Conclusion

Hosseini uses diction to communicate the social differences between Hazaras and Pashtuns in Afghanistan.  In the beginning of my passage, Amir has just won the annual kite flying competition, and Hassan has gone to run the last fallen kite for Amir. Assef and his friends corner Hassan in an alley. Amir sneaks up behind and watches as Assef says to Hassan  “Where is your slingshot Hazara?... What was it you said? ‘They’ll have to call you One-Eyed Assef’… That was clever. Really clever,” (70). Assef is taunting Hassan before he beats Hassan. This is because Hassan threatened Assef before with a slingshot. However, the use of the word “Hazara” conveys Assef’s derogatory feelings towards Hassan. Assef, being blond, blue-eyed, and a Pashtun, feels himself to be superior to Hassan, which gives him the right to beat Hassan if he wants. Especially because Hassan has already threatened Assef as though they were equals. That is unacceptable to him. Furthermore, Amir’s refusal to help Hassan shows a difference in class. Amir stands in the alley and “watched them close in on the boy [he’d] grown up with, the boy whose harelipped face had been [his] first memory,” (71). Amir does not go to immediately help Hassan. Nor does Amir help his friend at any point in the book. Amir does not feel that Hassan is worth the beating he would receive from Assef for getting involved. When Hosseini describes the scene, he makes sure to highlight how close Amir and Hassan are, that they were each other’s first memory. These are not strangers, or even casual acquaintances. These are close friends, but even the fact that they have grown up together does not change their social standing. Amir will always be Pashtun, and Hassan will always be Hazara. Hosseini uses this scene to show the class structure in Afghanistan. The Pashtun are on top and can do as they please. The Hazaras are the lower class, the servant class, and are punished for that. Through the relationship between Assef and Hassan, Hosseini conveys the importance of social hierarchy in Afghanistan.