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CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This chapter presents two major points. Those are conclusions and suggestions. The conclusions deal with concise explanation on how the figure of
Assef is viewed from Horney’s Psychoanalytic Theory. The suggestions consist of the recommendation for further researches on this topic and for teaching learning
activities which relate to literary works.
A. Conclusions
The figure of Assef in Hosseini’s The Kite Runner fulfils Horney’s Basic Attitude that is Moving against People. He conforms the needs required that
attitude. The needs are the need to be powerful, the need to exploit others, the need to receive recognition and prestige, the need to be admired, the need to reach
personal achievement. Here, the writer describes the figure of Assef in order to illustrate how he is able to fulfill those needs:
Assef is portrayed as a person of Afghan and German origin. He is good- looking. He is the only child of his parents. His parents are described as very rich
people. However, it seems that his parents spoil him too much. Assef likes to read books, especially his mother’s books, which are about Hitler. Alas, Assef is
influenced by the books. Assef is cruel and brutal. During his childhood, he has been famous of his
savagery by the other children in Wazir Akbar Khan. He ever cut a child’s right
68 ear in a fight. He is famous because of his brass knuckles that are hidden behind
his shirt. However, Assef is good at complimenting someone. It is shown when he has conversation with Baba. He performs very smart way to win Baba’s heart.
Assef has huge hatred subjected to Hazaras. He believes that Afghanistan is the land of Pasthuns. He feels disappointed with the existence of Hazaras in
Afghanistan. He cannot accept it. Since he was a child, he has had a dream to make Afghanistan to be a land of Pasthuns. He idolizes Hitler. He adores Hitler so
much that he wants to imitate Hitler’s way in dealing with Jews: he wants to annihilate Hazaras from the land of Afghanistan.
At first, Assef was not a religious person, though he claims experiencing a kind of epiphany. He has got a kind of enlightenment about doing a mission.
Ridiculously, what he means as a mission is to massacre Hazaras and to do many cruel actions, including stoning people to death. Therefore, his claim is just like a
justification for his desires to kill and torture people. Assef’s traits are mixed between eastern culture and western culture. He
shows several characteristics of eastern culture, such as being communal or having tendency to be together with other people. However, he also shows several
characteristics of western culture, such as being individualistic and independent. Assef’s cultural backgrounds influence his personalities. He lives in an
atmosphere that leads him to a man with the characteristics stated above. As a Pasthun, Pakthunwali, a kind of Pasthuns’ moral code, influences him. The ways
people—in this case, because he is a Pasthun who has a high financial level—also
69 influence him. The books he has read, especially those which are about Hitler,
also influence him. Assef fulfills three general ways that Horney identified as ways people
protect themselves against the feeling of being alone in a potentially hostile world. Those are affection; submissiveness; effort to achieve power, prestige, and
possession. Assef believes the reality of the images in their minds. Assef has Hitler as
idealized self-image. Therefore, Assef’s pride is derived from his idealized portrait that is Hitler. He expresses it loudly by doing many cruelties and
massacres. He refers all the hellish actions as media to teach the people. Based on Horney’s Psychoanalytic Social Theory, Assef is a neurotic. He
fulfills Horney’s factors stating someone’s as a neurotic. From the theory, it can be known that Assef becomes a neurotic because he is too obsessed with his
idealized images. The idealized images are Hitler and his view of Afghanistan as the land of Pasthuns. He becomes a neurotic because he cannot accept the gap
between his idelized images and the reality. Assef merges himself to Taliban, a prominent institution in Afghanistan.
Even, he becomes the leader of Taliban. Feist and Feist states that this is how neurotics achieve and protect their pride: to become associated with socially
prominent and prestigious institutions and acquisitions.
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B. Suggestions
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