Based on what we can see through the facts within the story of The Kite Runner above, it can be seen that Hassan is a very loyal and humble servant while
Amir is a bit superior with his dynamic emotion which is frequently hard to control. These traits of both show that the relationship between Amir and Hassan
is between the superior and the inferior or more specifically, among a master and his servant. Amir has ever even said deep down in his heart that Hassan is just an
illiterate Hazara. He thinks that Hassan will never be anything better but a cook. Amir even argues that Hassan should have not critized him Hosseini 32.
These show that Amir tends to show that he has more power than Hassan because of his status as Hassan’s master, as well. Instead, Hassan, however, keeps
showing to Amir his respect because it seems that he has other expectation i.e. to make Amir admitting him as a best friend as it is explained in other following
subchapter.
4.1.2 The Relationship between a Pashtun and a Hazara
Amir is born as a boy from a pure Pahstun family. They live in a prosper environment and are respected by society of Kabul. From all people that have ever
been in Amir’s house within the story, it seems that they are all Pashtuns excluding Hassan and his father, Ali.
Rhorberger and Wood Jr. in Reading and Writing about Novel 20 define characterization as the process by which an author creates character, it is the
devices that he makes the readers to believe a character in the particular type of person he is. According to Murphy 161 -173, there are nine methods by which
the readers can understand the character. Two of them are how the character as seen by others and how the character’s past life is. Furthermore, we can imagine a
figure of a Pashtun man according to Amir’s description of Baba: “Lore has it my father once wrestled a black bear in Baluchistan with his
bare hands… But no one ever doubted the veracity of any story about Baba. And if they did, well, Baba did have those three parallel scars
coursing a jagged path down his back… I have imagined Baba’s wrestling match countless times, even dreamed about it. And in those dreams, I can
never tell Baba from the bear” Hosseini 12 Aside from Amir’s admiration to Baba, what he describes is the right
image of a Pashtun man. He is strong and full of bravery to whatever challenging them. Baba even dares to face a black wild bear without anything in his hands.
Rahim Khan, who is Baba’s closest friend and colleague, refers to him as a Toophan agha which means Mr. Hurricane Hosseini 12. Amir explains more
about Baba that he is a force nature, a towering Pashtun specimen with a thick beard, a wayward crop of curly brown hair as unruly as the man himself, hands
that look capable of uprooting a willow tree and a black glare that would “drop the devil to his knees begging for mercy” Hosseini 12-13. This description of Baba
by Amir becomes really obvious if it is compared with what has been explained by Jamalludin Ahmad and M. Abdul Aziz that the Pashtuns are born soldiers and
display a dash in battle and courage and an utter contempt for death that has become proverbial in the East 37-38.
According to Abrams, characters experience many things that could influence their thoughts, ideas, judgments about life and society 20. He adds that
characters have some characteristics which are similar with human beings’. Amir is capable to become a sort of person similar to Baba. He can show violence. He is
so much in a bad temper when Baba compares him with Hassan who looks having more guts than him. In a conclusion, Amir can also turn into someone who is
really mean, even to his closest friend, especially the one he hates. He can start to show his rudeness and bad tricks anytime he gets angry with someone as a
characteristic of a Pashtun. Further, Amir is also a Sunni Muslim because of his origin as a Pashtun.
There is not much description talking about this issue in the novel but one explanation is quite enough to say how important this issue in Amir’s growing
time, and i.e. perceiving other people around him. Bogardus as quoted in Milner’s Children and Race reasserts that the origins of racial prejudice lay in ‘direct’ and
‘derivative’ personal experiences 22. Direct experiences are explained to involve either physical repulsion due to appearance, smell, habits, living environment or
social behavior. The derivative experiences are the second-hand experience and attitudes culled from friends, relations, public speakers, newspapers, and the like.
Therefore, Amir can be categorized into a child having more derivative experiences because he gets most of his races behaviors from what he sees and
learns in his surroundings. The surroundings can be the neighbor children around Amir namely Assef with other racist children, Amir’s school teacher and Amir’s
late mother’s book. Milner in Children and Race explains that children inhabit social realities
such as the home, the street, the school and the recreation ground with correspondingly few identities 65. Starting from the existence of those social
realities, Milner continues that children absorb an idea of their standing in terms
of qualities, that is, a rudimentary sense of identity. In Amir’s case, the book that he has been reading will make him aware of his position and identity in
Afghanistan society as a Pashtun. Therefore, regarding a Pashtun is superior in the society, it thus can be logically thought that Amir has a big reason and opportunity
to abandon Hassan when Hassan is in need of his assistance. One night, Amir and Hassan go through a military barrack to take their
way from Amir’s house to Cinema Zainab that a soldier shouts to Hassan and calls him the Hazara Hosseini 7. That moment does not only deliver the fact that
people of Afghanistan perceive the Hazaras as a different separated people but also tell the readers that they are usually treated uncivilized. The Pashtuns behave
very rude to the Hazaras. Tate explains that the ranks of servants and laborers
throughout the country are recruited from the Hazaras 15. Once, Amir and Hassan are enjoying their free time near a residential
street and Assef, a son of other wealthy man in Kabul, with his gang come approaching them. At the moment, Assef says a bit expression which concerns
who Hassan is. He says that Amir is bothering him very much. Assef questions that how can Amir talk to a Hazara, play with him, and let him touch Amir
Hosseini 38. Assef addresses Hassan with the term Hazara which means humiliating.
Another proof which shows that Hassan is a low class Hazara comes directly from Amir’s mouth. Amir says that he is both a Pashtun and a Sunni and
on the contrary Hassan is both a Hazara and a Shi’a Hosseini 24. He adds that nothing changes that undeniable fact. Their relationship is somehow blocked both
by their tribal status in the society and Amir’s appraisal as someone living in a higher status regarding the situation among the Pashtun and the Hazara Hosseini
24.
4.1.3 The Relationship between Amir and Hassan as Friends
