Critical Analysis of Kite Runner – Postcolonial Criticism

 

The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini's first novel of the three)

        The Postcolonial Criticism is one of a kind from the other types of criticism. The reason I chose this is that I want to discuss more how the novel connects with the countries which have ever intervened with Afghanistan. Moreover, still intervening with the country in terms of the social condition, culture, and so on. The overall psychology of its inhabitants is also important. Because the former colonizer certainly has caused and left a lasting impact on the colonized country. Therefore, there must be a lot of changes and transformations in Afghanistan in many aspects as a whole. Afghanistan was a formerly colonized country of the British Empire. However, it was a long time ago before the novel was published, and even before the author was born. Afghanistan gained its independence from the British in 1919. Whereas Khaled Hosseini was born in 1965. So, we obviously see the long gap between the two here in which has nothing to do with Khaled and his Kite Runner novel. 

        Nevertheless, even after getting its independence with full sovereignty, Afghanistan never really have the freedom to live in peace without any constant conflicts throughout the country. It is said that Afghanistan was never colonized by any country in which hard to conquer. Yet, the intervention of other countries in Afghanistan has happened over the last century and is still ongoing in the present day. However, we must see the fact that the country itself has various internal conflicts which are indeed difficult to make this country fully live in a peaceful condition. The extremely volatile and unpredictable situation of the country makes the overall environment is hazardous. And we can see those conflicts in the novel as there are many interpretations we can found there. One of which is the discrimination of Pashtun towards the Hazara people. As a minority ethnic in Afghanistan who is socially a lower ethnic than Pashtun, Hazara people have been subjected to severe discrimination. In the novel, Amir also stated that “The the book said that many people had killed the Hazaras, driven them from their lands, burned their homes, and sold their women. The book said part of the reasons Pashtuns had oppressed the Hazaras was that Pashtuns were Sunni Muslims, while Hazaras were Shi’a.” Here, we can see the cruelties of Pashtuns over Hazaras are exaggerated and unreasonable.  

 

Hazara men

Hazara women

        The difference of the Hazaras have as the other branch of ideology believed in Islam cannot be used as an excuse to persecute Hazaras. It shows that Pashtuns have a higher hatred for them than just differences in beliefs of a religion. It can also be seen from Assef’s statement which stated, “Afghanistan is the land of Pashtuns. It always has been, always will be. We are the true Afghans, the pure Afghans, not this Flat-Nose here. His people pollute our homeland, our watan. They dirty our blood.” He made a sweeping, grandiose gesture with his hands. “Afghanistan for Pashtuns, I say. That’s my vision.” That is a serious statement that shows that he meant it and really hates the Hazara people. That’s why decades later, he joins the Taliban which is basically an Islamic radical movement that primarily consists of Pashtuns and therefore, hates the Shi’a Hazaras and Hazaras as a whole. Most Pashtuns also take advantage of Hazaras by made them their servants as we’ve seen in the novel itself. Nevertheless, Baba was treated Ali just fine when the time Ali was a servant in Baba’s house until Ali and Hassan left his home. Yet, the other Pashtuns might not treat well Hazaras as their servants in their homes. One of which is reflected in what Assef has said to Hassan. The passage reads, “A loyal Hazara. Loyal as a dog.” 

The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan from 1979-1989

        Other countries also had intervened in Afghanistan as I mentioned earlier. Russia, or the Soviet Union at that time, is one of those countries that have ever occupied Afghanistan from December 24, 1979, to February 15, 1989, in the Soviet-Afghan War. Nearly thirty-one years ago, in the nine-year wars, the Soviet Union pulled any direct involvement and occupation in Afghanistan. As have mentioned in the passage which reads, “The end, the official end, would come first in 1978 with the communist coup d’etat, and then in December 1979, when Russian tanks would roll into the very same streets where Hassan and I played.” It tells about the coming of the USSR to Afghanistan. And it is told explicitly by the writer, Khaled. The Soviet Union at that time conquered many parts of Afghanistan. Thus, insurgent groups were formed known as Mujahideen and fought the Soviet army which was assisted by the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. It was a nine-year guerilla war and thus, mostly fought in the Afghan countryside. If compared with the novel, there is a sentence that reads, “There were others, in all about a dozen, including Baba and me, sitting with our suitcases between our legs, cramped with these strangers in the tarpaulin-covered cab of an old Russian truck.” Therefore, it tells some Afghans in an old Russian truck including Baba and Amir, which already sacrificed everything in order to flee from Afghanistan. They leave Afghanistan for the US via Pakistan because of the Soviet invasion. Moreover, they left everything behind and only carried two suitcases. The Soviet Union was invaded Afghan not just physical invasion but ideology too since they were communists. And since Baba is a businessman, the risk is greater if they stay in Kabul. Hence, Baba and Amir leave before it’s too late. Millions of Afghans fled the country, mostly to Pakistan and Iran as refugees. However, Baba and Amir chose to flee to the US and experience a culture shock shortly right after they made their residence in the US. What happened in the novel, just the same as Hosseini and his family did when they moved to the US, which is a part of his real depiction.

        At the point where the Soviets invaded the ideology as well. We can see that USSR tried to disperse the communist system and ideology to the Afghan residents. Therefore, The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was formed as the result of the Soviet doctrine. Soviet as the Colonizer in Afghanistan here had been controlled and influenced Afghanistan in many aspects of Afghans life. And so does between the Pashtuns and the Hazaras. The Hazaras' position is actually reversed because they are the Mongolian descendant which its descendants directly originated from the Genghis Khan leadership era. Where the fact that he once expanded his power to many regions and Afghanistan is one of them. His armies arrived in Afghanistan which primarily the Pashtuns, in 1221 and invade it. However, today, the Hazaras have become the colonized ethnicity that receives discrimination from the Pashtuns as the colonizer. Especially now with two existed Islamic radical groups, including the Taliban and ISIS who want to change the country into an Islamic state and hate Hazaras. If things continue like this, there will be no such thing as peace and freedom in the life of Afghanistan and the countries surround it.