The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini: The Menacing Taliban As A Symbol

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

How the Taliban Affected Afghanistan

• The Taliban prevented women from going to school; "under the Taliban they were barred from attending school and going out to work." "Many rural Afghans have come to trust the Taliban's extensive judicial network over government courts to 'solve disputes in a fair war, without tribal or ethnic bias, or more commonly, without having to pay bribes.'"

Citizens Hiding For Their Lives

Afghans Living in Terror

Brutality of the Taliban

• In the book, many citizens tend to surrender and hide from the Taliban, unlike Malala Yousafzai. Therefore, they often just look at the violence inflicted by the Taliban; no one helps anyone as they are all scared. "The soldiers pulled her up and she slumped again. When they tried to lift her again, she screamed and kicked. It was the cry of a wild animal trying to pry its mangled leg free from the bear trap. Two more Talibs joined in and helped force her into one of the chest-deep holes." "The tall Talib with the black sunglasses walked to the pile of stones they had unloaded from the third truck. The woman in the hole was now a mangled mess of blood and shredded rags." (Hosseini, 269, 271)

Who Are the Taliban?

• The Talibans are shown to expend acute violence on citizens; Malala Yousafzai, a girl that lived in Peshawar, Pakistan, is one of the citizens who has experienced it. "On October 9, 2012, on her way home from school, a man boarded the bus Malala was riding in and demanded to know which girl was Malala. When her friends looked toward Malala, her location was given away. The gunman fired at her, hitting Malala in the left side of her head; the bullet then traveled down her neck. Two other girls were also injured in the attack. A portion of her skull was removed to treat her swelling brain."

• Although the Taliban are terrorists that try to proliferate their religion, they specificially dislike women as they are "comparable to those from the middle ages." "Women have no importance in Taliban eyes unless they are occupied producing children, satisfying male sexual needs or attending to the drudgery of daily housework."

Why Are the Taliban mentioned?

• The Taliban are terrorists that flounder around the Middle East region; "the Taliban emerged in the early 1990s in northern Pakistan following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan."

Example From The Kite Runner

• Khaled Hosseini utilizes the crime of stealing to illuminate the chain of disasters that the Taliban can cause by simply just killing people. The Taliban becomes a harbringer of death and becomes the shadow to people's life to enhance the effect of terrorism on people's lifestyles.

• "People were celebrating at Chaman, at Deh-Mazaing, greeting the Taliban in the streets, climbing their tanks and posing for pictures with them." "There's going to be peace, Inshallah, and happiness and calm. No more rockets, no more killing, no more funerals!" (Hosseini, 213)

What Does This Result In?

• In The Kite Runner, Talibans "drive around looking. Looking and hoping that someone will provoke them. Sooner or later, someone always obliges." Citizens there feel life-threatened and have to obey the laws the Taliban made; "keep your eyes on your feet when the Talibs are near" (Hosseini, 248) hints at the citizens' avoidance to interact with Taliban as they are afraid of risking their lives.

How the Book Hints At Taliban

What Does the Cruelty Symbolize?

• In Khaled Hosseini's historical fiction novel, The Kite Runner, he creates a perception of control and demise by utilizing the Taliban as a symbol. The Taliban becomes a symbol of threat to the world, even though it is just a small tiny organization which is commited to religion; hinting at how the naiveness of humans will lead us to our demise. Furthermore, people should stand up to injustice and help each other as it is the only way humans will be able to survive peacefully. It is only by acknowledging what we have and helping out each other that society can achieve success and happiness.

• "When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness." (Hosseini, 18)

How Is This Ironic?

• The author delineates the Taliban as a symbol of peace by creating a scene where citizens become grateful for the Talibans invasion, getting rid of the Soviet troops; however, this becomes an ironic figure as the Taliban becomes a symbol of dictator, control, and terror instead of peace because they do not only restrict the citizens, but also expend extreme brutality upon them.

Works Cited

• http://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-11451718
• http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26747712
• http://www.cfr.org/afghanistan/taliban-afghanistan/p10551
• http://www.rawa.org/rules.htm
• http://www.biography.com/people/malala-yousafzai-21362253#initial-activism

What Does the Taliban Symbolize?

• Hosseini elucidates the Taliban in his book in order to create a desperation within Afghanistan; furthermore, this is implemented in order to eradicate Amir of his "sheltered" lifestyles under Baba, and in America after he experiences the true cruelty of the world in Afghanistan. Utilizing this form of literacy, Hosseini hints at a sense of naiveness from magnanimous people, illuminating how they should be grateful for their fortune as not everyone is as fortunate as them.

Focus Idea

• The Taliban terrorists in the Middle East correlates to the fear, control, and restriction of the citizens who are living under them. This Prezi exemplifies how characters in The Kite Runner and characters in real life get affected the same way through the fearful terrorism present in the Middle East.

The Menacing Taliban As A Symbol