Afghanistan translates to "Land of the Afghans" and is a nation with a strong culture, encompassing several subcultures and Islamic traditions. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is the story of a little boy, Amir. He lives in a wealthy neighborhood of Kabul with his father Baba. His best friend, Hassan, is their servant. The book follows Amir's life, showing the problems that arise due to guilt over his turbulent past. The Kite Runner is set mostly in Afghanistan, but the scenes in America highlight the Afghan-American community. The book explores many aspects of Afghan culture, an integral part of Hosseini's background, which influences his writing. This includes the Arabic dialogue, but also the actual plot and character development. Afghan culture is the driving force behind the plot and character decisions in The Kite Runner. Kite fighting is a feature of Afghan culture that influences relationships in the novel. Honor, another cornerstone of Afghan culture, influences the decisions of the book's characters. Finally, ethnic tensions and discrimination within Afghan culture against the Hazara people cause problems for Hassan and Ali, but also Baba's internal conflict over his Hazara son. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Kite fighting is a key cultural element of The Kite Runner that temporarily but drastically improves the relationship between Amir and his father, Baba. In Kabul, schools close for the winter and kids fly kites in their free time. Using glass-coated strings, the kites fly high trying to clip each other. The highlight of this cultural tradition is the kite fighting tournament and the last kite caught is an honorary trophy. Amir tries to win this tournament in hopes of earning the respect of his father, who sees him as excessively passive and defenseless. Before the tournament, Baba says privately that Amir “needs someone who understands him, because God knows I don't. But something about Amir disturbs me in a way I can't express. It's like... If I hadn't seen with my own eyes the doctor take it out of my wife, I would never have believed it was my son” (Hosseini 23). This strained father-son relationship is Amir's predicament, but he sees a temporary but drastic improvement after Amir wins the tournament. Kite fighting is aggressive, ruthless, and winners earn a triumphant and honorable reputation; thus, this important cultural event helps Amir win Baba's favor. Amir says that winning the contest was "the best moment of my twelve years of life, seeing Baba on that roof, finally proud of me" (66). The next part of the tournament, the kite race, is also important. Hassan performs the last blue kite for Amir, which Amir describes as his "key to Baba's heart" (71). For a short period of time after Amir's triumphant victory, Baba begins to spend more time with Amir. As a result of this cultural event, Amir's relationship with his father temporarily improves. The kite fighting ends up destroying the friendship between Hassan and Amir. Amir asks Hassan to run towards the blue kite to keep as a trophy. Hassan smiles as he leaves, saying, "For you, a thousand times!" (67). Amir prefigures that the next time she sees him “smiling cheekily like that will be twenty-six years later, in a faded Polaroid photograph” (67). Only a little later, Amir finds Hassan cornered by Assef and two others, who demand the kite. Hassan holds his ownposition, but Assef then beats and rapes him for refusing to hand over the kite. Amir watches from an alley, discussing his options, saying he had “One last chance to decide who I would be” (77). Amir chooses to run away instead of helping Hassan, a decision that will haunt him for life and triggers a chain of events that completely disrupts the lifestyles of all the characters. Amir knows the reality that the reason was not fear, admitting, "Perhaps Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slaughter, to win Baba" (77). This once again brings us back to the cultural importance of kite fighting and kite racing as honorable and aggressive activities that Amir can use to gain Baba's approval. Winning the tournament was only half the battle, so Amir chose to take his opponent's kite and win over Baba rather than save his best friend from a horrific rape. Amir is unable to live with the guilt, so he loses his friendship with Hassan and ultimately blames Hassan for stealing, forcing Ali, Hassan's father, and Hassan to leave and never be seen by Amir again. This tension with Hassan, in turn, ruins Amir's relationship with Baba once again. Kite fighting is an important cultural aspect of the book that Amir uses to gain Baba's favor but ultimately ruins all of his relationships. The importance of honor in Afghan culture influences Amir and Baba's decisions. Honor is a core value among Afghans that has transcended generations, including that of the characters in The Kite Runner. Baba displays a devotion to his honor, which goes hand in hand with his dignity and public perception. He does this in small ways, such as returning government-issued food stamps once in America, which Amir says "alleviated one of his greatest fears, that an Afghan would see him buying food with charity money" (131 ). The book clearly shows that Afghan-Americans do not stray far from their cultural roots, including their sense of honor. Honor plays a much more significant role in the plot; Amir inflicted injuries on Hassan, and subsequently his own livelihood, without knowing that Hassan was his half-brother. Baba had to hide the fact that he was Hassan's father because having an extramarital affair is considered dishonorable in Afghan culture, as well as a violation of Islamic principles. Even Baba says that stealing is the only sin, including stealing a man's wife, yet he does just that. Years later, Rahim Khan reflected on this, saying: “It was a shameful situation. People would talk. All a man had then, all he was, was his honor, his name…” (223). Baba did not want to ruin his family name, nor lose his honored status in Kabul, by admitting to having an affair or an illegitimate child. The importance of honor in Afghan culture is also highlighted in the entire courtship process of Amir Soraya, General Taheri's daughter. Honor manifests itself particularly in relationships between families. Soraya's background story involves her running away to be with a man. He believes that it is unfair to make just one mistake and that "everyone talks about nang [honor] and namoos [pride]" (164). Soraya feels that she has dishonored her family and even asks Amir if he wants to go through with the marriage after hearing her story. He admits that his pride, his “iftikhar” (165), has been hurt. Amir, just like his father, holds honor in high regard. Baba warns Amir to be careful when courting Soraya because General Taheri “is a Pashtun to the core. Ha nang and namoos” (145). General Taheri obviously believes that honor is also tremendously important,and proves it by warning Amir not to talk to Soraya in public. Finally, when Amir wants to get married, he asks Baba to "go khastegari... ask General Taheri for his daughter's hand" (161) which he previously said was the "honorable thing" (147). Until the wedding, Soraya and Amir had never dated alone, and the only reason they missed the engagement period was Baba's worsening health. Their wedding was also a traditional Afghan wedding with rituals such as the Ayena Masshaf, when the bride and groom admire themselves in the mirror. Honor, a central element of Afghan culture, evidently guides the decisions of all the Afghan characters in The Kite Runner. Discrimination against the Hazara people by the Pashtuns causes difficulties for Ali and Hassan. The Hazaras are a large ethnic minority in Afghanistan, and are said to be descendants of the Mongol Genghis Khan. There are Asian characteristics that differentiate them from the Pashtun majority, and Hazaras are Shia Muslims, while Pashtuns are Sunni. Amir quickly discusses Hassan's ethnic differences, but admits that he knows little about the Hazara people, except that people call them "mouse-eating, flat-nosed, load-carrying donkeys" (9). Assef, the novel's antagonist, tells Hassan that "Afghanistan is the land of the Pashtuns...the real Afghans, the pure Afghans, not this flat nose here" (40). And even after his blatant insult, Hassan still refers to Assef as “Agha,” a title of superiority. Amir notices this and wonders what it must be like to live with “an ingrained sense of one's place in a hierarchy” (40). Amir, despite being friends and living with Hassan, still has his prejudices. He calls Hassan an “illiterate Hazara” (34) after Hassan identifies a plot hole in Amir's story. Hassan and Ali are both tormented, degraded and humiliated because of their ethnicity not only by strangers but by Amir. They are seen as inferior and this complex attitude plays an important role in the most crucial scene of the plot: Hassan's rape and Amir's inaction. Moments before raping Hassan, Assef tries to exploit Amir's ethnic prejudices and the awkwardness of Amir and Hassan's agreement by asking, “Would he [Amir] do the same for you [Hassan]? Have you ever wondered why he never includes you in the games when he has guests? Why does he only play with you when no one else is around? I'll tell you why, Hazara. Because to him you are nothing more than an ugly pet” (72). Later, after Amir fails to stop the rape, Amir says to himself, "He was just a Hazara, wasn't he?" (77). Amir justifies not intervening or preventing Hassan's rape with several things. As discussed above, he says he was scared but admits his ulterior motive: to gain Baba's approval. Upon further reflection, however, he rationalizes his inaction by calling his best friend “merely a Hazara,” something intrinsically inferior and therefore expendable. In the end Hassan is Amir's servant, but he is also Baba's. Furthermore, and unbeknownst to the children, he is Baba's other son. Baba's internal conflict over his illegitimate son is partly caused by the Pashtun-Hazara ethnic divide. Amir and Hassan cannot show their friendship in public. After winning the tournament, Amir and Hassan hug but stop when they notice Baba motioning for them to let go. Amir describes this, saying, “But he was doing something now, making urgent hand gestures. Then I understood. 'Hassan we-' 'I know,' he said, breaking our embrace” (66). Amir and Hassan should not publicly display affection, friendliness or brotherhood because, in their culture, it would be inappropriate for a Hazara servant to have such a close relationship with his Pashtun master. For the same reason, Baba cannot show,.