions.

The population of Afghanistan includes many different ethnic groups.

Afghanistan has been disrupted over the past 25 years by civil wars, invasions, rule of

the Taliban, and terrorist activities which have destroyed much of the country's

culture, family and tribal connections, thus creating hundred's of thousands of

refugees. As a result, it becomes difficult to discuss Afghanistan's culture as many of

the traditions and ways of life have been ignored and overturned. However, family

and tribal life is resuming, refugees are slowly returning and being resettled, and

some of the traditional patterns of life are being re-established.

Afghanistan's ethnically and linguistically mixed population reflects its

location astride historic trade and invasion routes leading from Central Asia into

South and Southwest Asia. While population data is somewhat unreliable for

25
http://www.afghan-network.net/Ethnic-Groups. Accessed on September 7, 2008.
 26

Afghanistan, Pashtuns make up the largest ethnic group at 38-44% of the population,

followed by Tajiks (25%), Hazaras (10%), Uzbek (6-8%), Aimaq, Turkmen, Baluch,

and other small groups. Dari (Afghan Farsi) and Pashto are official languages. Dari is

spoken by more than one-third of the population as a first language and serves as a

lingua franca for most Afghans, though Pashto is spoken throughout the Pashtun

areas of eastern and southern Afghanistan. Tajik and Turkic languages are spoken

widely in the north. Smaller groups throughout the country also speak more than 70

other languages and numerous dialects.

Afghanistan is an Islamic country. An estimated 80% of the population is

Sunni, following the Hanafi school of jurisprudence; the remainder of the population-

-and primarily the Hazara ethnic group-- predominantly Shi'a. Despite attempts

during the years of communist rule to secularize Afghan society, Islamic practices

pervade all aspects of life. In fact, Islam served as a principal basis for expressing

opposition to communism and the Soviet invasion. Islamic religious tradition and

codes, together with traditional tribal and ethnic practices, have an important role in

personal conduct and dispute settlement. Afghan society is largely based on kinship

groups, which follow traditional customs and religious practices, though somewhat

less so in urban areas.

Afghans display pride in their religion, country, ancestry, and above all, their

independence. Like other highlanders, Afghans are regarded with mingled

apprehension and condescension, for their high regard for personal honor, for their
 27

clan loyalty and for their readiness to carry and use arms to settle disputes. As clan

warfare and internecine feuding has been one of their chief occupations since time

immemorial, this individualistic trait has made it difficult for foreign invaders to hold

the region.

Afghanistan has a complex history that has survived either in its current

cultures or in the form of various languages and monuments. However, many of the

country's historic monuments have been damaged in recent wars. The two famous

statues of Buddha in the Bamyan Province were destroyed by the Taliban, who

regarded them as idolatrous. Other famous sites include the cities of Kandahar, Herat,

Ghazni and Balkh. The Minaret of Jam, in the Hari River valley, is a UNESCO

World Heritage site. The cloak worn by Muhammad is stored inside the famous

Khalka Sharifa in Kandahar City.

Buzkashi is a national sport in Afghanistan. It is similar to polo and played by

horsemen in two teams, each trying to grab and hold of a goat carcass. Afghan

hounds (a type of running dog) also originated in Afghanistan.

Although literacy levels are very low, classic Persian poetry plays a very

important role in the Afghan culture. Poetry has always been one of the major

educational pillars in Iran and Afghanistan, to the level that it has integrated itself into

culture. Persian culture has, and continues to, exert a great influence over Afghan

culture. Private poetry competition events known as “musha’era” are quite common
 28

even among ordinary people. Almost every home owns one or more poetry

collections of some sort, even if they are not read often.

The eastern dialects of the Persian language are popularly known as "Dari".

The name itself derives from "Pârsî-e Darbârî", meaning Persian of the royal courts.

The ancient term Darî – one of the original names of the Persian language – was

revived in the Afghan constitution of 1964, and was intended to signify that Afghans

consider their country the cradle of the language. Hence, the name Fârsî, the

language of Fârs, is strictly avoided. With this point in mind, we can consider the

development of Dari or Persian literature in the political entity known as

Afghanistan."

Many of the famous Persian poets of the tenth to fifteenth centuries stem from

Khorasan where is now known as Afghanistan. They were mostly also scholars in

many disciplines like languages, natural sciences, medicine, religion and astronomy.
 29

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH FINDING

A. Data Description

In chapter III, having read the novel, the writer finds some statements as the

corpus of the research. They are classified into two groups: characters and cultural

identities. They are presented in the following tables.

1. The List of Characters in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner.

No Characters Corpus Remark

1. Amir “He asked me to fetch Hassan too, Liar

but I lied and told him Hassan had Stable
the runs. I wanted Baba all to
myself.”

“I envied her. Her secret was out...” Envious

Stable
“He asked me to fetch Hassan too,
but I lied and told him Hassan had
the runs. I wanted Baba all to
myself.”

“…we all had our reason for not Obedient

adopting. Soraya had hers, the Stable
general his, and I had this…”

“…how I’d betrayed Hassan...” Betrayer

Stable

“…Courage was just one of them.” Coward

Unstable
 30

No Characters Corpus Remark

2 Hassan “…Hassan steps in and fends them Brave

off…” Stable

“…Hassan protested. But my

neighbor said the Talibs…”

“..Hassan didn’t struggle. Didn’t Defenseless

whimper…” Stable

“Hassan’s reply was a single word,

delivered in a thin, raspy voice:’
yes’…”

“Then I understood: This was Loyal

Hassan’s final sacrifices for me.” Stable

“…Baba would have believed him Honest

because we all knew Hassan never Stable
lied.”

2. The List of Cultural Identities in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner.

No Corpus Cultural Identities

1. “…a word for which a good Farsi equivalent Language

does not exist…”

“But his favorite story, and mine, was ‘Rostam Literature

and Sohrab’, the tale of the great warrior …”

“Buzkashi was, and still is, Afghanistan’s Traditional Games:

national passion.” Buzkashi

“EVERY WINTER, districts in Kabul held a The kite tournament

kite-fighting tournament, and if you were a by
living in Kabul…”

“Tomorrow is the Tenth day of Dhul-Hijjah, the Traditions:

last month of the Muslim calendar,…” Dhul-Hijjah
 31

“On Eid, the three days of celebration after the Eid-Mubarak

holy month of Ramadhan…”

“…yelda is the first night of the month of Jadi, Yelda

the first night of winter…”

“…we snapped a tree branch and used it as a Wooden stick as credit

credit card. Hassan and I would take the card.
wooden stick to the bread maker.”

“The people dress in dark suit, the woman clad Funeral clothes
in black dresses and their head covered with
traditional white hijabs.”

“…-for lafz, the ceremony of giving word…” Wedding Ceremony:

lafz
“ACCORDING TO TRADITION, Soraya’s Shirini-khori
family would have trown party, the Shirini-
khori-or “Eating of the Sweets ceremony.”

“…for the nika-the swearing ceremony” nika

“We did Ayena Masshaf, where they gave us a Ayena Masshaf

mirror…”

“Blood is a powerful thing, bachem, and when Adoption

you adopt, you don’t know whose blood you’re
bringing into your house”

“It still may not permit this adoption. In fact,

even the more moderate Muslim nations are
hesistant with adoption because in many of
those countries, Islamic law, Shari’a, doesn’t
recognize adoption.”
 32

B. Character Analysis

In Writing Themes about Literature (1977) by Edgar. V. Robert, it is

mentioned that analyzing character is one of the analyses that are very popular and

interesting in discussing novel. It is almost certain that a novel speaks about the

characters, how the characters react towards event. Thereby the characters presence is

vitally something that in novel.

In The Kite Runner, “the issue of cultural identity” is done by the main

characters, Amir and Hassan. These two main characters have very important role in

development of the story because these two characters are presented with conflicts

and actions that build the novel. All explanations above are principal reasons why the

characters analysis is important in this paper.

1. Amir

Amir is a main character of the story; he has an important role in developing

the story. In the beginning of the story, Khaled Hosseini introduces his first character

as a man named Amir who records his own life story from the winter 1975 in Kabul

come. He remembers about his past with Hassan when he does not help Hassan, his

servant get a sexual harassment that has changed his life.

Mine was Baba

His was Amir. My name.
Looking back it now, I think the foundation for what happened in the winter of
1975-and all that followed-was already laid in those first words. (Hosseini
2003, 10)
 33

Amir is an Afghan man that lives in Wazir Akbar Khan in Kabul. He comes

from a rich family. His father is Baba (Persian for father) who becomes one of the

richest merchant in Kabul. His mother Sofia Akrami, died after giving birth to him.

She is a highly educated woman and an English Literature teacher.

Everyone agreed that my father, my Baba, had built the most beautiful house
in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, a new and affluent neighborhood in the
northern part of Kabul. Some thought it was the prettiest house in Kabul.
(Hosseini 2003, 4)

After his mother died, Amir lives with his father, Baba. Amir likes to be a

man that loved by Baba (farther for Persian), but Amir also hates Baba inclined wish

to be his father without seeing Amir’s potential. Amir is raised by Baba with the

forming of Afghanistan character such as asking Amir to play soccer and hunting. In

this case, Amir hates Baba who forces him to be a real man like the Afghan boys who

likes playing soccer and kite, hunting and fighting. Amir likes his mother’s hobbies

such as reading poetry and story that makes Baba does not appreciate with his first

story.

Baba shrugged and stood up. He looked relieved, as if he too had been
rescued by Rahim Khan. “Yes, give it to Kaka Rahim Khan. I’m going
upstairs to get ready, “And with that, he left the room. Most days I
worshipped Baba with an intensity approaching the religious. But right then, I
wished I could open my veins and drain his cursed blood from my body.
(Hosseini 2003, 27)

Because his father does not appreciate Amir’s story, Amir always compares

himself with Hassan. In this case, Amir feels jealous when he sees Baba that gives his

servant, Hassan present in Hassan’s birthday and asks Hassan to go out with them. It
 34

makes their relationship inharmonious. In one side, he loves Hassan, as his loyal

friend and his servant that are very kind and obedient. However, he hates Hassan,

because Hassan steals Baba’s attention and affection to him. In this case, Hassan is

not his friend but just his Hazara servant that gets Baba’s attention more than Amir,

his son. It is caused by the similarity of their character and hobbies.

I remember the day before the orphanage opened, Baba took me to Gargha
Lake, a few miles north of Kabul. He asked me to fetch Hassan too, but I lied
and told him Hassan had the runs. I wanted Baba all to myself. And besides,
one time at Gargha Lake, Hassan and I were skimming stones and Hassan
made his stone skip eight times. The most I managed was five. Baba was
there, watching, and he patted Hassan on the back. Even put his arm around
his shoulder. (Hosseini 2003, 12)

The climax of conflict in Amir happens after watching the sexual of

harassment that is undergone by Hassan in the kite tournament in the winter, 1975.

Amir just watches this incident from long distance without giving help. Although,

Hassan run the last kite to be given to Amir, to his victory.

“Inshaallah, we’ll celebrate later. Right now, I’m going to run that blue kite
for you,” he [Hassan] said. He dropped the spool and took off running, the
hem of his green chapan dragging in the snow behind him. (Hosseini 2003,
58-59)

Amir does not help Hassan because he an agreement with his friend who hates

Hazaras and an agent of sexual harassment that nothing is free in the world. So that,

there is someone to be sacrificed to fulfill Amir’s willingness. Hassan is sacrificed by

Amir. However, Amir feels this contrary with his heart and his ambition. Hassan’s

attention, loyalty and affection toward Amir makes he feels guilty because he lets
 35

Hassan became a victim of sexual harassment. The accumulation of his guilt make

Amir decides to wipe Hassan off his life by accusing Hassan of stealing his watch

and money in his birthday. Amir wants Hassan to go far away from him. He takes its

solution comes from Baba’s principle that a thief is the one unforgivable sin, the

common denominator of all sins. (Hosseini 2003, 92). By this way, Amir can wipe

Hassan off his life.

“Then I took a couple of the envelopes of cash from the pile of gifts and my
watch, and tiptoed out. I paused before Baba’s study and listened in. He’d
been in there all morning, making phone calls. He was walking to someone
now, about a shipment of rugs due to arrive next week. I went downstairs,
crossed the yard, and entered Ali and Hassan’s living quarters by the loquat
tree. I lifted Hasan’s mattress and planted my new watch and a handful of
Afghani bills under it.” (Hosseini 2003, 90)

When the Russian invade Afghanistan in 1980s, Amir and Baba flee to

America. In America, Amir still remembers about his memories and his guilt toward

Hassan in the past. The feeling over of Amir’s guilt makes him always fastens upon

anything with his mistakes that he has ever done in the past. For example, when

Soraya (Amir’s wife) does not get pregnant although they endure various fertility

program. Amir has opinion that it is God punishment to him. (Hosseini 2003, 164).

They have chosen to adopt a baby to be their breed later, but adoption process is not

an easy matter for Amir and his wife that come from Afghanistan. For Afghan

society, if they want to adopt a baby with unknowing breed clearly, it will evoke a

problem in the future. Because in society tradition of Afghan race, background and

somebody’s offspring is very important to detect from which they come and from
 36

which ethnic breed they are given. In addition, in Islam law, Shari’a, does not permit

adoption even the more moderate Muslim nations. This quotation shows his guilt that

influences his thinking for not adopting a baby as his breed:

We all had our reasons for not adopting. Soraya had hers, the general his,
and I had this: that perhaps something, someone, somewhere, had decided to
deny my fatherfood for the things I had done. May be this was my punishment,
and perhaps justly so, I wasn’t meant to be, Khala Jamila (Soraya’s mother)
had said. Or, maybe, it was meant to be. (Hosseini 2003, 164)

Amir’s conflict and guilt cannot be over because he is not able to tell about

the past26 honestly with the other people, even his wife, Soraya. Amir can accept and

understand about Soraya’s mistake in the past, she ran away with the Afghan boy

when she was eighteen at the time. (Hosseini 2003, 143). However, he cannot do

what she was done toward him. Amir compares himself with his wife who can tell the

past bravely before their married.

I envied her. Her secret was out. Spoken. Dealt with. I opened my mouth and
almost told her how I’d betrayed Hassan, lied, driven him out, and destroyed
a forty-year relationship between Baba and Ali. But I didn’t. I suspected there
were many ways in which Soraya Taheri was a better person than me.
Courage was just one of them. (Hosseini 2003,144)

Finally, Amir can solve his problem by departing for Afghanistan. He departs

for Afghanistan with the situation is dangerous, because of many foreign countries

and militants enter to Afghanistan. (Hosseini 2003, 213). He wants to bring a son of

Hassan in the orphanage in Afghanistan. His return to Afghanistan which the

26
As explained before in page 24-25, that Amir does not help and just watches Hassan to be a
victim of sexual harassment, accuses Hassan of stealing his watch and his money and puts Hassan
away from Amir’s house.
 37

dangerous condition shows that Amir has internal conflict deeply, so that, he wants to

sacrifice himself to escape from his problems.

For Amir, Afghanistan is like two sides of a coin, namely hating and missing.

Those matters melt to become one, namely his willingness to atone his sin and wipe

off his guilt. His trip to Afghanistan is to take a part from himself remained and to

wipe off all bad memories with a kindness, with rescue a half-nephew, Sohrab.

I looked at the round face in the Polaroid again, the way the sun fell on it. My
brother’s face. Hassan had loved me once, loved me in a way that no one ever
had or ever would again. He was gone now, but a little part of him lived on. It
was in Kabul. Waiting. (Hossein 2003, 199)

That’s quotation imply his effort to penetrate all memories and betrayal ever

Amir did towards his playfellow and all at once his half-brother, Hassan. He hopes by

meeting Sohrab, Hassan can forgive himself and Amir can be human better.

From the description above, the writer concludes that Amir is protagonist

character. He gets the conflict from his father and other character, Assef who hates

Hassan and makes him to be evil with Hassan. Amir is presented with the internal

conflict: when Baba wants him to follow his willing like playing soccer but he prefers

to read novel, when Baba gives attention and affection toward Hassan, the servant

boy more than Amir, he envies toward Hassan, and when Hassan becomes a victim of

discrimination and sexual harassment, he cannot help so that Amir felt guilty and sin.

This character also can be categorized as round and dynamic character, because Amir

undergoes changes in his attitude; his envious toward Hassan makes Amir let Hassan
 38

to be a sexual harassment and want to put Hassan away from his house. However, his

guilt and his sin toward Hassan makes Amir wants to sacrifice himself to come back

to Afghanistan with the dangerous situation to bring Sohrab, son of Hassan, to live

with Amir in America and to atone his sin and his guilt. Besides, Amir does not want

to do second mistake.

2. Hassan

In the story, Amir has a servant and also a loyal friend, his name is Hassan.

Hassan is one of the important characters in the novel. Hassan’s presence also

presented a Hazara character in the novel. A Hazara is a minority ethnic group in

Afghanistan. Amir has conflict with Hassan in the novel that has important role in

developing story.

For the first time, Amir describes Hassan’s character in physical appearance.

When they were children, Amir sees Hassan’s physical appearance hidden.

We took turns with the mirror as we ate mulberries, pelted each other with
them, giggling, laughing. I can still see Hassan up on that tree, sunlight
flickering through the leaves on his almost perfectly round face, a face like a
Chinese doll chiseled from hardwood: his flat, broad nose and slanting,
narrow eyes like bamboo leaves, eyes that looked, depending on the light,
gold, green, even sapphire. I can still see his tiny low-set ears and that
pointed stub of a chin, a meaty appendage that looked like it was added as
amere afterthought. (Hosseini 2003, 3)

As Amir describes, Hassan has round face, broad nose and slanting. His eyes

are narrow and looks like gold, green, sapphire, besides, his ears is tiny and his chin
 39

is pointed stub. Amir mentions Hassan’s character because Hassan is very different

with other people in Afghanistan. Usually, people call Hassan “flat-nosed” because

Hassan has characteristic as Hazara Mongoloid features. (Hosseini 2003, 8). The

Hazaras are Mogul descendant and look a little like Chinese people.

Amir also mentions that Hassan was born in the cold winter day, 1964 by his

mother, Sanaubar who run off with a clan of traveling singers and dancers. One year

after Amir’s mother died.

It was in the small shack that Hassan’s mother, Sanaubar, gave birth to him
one cold winter day in 1964. while my mother hemorrhaged to death during
childbirth, Hassan lost his less than a week after he was born..(Hosseini 2003,
6)

Hassan never knows his mother, because his mother left him after giving

birth. So, Hassan never talked about his mother as if she’d never existed. Besides, he

never knows what she looks like, and where she was. Hassan lives with his father,

Ali, a man who had memorized the Koran. According to Amir, Ali is his father’s

playmates when they are kids until polio crippled Ali’s leg, who has adopted by my

grandfather into his own household. (Hosseini 2003, 21). After that, Baba never

refers Ali as his friend in Baba’s stories.

Hassan grows up illiterate like his father, Ali. Despite his illiteracy, Hassan

can understand the mystery of words if Amir reads poems and stories to him. Because

of that Amir can write his first story in thirty minutes.

Sitting cross-legged, sunlight and shadows of pomegranate leaves dancing on

his face, Hassan absently plucked blades of grass from the ground as I read
him stories he couldn’t read for himself. That Hassan would grow up illiterate
 40

like Ali and most Hazaras had been decided the minute he had born, perhaps
even the moment he had been conceived in Sanaubar’s unwelcoming womb-
after all… (Hosseini 2003, 24)

Amir and Hassan always play together when they were kids such in the grass

with reading story and Hassan hears the story from Amir because he can’t write and

read. One day, Amir pretended reading story from the book with a scramble of codes,

indecipherable and mysterious. Although, that is Amir’s words, but, Hassan

understands what Amir said. Hassan also likes his story because that is the best story

Amir has read to him in a long time. It makes Amir happy and makes this as his first

story. (Hosseini 2003, 26). For Amir, Hassan is the perfect audience in many ways,

totally immersed in the tale, his face shifting with the changing tones in the story and

Hassan says that Amir will be a great writer and famous. Besides, Amir mentions that

his father “Baba” Like Hassan, because Hassan has the same characteristics and

hobbies with Baba such as playing a kite, soccer, hunting and fighting. Hassan is a

man. He always protects and helps Amir.

“Self-defense has nothing to do with meanness. You know what always

happens when the neighborhood boys tease him? Hassan steps in and fends
them off. “I’ve seen it with my own eyes... (Hosseini 2003, 20)

Hassan has self defense in him, he againsts the people who disturb him and

Amir. For example, Hassan also can fight against Assef (antagonist character), a

sociopath bully known for his brass knuckles and his rancor towards Hazaras when

Hassan and Amir are walking through Afghanistan. However, in the kite tournament,
 41

1975, Hassan can’t defense himself toward the other boy who wants to revenge him,

when Hassan goes to fetch the last cut kite, a great trophy. Hassan tries to protect

Amir's kite, but Assef beats Hassan and sodomizes him.

Assef knelt behind Hassan, put his hands on Hassan’s hips and lifted his bare
buttocks. He kept one hand on Hassan’s back and undid his own belt buckle
with his free hand. He unzipped his jeans. Dropped his underwear. He
positioned himself behind Hassan. Hassan didn’t struggle. Didn’t even
whimper. He moved his head slightly and I caught a glimpse of his face.
(Hosseini 2003, 66)

However, Hassan cannot against the other boy who sodomized him because

Hassan wants to keep the kite for Amir. He does not want the kite will be taken by

the other boy. Hassan wants Amir to be happy with Baba, so that Hassan sacrifices

himself for his friend, Amir. He also admits that he steals Amir’s watch and money

(as being told in this paper in Amir’s part p. 22). In this quotation shows how Hassan

recognizes that he is a thief and sacrifices him self just for her boss, a Pashtun.

Baba came right out and asked. “Did you steal that money? Did you steal
Amir’s watch, Hassan?” Hassan’s reply was a single word, delivered in a
thin, raspy voice: “yes.” I flinched, like I’d been slapped. My heart sank and I
almost blurted out the truth. Then I understood: This was Hassan’s final
sacrifices for me. If he’d said no, Baba would have believed him because we
all knew Hassan never lied. And if Baba believed him, then I’d the accused; I
would have to explain and I would be revealed for what I really was. Baba
would never, ever forgive me. (Hossein 2003, 91)

However, Hassan and Ali are not permitted to go out from his house, because

they are part of Baba’s family. They lived together with Baba when they were kids.

After that, Hassan and Ali live in the only house in the village that had a walled
 42

garden in Bamiyan. Hassan has been a man in 1986 in Bamiyan with his wife,

Farjana jan from a Hazara.

So, one day I fueled up the Buick and drove up to Hazarajat. I remember
that, after Ali dismissed himself from the house, your father told me he and
Hassan had moved to a small village just outside Bamiyan… (Hosseini 2003,
179-180)

Then, Hassan moves to live in Baba’s house in Kabul when Rahim Khan

(Baba’s friend) asks him to live in there. According to Rahim Khan, Hassan is a son

of Baba with Sanaubar, his mother, but Hassan doesn’t know about it. Hassan just

knows that he wants to keep Baba’s house because no one stays in Baba’s house after

Baba and Amir flew to America. When they live in Baba’s house, Hassan has a son,

Sohrab and Sanaubar, his mother comes to him. (Hosseini 2003, 185). Sohrab

become the center of their existence. Hassan teaches him to read and write for not

growing up illiterate like Hassan. Hassan loves his son a lot.

In 1998, the Taliban massacre the Hazara in Mazara-i-Sharif. (Hosseini 2003,

187) Hassan and his family live alone in Wazir Akbar Khan. So, a pair of Taliban

officials come to investigate and interrogated Hassan. They want to claim the house.

Hassan always protests, but, the Talibs take him to the street and shot Hassan and his

wife, Farzana jan. Hassan tries to struggle the Taliban to maintain that house. But, the

Taliban don’t believe that they live in the big house. Because the Taliban think that

Hassan as Hazara is a liar, a thief. So, the Taliban shot them. This is a final sacrifice

from Hassan to Amir

 43

….A pair of Talib officials came to investigate and interrogated Hassan. 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
Hassan’s 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. Hassan protested.
But my neighbor said the Talibs were looking at the big house like-how did he
say it?-yes, like ‘wolves looking at a flock of sheep.’ They told Hassan they
would be moving in to supposedly keep it safe until I return. Hassan protested
again. So they took him to the street-“. (Hosseini 2003, 192)

From the description above, the writer concludes that Hassan is the

protagonist character. He is a hero for Amir, such as accompanying Amir to play in

the backyard when Amir is alone, hearing Amir’s first story when Baba dislikes it,

protecting Amir when Assef disturbs him, running the last cut kite for Amir’s victory

and it makes Hassan becomes a victim of sexual harassment, recognizing that Hassan

steals Amir’s watch and money toward Baba and it makes Hassan to leave Amir’s

house, and protecting Amir’s house from the Talibans and it makes Hassan and his

family died. Besides, this character is presented with a flat character; Hassan

undergoes no change or development in his attitude and tends to stay the same

throughout a story. Hassan always protects helps and cares with Amir, for his

happiness in whatever situation.

B. The Issue of Cultural Identity

The issue of cultural identity in this story happened in both of the two main

characters, Amir and Hassan. Their cultural identities come from histories in

Afghanistan where Afghanistan is ethnically a very diverse country, namely Pashtun,

 44

Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Aimaq, Turkmen, Baluch, and other small group.27 The culture

of Afghanistan reflects its ancient roots and position as a crossroads for invading

ethnic groups and traditions.28 The writer analyzes their cultural identities because

they have conflict based on cultural identity eventhough they come from the same

country, Afghanistan. However, they come from different ethnics. In this analyzing

the issue of cultural identity, the writer uses the concept of Cultural Identity by Stuart

Hall.

Cultural Identity is in terms of one, shared culture, a sort of collective ‘one

true self’, hiding inside the many other, more superficial o artificial imposed ‘selves’,

which people with a shared history and ancestry hold in common. It is called as

identity as being.

This definition explains that Amir and Hassan’s characters reflect their

common historical experiences and shared cultural that show them as one people as

27
Afghanistan's ethnically and linguistically mixed population reflects its location astride
historic trade and invasion routes leading from Central Asia into South and Southwest Asia. While
population data is somewhat unreliable for Afghanistan, Pashtuns make up the largest ethnic group at
38-44% of the population, followed by Tajiks (25%), Hazaras (10%), Uzbek (6-8%), Aimaq, Turkmen,
Baluch, and other small groups. Dari (Afghan Farsi) and Pashto are official languages. Dari is spoken
by more than one-third of the population as a first language and serves as a lingua franca for most
Afghans, though Pashto is spoken throughout the Pashtun areas of eastern and southern Afghanistan.
Tajik and Turkic languages are spoken widely in the north. Smaller groups throughout the country also
speak more than 70 other languages and numerous dialects.
Background Note: Afghanistan, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5380.htm, p. 3. Accessed on May
24, 2008.

28
Culture in Afghanistan, Accessed on September 14, 2008.
http://asia.msu.edu/centralasia/Afghanistan/culture.html. p. 1
 45

the Afghan; however they have different cultural identity in ethnic. Many cultures

that they have as the Afghan even they have different ethnics, namely:

1. Language

The Afghans which lived in Kabul speak with Dari (Afghan Farsi) as their

language to communicate to others. Amir and Hassan live in one house in Amir

house because Amir is a boss of Hassan. They usually speak with the language of

Afghan Farsi as the official language to communicate in both of them even they come

from different ethnic. In this case that Language being use as one of the sign to

describe them as one people (Afghanistan).

“…a word for which a good Farsi equivalent does not exist: “sociopath.”
(Hosseini 2003, 34)

2. Literature

Although literacy levels are very low, classic Persian poetry plays a very

important role in Afghan culture. Poetry has always been one of the major

educational pillars in both Iran and Afghanistan, to the level that it has integrated

itself into culture. In this case, Amir and Hassan like the poetry and the other

literature work such as the epic Persian heroes at the tenth-century “Shahnamah” and

“Rostam and Sohrab”. Amir usually tells the story to Hassan because Hassan is

illiterate that cannot read. However, Hassan understands what Amir tells to Hassan.

For Amir, Hassan is the perfect audience that can understand his first story and makes

Amir can write his first story in thirty minutes. (Hosseini 2003, 29)
 46

3. Traditions

Amir and Hassan have tradition according to Islam. In tenth day of Dhul-

Hijjah, the last month of the Muslim calendar, and the first of three days of Eid Al-

Adha, or Eid-e-Qorban, as Afghans call it-a day to celebrate how the prophet Ibrahim

almost sacrificed his own son for God. Usually Amir, Hassan and their fathers stand

in the backyard to see this ritual every year. Besides, there are some customs in Eid

Al-Adha such as divide the meat in thirds, one for the family, one for friends, and one

for the poor. Then, the other custom is to not let the sheep see the knife and feed the

animal a cube of sugar to make death sweeter. (Hosseini 2003, 67).

Besides on Eid, three days of celebration after the holy month of Ramadhan,

Kabuli dressed in their best and newest clothes and visted their families. People

hugged and kissed and greeted each other with “Eid Mubarak.” Happy Eid. Children

opened gifts and played with dyed hard-boiled eggs. In this moment, Hassan gets the

gifts from Baba and he plays together with Amir. (Hosseini 2003, 38).

In Afghanistan, yelda is the first night of the month of Jadi, the first night of

winter, and the longest night of the year. As was the tradition, Amir and Hassan used

to stay up late, their feet tucked under the kursi, while Ali (Hassan’s father) tossed

apple skin into the stove and told them ancient tales of sultans and thieves to pass that

longest of nights. Besides, if the people ate watermelon in the night of yelda, they

wouldn’t get thirsty the coming summer. In addition, yelda was the starless night

tormented lovers kept vigil, enduring the endless dark, waiting for the sun to rise and
 47

bring with it their loved one. (Hosseini 2003, 125)

4. Traditional Games

In Afghanistan, Buzkashi is a national sport that is similar to polo and played

by the horsemen into two teams, each trying to grab and hold of a goat carcass. It

takes place on the first day of spring, New Year’s Day. In this moment, Baba ever

took Amir to watch Buzkashi from the upper bleacher.

“Buzkashi was, and still is, Afghanistan’s national passion.” (Hosseini 2003,
18)

Besides, when they were children, they usually play the traditional games of

Afghanistan such as chasing each other between tangles of trees in Baba’s yard,

playing hide-and-seek, cops and robbers, cowboys and Indian, insect torture, flying

kite and running the kite. Before the kite tournament, they sat under the kursi and

played panjpar as wind-rattled tree branches tapped on the window. In this case,

Amir never thinks about Hassan’s cultural identity that comes from a Hazara.

The kite-fighting tournament is an old winter tradition in Afghanistan. It is

started early in the morning on the day of the contest and does not end until only the

winning kite fly in the sky. In this moment, all of the boys from different ethnic come

gather on sidewalks and roofs to cheer for them who follow competition. The streets

are filled with kite fighters, jerking and tugging on their lines, squinting up to the sky,

trying to gain position to cut the opponent’s line. Besides, every kite fighter had

assistant. In this case, Hassan is Amir’s assistant who held the spool and the fed line.

It shows that Hassan is inferior character that accepts everything for his boss, Amir.
 48

For Amir, Hassan is the greatest kite runner in Afghanistan that always gets the spot

the kite would land before the kite does, as if he had some sort of inner compass.

EVERY WINTER, districts in Kabul held a kite-fighting tournament. and if

you were a boy living in Kabul, the day of the tournament was undeniably the
highlight of the cold season. (Hosseini 2003, 43-44)

However, in the winter of 1975, the internal conflict which Amir envies

toward Hassan happens in both of them that makes their cultural identity is different

(superior and inferior). Amir comes from the superior ethnic who always does

everything to wipe Hassan off his life like letting Hassan to become a victim of

sexual harassment and accusing Hassan of stealing his watch and money. Besides,

Hassan comes from the inferior ethnic who always accept everything from the

superior ethnic, Amir.

Baba came right out and asked. “Did you steal that money? Did you steal
Amir’s watch, Hassan?” Hassan’s reply was a single word, delivered in a
thin, raspy voice: “yes.” I flinched, like I’d been slapped. My heart sank and I
almost blurted out the truth. Then I understood: This was Hassan’s final
sacrifices for me. If he’d said no, Baba would have believed him because we
all knew Hassan never lied. And if Baba believed him, then I’d the accused; I
would have to explain and I would be revealed for what I really was. Baba
would never, ever forgive me. (Hossein 2003, 91)

Their cultural identity is very strong that cannot be changed by anything. It

can be seen when Hassan always gets the cruelty from superior ethnic, especially

from Amir. He cannot against what Amir does toward him. Hassan only accepts it

and Hassan also recognizes that he is just a Hazara. He is a minority ethnic group in

Afghanistan.
 49

Hassan identity is like his father, Ali, as a Hazara and Shi’a Moslem. The

Hazara kinship is organized in lineages; descent is traced through the male line. The

male in specific area consider themselves descendants of common ancestor.29 A

Hazara has physical appearances that are very different with a true Afghan, the

Pashtun.

I can still see Hassan up on that tree, sunlight flickering through the leaves on
his almost perfectly round face, a face like a Chinese doll chiseled from
hardwood: his flat, broad nose and slanting, narrow eyes like bamboo leaves,
eyes that looked, depending on the light, gold, green, even sapphire…
(Hosseini 2003, 3)

Hassan has a round face, a face like a Chinese people. He has broad nose and

slanting, narrow eyes like bamboo leaves, eyes that looked, depending on the light,

gold, green, even sapphire and tiny low-set ears. His characteristics are Mogul

descendants. The Hazara are thought to have several affinities with the Mongols,

including physical appearance, language, and kinship system. In addition, the term

‘Hazara’ is a Mongol-Persian blend.30

Besides, the Hazaras has attribute completely negative, like: low social, poor,

low class, has defect in body such as Hassan has harelip and Ali has leg polio, and

only move in low job area likes waitress, beggar, and servant like Ali and Hassan as

servants. In addition, most Hazaras is illiterate like Hassan and Ali that cannot read

the books. Because they do not have money to attend school. So, most Hazaras had

John Middleton and Amal Rassam. “Hazara” Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Middle
29

Africa and the East. Vol. IX. (New York: G. K. Hall and Company, 1995), p. 1
30
Ibid.
 50

been decided to illiterate the minute he had born. From that’s description, the people

have stereotype for the Hazara “Poor and illiterate”. Because Hassan has negative

attribute, the other boys have epithet name to Hassan such as Flat-Nose, A loyal

Hazara. Loyal as a dog. In this case shows that Hassan is inferior that always accepts

everything from the other.

And on days when he felt particularly inspired, he spiced up his baddering a

little, Hey, you flat-nosed Babalu, who did you eat today? Tell us, you
slanted-eyed donkey. (Hosseini 2003, 34)

Besides, Amir is a Pashtun boy and Sunni Moslem. His identity is inherited

by his father as Patriarchy.

Never mind any of those things. Because history isn’t easy to overcome.
Neither is religion. In the end I [Amir] was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I
[Amir] was Sunni and he was Shi’a, and nothing was ever going to change
that. Nothing. (Hosseini 2003, 22)

Amir recognizes his identity as a Pashtun and Sunni Muslim. His identity

cannot be changed by anything, because history is not easy to overcome. Amir as a

Pashtun is different with the other boys especially his servant, Hassan, a Hazara in

physical appearances, religion, ethnicity and personality. The differences make him

as superior, better class in Afghanistan. Besides, it can be seen from the different in

his physical appearances with the other as in this quotation:

Never mind that to me, the face of Afghanistan is that a boy with a thin-boned
frame, a shaved head, and low-set ears, a boy with a Chinese doll face
perpetually lit by hare lipped. (Hosseini 2003, 22)
 51

Amir has a thin-boned frame, a shave head, and low set ears. His face shows

that he is a true Afghan. The most of the Pashtun is the richest people and successful

man that has respected job, such as Amir can attend school and his father ‘Baba’ who

is the famous businessperson in Kabul such as building carpet exporting business,

two pharmacies, and a restaurant and building an orphanage in Kabul.

So Baba proved them all wrong by not only running his own business but
becoming one of the richest merchants in Kabul. Baba and Rahim Khan built
a wildly successful carpet-exporting business, two pharmacies, and a
restaurant. (Hosseini 2003, 13)

Amir has the same vision to sweep the Hazaras from his homeland with the

other Pashtun, because the Hazaras are considered to have dirty blood. The similarity

makes him one true self and show that they are Pashtun. They recognize that they are

the true Afghan because Afghanistan is the land of Pashtuns, not the flat-nose like

Hassan.

Afghanistan is the land of Pashtuns. It always has been, always will be. We
are the true Afghans, the pure Afghan, not this Flat-Nose here. His people
pollute our homeland, our watan. They dirty our blood. “He made a
sweeping, grandiose gesture with his hand. “Afghanistan for Pashtuns, I say.
That’s my vision.” (Hosseini 2003, 35)

The term "Afghanistan," meaning the "Land of Afghans," was mentioned by

the sixteenth century Mughal Emperor Babur in his memoirs, referring to the

territories south of Kabul that were inhabited by Pashtuns (called "Afghans" by

Babur)31.

31
Afghanistan (2008), op.cit. p. 4.
 52

What they are done is like in the book written by an Iranian, Khorami tells

that there is repression toward the Hazara that done by the Pashtuns in the nineteen

century. The Pashtun had persecuted and oppressed the Hazara. And the Pashtuns

had killed the Hazaras, driven them from their lands, burned their homes, and sold

their women. The reason of Pashtuns had oppressed the Hazaras that Pashtun is

Sunni Muslims, while Hazaras is Shi’a. (Hosseini 2003, 8). It shows that the Pashtun

has stereotyped as “bellicose” eventhough he has done that intentionally.

Moreover, Amir intends to bury his memory with Hassan and his sin toward

Hassan that comes is over. So, he wants to start a new life with his father, Baba in

America when Russian invades to Afghanistan and to get his future as the famous

writer.

For me [Amir], America was a place to bury his [Hassan] memories.

(Hosseini 2003, 112)

Besides, Hassan always becomes the target of the Pashtun ethnic who is

dominant group in Afghanistan. It makes Hassan’s life frightened. He cannot live

free. Where he lives, he always undergoes discrimination such as from Amir, Assef

and the Taliban which follow a radical Islam but this is also Pashtun-dominated. For

example in 1998, the Taliban massacred the Hazaras in Mazar-i-Sharif. Talibans who

come from the Pashtun ethnic do the cruelty toward the Afghans that break the law or

shari’a law that their made. The Hazara become a target of the Taliban who hate the

Hazara ethnic.
 53

A few weeks later, the Taliban banned the kite fighting. And two years later,
in 1998, they massacred the Hazaras in Mazar-i-Sharif. (Hosseini 2003, 187)

These internal conflicts also represent the ethnics and inter-religion conflict.

These conflicts appear in both of them that are based in ethnic and inter-religion. In

this story, the inter-religion conflict has relation with the ethnic conflict, namely the

Pashtun is Sunni Moslem and the Hazara is Shi’a Moslem.

The reason of Pashtuns had oppressed the Hazaras that Pashtun is Sunni
Muslims, while Hazaras is Shi’a. (Hosseini 2003, 8)

It also can be seen that the Pashtun is dominant in Afghanistan and as

majority group because Afghanistan is the land of Pashtun. Besides, the Hazaras is

minorities group that always get discrimination from the Pashtuns. So, the civil war

happened in both of them and symbolizes the two opposite struggles in Afghanistan,

one by the Pashtuns, and the second by the Hazara, minority’s ethnic group in

Afghanistan.

When Russian invades to Afghanistan, most of the Pashtuns, especially Amir

and Baba flee to America to save them from several invasions from foreign countries.

It shows that the Pashtun is the richest ethnic. It is very different with Hassan just

lives in Afghanistan with the dangerous situation that lives in small village in

Afghanistan. For Amir, He flew to America to bury his past memories and to start a

new life in America. In America, Amir lives in California where the Afghans

immigrants live there. Amir and Baba still keeps their tradition and their habits as the

Pashtun ethnic. They wants their culture still exist although they are in America. It is
 54

suitable with the Diaspora defines by a conception of ‘identity’ are those which are

constantly producing and reproducing themselves a new, through transformation and

difference. It means that when they are at the other country they still stick with their

culture and try to develop through transformation constantly. It appears conflict in

both of them when they wants stick their culture identities as the Pashtuns but they

face new culture and habit in there, such as they have to adopt the habits and

American culture.

It happens, when Baba confronts on difference payment between Afghanistan

and America in grocery store until Baba gets conflict with the owner store in

California.

It turned out that Baba had had no cash on him for the oranges. He’d written
Mr. Nguyen a check and Mr. Nguyen had asked for an ID. He wants to see my
license, “Baba bellowed in Farsi. “Almost two years we’ve bought his damn
fruits and put money in his pocket and the son of a dog wants to see my
license!” (Hosseini 2003, 111)

The owner store asks for Baba’s ID card because they do not believe to

Baba’s check. This matter is common in America, but Baba feels offended with the

owner store. In Kabul, if the Afghan wants to buy something, they just take the

wooden stick as credit card to the owner store and he carves notches on their stick

with his knife. At the end of month, they pay him for the number of notches on the

stick. No ID. In this case, Baba never had undergone it in Kabul where all of the

people recognize and know him. Baba can get anything easily because in
 55

Afghanistan, the Pashtuns is the richest ethnic group in Afghanistan. This situation

makes Baba missed Afghanistan.

Besides, Diaspora also happens when Amir wants to marry Soraya, he uses

the Afghan’s wedding, and Amir does not adopt a son. In this case, Amir and Baba

still keep and use their cultural identity as the Pashtun, Sunni Moslem. Their identity

is stable and unchanging.

When Amir likes the woman, Soraya from a Pashtun ethnic group. Baba

reminds Amir not embarrass Baba, because Soraya’s father is a Pashtun to the root

that has tenets, nang and namoos, honor and pride, especially when it comes to the

chastity of a wife or a daughter.

“Remember this, “Baba said, pointing at me, “The man is a Pashtun to the
root. He has nang and namoos,” Nang. Namoos. Honor and Pride. The tenets
of Pashtun men. Especially when it came to the chastity of a wife. Or a
daughter. (Hosseini 2003, 126-127)

In this point, Amir wants to chastity Soraya to avoid the gossip material. He

also does not want to embarrass Baba from his attitude. Amir and Soraya are the

Pashtuns that have mistake in the past. Amir can accept the mistake of Soraya in the

past when he ran away with the Afghan boy in Virginia but he cannot tell the truth

about his mistake toward Hassan to Soraya. In this case, Amir marries Soraya and

wants to raise her honor as a Pashtun because many Afghan, especially those from

reputable families, were fickle creatures. A whisper here, an insinuation there, and

they fled like startled bird after know the past of Soraya. Therefore, wedding had
 56

come and gone and no one had sung ahesta boro for Soraya, no one had painted her

palms with henna, no one had held a Koran over her headdress.

In addition, Amir uses his tradition wedding ceremony to marry with Soraya

such as lafz “giving word”, nika (the swearing ceremony) and Ayena Mashaf.

According to Afghan tradition, the Soraya’s family should held “Shirini-Khori” or

“Eating of the Sweets” ceremony (the engagement party), but their families forgo the

Shirini-khori. It is caused by Baba does not have months to live. (Hosseini 2003, 147-

148)

In “lafz”, Amir and his father come to Soraya house. In this moment, Soraya

does not present when ‘lafz’ goes on. Soraya also wear a dress in a stunning wine-

colored traditional Afghan dress with long sleeves and gold trimmings. Besides, in

nika (the swearing ceremony) Amir and Soraya signed the certificates. Then they do

Ayena Masshaf, where their families give them a mirror and threw a veil over their

heads, so they had be alone to gaze at each other.

Besides, Amir uses the tradition of Afghanistan where his father, Baba passed

away. The people dress in dark suits, the women clad in black dresses and their head

covered with traditional white hijabs.(Hosseini 2003, 152)

When Amir’s wife does not get pregnant, Amir feels that this is punishment

for him, so that he does not have a child. Amir betrayed Hassan for a long time. He

wants to adopt a child who is not his offspring but he cannot do that. He gets

resistance from his father-in-law. For Afghan society, especially for the Pashtuns, if
 57

they want to adopt a baby with unknowing breed clearly, it will evoke a problem in

the future. Besides, according to society tradition of Afghan race, background and

somebody’s offspring is very important to detect from which they come and from

ethnic breed, they are given. Blood is powerful thing. In addition, Islam law, Shari’a,

does not permit adoption even the more moderate Muslim nations

“For one thing, they grow up and want to know who their natural parents
are,” he said. “Nor can you blame them. Sometimes, they leave the home in
which you labored for years to provide for them so they can find the people
who gave them life. Blood is powerful thing, bachem, never forget that.”
(Hosseini 2003, 163)

It still may not permit this adoption. In fact, even the more moderate Muslim
nations nations are hesistant with adoptions because in many of those
countries, Islamic law, shari’a, doesn’t recognize adoption. (Hosseini 2003,
294)

According to Soraya’s father, Amir’s father-in-law that it contraries with

American culture, adopt is not matter. Americans marry for love; family name and

ancestry never even come into the equation. They adopt that excessively, as long as

the baby is healthy, everyone is happy. But, Amir is an Afghan. In this case, Amir

still keeps and uses their tradition of Afghans. He cannot assimilate all American

culture, eventhough his life in not perfect. He does not have a child.

However, He can adopt a son of Hassan. Sohrab is a half-nephew of Amir

because in the past, Baba slept with his Hassan mother. Amir departs for Afghanistan

to bring a son of Hassan that lives in orphanage in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, Amir

feels difficult to get his new identity because many foreign countries enter to

Afghanistan. Besides, the situation in Afghanistan is very dangerous. Many people

 58

died in the street because the Talibans massacre the minorities’ ethnic group in

Afghanistan especially communist.

The Taliban is the students of Islamic knowledge movement ruled

Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001. They came to power during Afghanistan's long

civil war. Although they managed to hold 90% of the country's territory, their

policies—including their treatment of women and support of terrorists—ostracized

them from the world community.32 The Taliban has mission such as stoning

adulterers, raping children, flogging women for wearing high heels, and massacring

Hazaras.

“What mission is that?” I heard my self. “Stoning adulterers? Raping

children? Flogging women for wearing high heels? Massacring Hazaras? All
in the name of Islam?” The words spilled suddenly and unexpectedly, came
out before I could yank the leash. I wished I could take them back. (Hosseini
2003, 248)

The character who represents as the Taliban is Assef, antagonist character.

Assef does ethnic cleansing as his mission. According to Assef, Afghanistan is like a

beautiful mansion littered with garbage, and someone has to take out the garbage.

Assef does that toward Hassan by massacring Hassan’s family in Kabul. Besides,

Sohrab, son of Hassan also becomes a victim of cruelty of Assef. Assef asked Sohrab

to wear woman dress and dance for him. After Amir fights Assef, Amir can bring

Sohrab to America to live with Amir and his wife. He does not choose to live in

Afghanistan because the situation in Afghanistan is very dangerous and wants to lift

32
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/taliban.html take on 6 January 2008.
 59

Sohrab from certainty of turmoil. Besides, he has everything that special in America

such as a wife, a family and a carrier as famous writer. According to Amir there are

no discrimination and racialism in America.

…, a life in a country [America] where no one cared that he was a Hazara,

where most people didn’t even know what Hazara was. Maybe not.
(Hosseini 2003, 198)

And so it was that, about a week later, we crossed a strip of warm, black
tarmac and I brought Hassan’s son from Afghanistan to America, lifting him
from the certainty of turmoil and dropping him in a turmoil of uncertainty.
(Hosseini 2003, 311)

In this case, Amir also adopts Sohrab as his son. Nevertheless, his father-in-

law disagrees with adoption. However, this matter is very different with he wants to

adopt a son without knowing breed clearly. He adopts Sohrab because Sohrab is his

family. His wife also agrees with Amir that he wants to bring Sohrab and adopt

Sohrab as his son.

“Amir, he’s your qaom, your family, so he’s my qaom too. Of course I’m sure.
You can’t leave him to the streets.” There was a short pause. (Hosseini 2003,
284)

When Sohrab lives with Amir in America, Amir always tells about the

kindness of Hassan to his son’s Sohrab and for Amir, Hassan is the greatest kite

runner. (Hosseini 2003, 321). The title of novel, The Kite Runner means someone

who runs to catch a kite. The kite is the source of struggle among Amir and Hassan as

a trophy of honor. It is a symbol of victory for the Afghan boys in Afghanistan. When

they succeed to cut the last kite that fly in the air, their victory is incomplete yet
 60

because they have to run and get the last kite. In this story, the boy who can run and

get the last kite is Hassan. For Amir, Hassan is the best runner in every kite

tournament. (Hosseini 2003, 46)

 61

CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

A. Conclusion

The Kite Runner is a novel written by Khaled Hosseini, one of famous

Afghanistan American authors. The situation of Afghanistan American inspired him

to write The Kite Runner. It tells about someone who runs to catch a kite. The kite is

struggle source among Amir, Hassan and Assef as a trophy of honor. It is a symbol of

victory for the Afghan boys in Afghanistan. When they succeed to cut the last kite

that fly in the air, their victory is incomplete yet because they have to run and get the

last kite. In this story, the boy who can run and get the last kite is Hassan. For Amir,

Hassan is the best runner in every kite tournament

The first thing, the writer analyzes in this research is the two main characters

in the novel, Amir and Hassan. Their character have important role in development of

the story, because they are performed with the conflict through their dialogues and

actions that build the story in this novel.

Besides, the writer also analyzes their cultural identity because they have

different cultural identity even they come from the same country, Afghanistan. It has

the purpose to find out the issue of cultural identity in both of them. Their cultural
 62

identities influence their life that creates many conflicts such as internal conflict,

ethnic conflict and inter-religion conflict.

The first character is Amir. Amir comes from the richest family and the

reputable family in Kabul. He is a pashtun and Sunni Moslem. A Pashtun is majority

ethnic group and superior ethnic in Afghanistan that always does cruelty toward the

minority ethnic group. His father is successful man. Besides, his mother is literature

lecturer. However, Amir lives with his father and Baba’s friend, Rahim Khan because

his mother died after giving birth him. When Hassan becomes a victim of racialism

and discrimination that happen in Afghanistan, Amir could not defend him. It makes

Amir undergoes an insomniac and feel guilty until he lives in America and becomes a

great writer. When Amir does not get a baby, Amir thinks that this is his punishment

to him from his mistake in the past toward Hassan.

The second character is Hassan. He is a Hazara and Shi’a Moslem. His

identity has stereotype as ‘poor’ and illiterate. Hassan comes from poor family

because his half-father, Ali, is a servant in Amir’s house. Then, he grows up illiterate

and harelips. The Hazaras in Afghanistan have negative attribute from the other

ethnics group such as low job, poor, defect in body such as Hassan. His identity make

him always becomes a victim of discrimination and racialism from the Pashtun and

the Taliban. So, the Hazara is inferior ethnic in Afghanistan.

Amir and Hassan have the cultural identity that is stable and cannot be

changed by anything. Hassan always accepts anything from the Pashtun. Then Amir
 63

still sticks his cultural identity even Amir lives in America. He undergoes Diaspora

like he wants to marry. He chooses a woman that comes from the Pashtun. He wants

to keep alive his ancient standard of pride and honor. Then he uses the Afghan

wedding and he does not adopt a son from other breed.

B. Suggestion

From the analyses and the conclusion above, the writer would like to propose

the following suggestions:

a. For the researchers who want to understand the story of the novel, to know

about the characters because they are the important elements that can develop

a story.

b. For the researchers who are interested in doing the same research particularly

concerning about cultural identity and literary work to read more various

theory to get more wide knowledge and deep analysis.

 64

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