More Subjects
Your Name
Instructor Name
Course
Date
Expository Writing: English
Comparison of Two Novels
Literature is a vast field. There is a wide variety of pieces of writing that explore a variety of interesting themes. The pieces of writing that will be explored in this essay are two novels, "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee and "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. The theme of racism is common to both novels. The world has come to a lot of progress and achievements; still, there are many social issues that people are facing every day. Racism has always been a major issue in every society, and it leads to hatred and mistrust among people. The problem of racism is not only common to American society; in fact, it is a grave issue in other societies and communities as well.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
“To Kill a Mockingbird” has been written by Harper Lee in 1940. The issue of racism has been highlighted in this novel. The hypocrisy, prejudices, and conflicts between people on the basis of discrimination and racism are depicted in the story. The ill relation between blacks and whites because of racism and discrimination is shown in this novel. The blacks have always been victims of wars, jails, and crimes in American society. They have always been held responsible for every wrong act or situation. One of the main characters in the novel Atticus says, “As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it, whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.” According to him, it is common in America that the black people are treated ill and unfair by the white people. The whites consider on one else good other than themselves. Therefore, the blacks are always dehumanized by the white Americans on the basis of their race. A terrible injustice is seen in the story that destroys the lives of blacks by the whites. This book provides a deep insight into the concept of racism and is a lesson for society to stop racism and let people live in peace.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
“The Kite Runner” has been written in the year 2003 by Khaled Hosseini, a famous Afghan-American writer. In this novel, theme of racism is presented, but this racism is not of whites and blacks, but of the ethnic groups. The social conflict between the Hazara and the Pashtuns in Afghanistan is presented. The Pashtuns and Hazaras are two different groups having separate social statuses, religious beliefs, physical appearances, and cultural practices. The extreme hatred for other ethnic groups is seen throughout the novel. This hatred is caused by socio-psychological factors and social structural factors. When Amir’s father asks him to become friends with Hassan, Amir shows pride in his ethnic group and says, “I never thought of Hassan and me as friends either. Not in the usual sense anyhow. Because history is not easy to overcome, neither is religion. In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shia and nothing was ever going to change that Nothing.” This shows Amir’s pride and his ill thoughts about the other group. He reflects upon the history of Afghanistan the way it has been delivered or presented to him. He further elaborates that history has taught him not to respect the beliefs and ideas of other groups and put them under shoes. Hassan considers Amir his friend and his brother, but Amir uses him like a servant and mistreats him. The Hazaras are disrespected and are referred to as garbage in Afghanistan. There is no value in the life or blood of a Hazara. When Amir is explained about the murders of Farzana and Hassan as a result of the Taliban rule, the sheer discrimination of ethnic groups is reflected, “The Taliban moved into the house,” Rahim Khan said. “The pretext was that they had evicted a trespasser. Hassan’s and Farzana’s murders were dismissed as a case of self-defense. No one said a word about it. Most of it was fear of the Taliban, I think. But no one was going to risk anything for a pair of Hazara servants.” The racial discrimination in this novel is seen to be causing many psychological and social problems for the people. In terms of group-based principles and standards, the people judge each other, which causes negative impacts on the communities or societies.
Conclusion
Racism has been a common social issue for a long time and is still present in many societies of the world. In both novels, the primary issue is racism that is presented by the authors. The novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” has been challenged for using the racial epithets and has been subject to many campaigns for its removals from public classrooms. “The Kite Runner” has been a very successful novel. It has been appreciated for resonating people who belong to different cultural backgrounds by showing their religious, gender, cultural, and racial gaps.
Works Cited
ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Hosseni, Khaled. Full Text of “The Kite Runner PDF.” 2003, https://archive.org/stream/TheKiteRunnerPDF_201805/The%20Kite%20Runner%20PDF_djvu.txt.
Lee, Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird. p. 149.
More Subjects
Join our mailing list
© All Rights Reserved 2024