7 University, who are trained to be professional teachers. As professional teachers,
they should know that cultural backgrounds of somebody will significantly influence hisher personality development. Briefly, this study provides
understanding for anyone who reads Hosseini’s novels.
E. Definition of Terms
In order to avoid misunderstanding, there are several specific terms in this study that need to be clarified.
1. Afghanistan
In Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture, it is described that Afghanistan is a country in Asia, south west of Turkmenistan and Tajikistan
and north-west of Pakistan; the capital is Kabul; the population in 1989 was 15,814,000. Someone who is from Afghanistan or whose parents from
Afghanistan is called an Afghan 18. In this study, Afghanistan refers to the country where the characters in the
novel, such as Assef, Hassan, Ali, Amir, Baba, and Rahim Khan used to live together. It is a country which was a beautiful country where many festivals,
including kite-fighting festivals, held, but, then, becomes a wretched country where stoning punishment and other cruel rules applied. Afghanistan is the
country that Baba and Amir has left. Afghanistan is the country where Sohrab lives. Meanwhile, Afghans are the people live in Afghanistan. Afghans also refers
to people who come from Afghanistan. Therefore, Assef, Amir, Soraya, Baba, Rahim Khan, Farid, Assef, Hassan, Sohrab, Ali, and Farzana are Afghans.
8
2. Culture
Pikunas states that the term ‘culture’ refers to “the total patterns of people’s way of life seen in terms of artifacts and achievements distinguishing
large but similar societies” 72. King says, “Culture, whether in its material or symbolic form, is an attribute which peoples are said to have” 1. Broom and
Selznick sum up the idea of culture as mainly to ideals of enlightenment and refinement in the realms of learning, morality, and art 55. Further, they explain
that culture includes ways of behaving derived from the whole range of human activity 56.
In this study, culture means customs or habits. Afghanistan culture refers to all the customs, including arts and moral values which exist in Afghanistan, as
well as believed and done by the people Afghans.
3. Personality
Hofstede and Hofstede state, “The personality of an individual, on the other hand, is her or his unique personal set of mental programs that needn’t be
shared with any other human being 5”. In this study, personality means someone’s psychic difference, someone’s
characteristic, or trait. It is about how someone is different from others in terms of ways of thinking and particular factors which lead to certain behaviors and
actions.
9
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
