Convential Values in 1984 and The Kite Runner

Convential Values in 1984 and The Kite Runner

The extent to which conventional values have been challenged in George Orwell’s 1984 and Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner

To say the least, the protagonists in both Orwell’s 1984 and Hosseini’s The Kite Runner exercise and display non-conventional characteristics, actions, and values. Winston Smith’s revolutionary and radical ideas that lead to illegal and highly dangerous activities challenge the futuristic society in Orwell’s 1984 that has oppressed free speech and thought. Likewise, Amir’s peculiar attraction to literature and writing as well as his strong connection and literal brotherhood with the lower class hazara, Hasan, controvert Afaganistan’s strong traditions and societal archetypes that bind citizens in conformity. Orwell and Hosseini both utilize the unique and non-conventional characteristics of Winston and Amir alike to criticize the respective societies and there flaws, whether it be extreme censorship or racial discrimination.
Class discrimination in Afganistan towards members of lower upbringing and religion such as the Hazaras appeals to Hosseini as a focal point of criticism. He challenges the conventional ideal in Afganistan at the time that members of Hazara descent are lowlife, unworthy beings by highlighting the great relationship between Amir and Hasan, a hazara servant boy for Baba. Hasan and Amir “spent entire winters together flying kites, running kites” and “had learned to crawl together”. Hosseini realizes the stark and deep social gash between the two races in Afganistan in writing “In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was a Sunni and he was Shi’a, and nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing” (page 25). He immediately juxtaposes that last statement with “but we were kids who had learned to crawl together, and no history, ethnicity, or religion was going to change that either” (page 25) to emphasize that the Afghani history of ethnic discrimination is irrelevant at a...