TOPIC 1): Characters who are foils can show what a
society is like.
There are three sets of foil characters in the movie
“The Kite Runner” which illustrate the central themes
of Khaled Hosseini’s novel. They express the structure
of Afghan society. Characters who have contrasting
personalities and are from differing social classes are
shown together to highlight how different ethnic groups
in Afghanistan interacted in the 1980’s.
First of all, Amir is a well-educated young Pashtun boy
who is the son of a wealthy businessman, Baba, whereas
Hassan is an illiterate Hazara boy whose father is a poor
servant at Amir’s house, yet those two characters are
introduced as good friends in the movie. However,
Hassan is portrayed as a friend who backs up his mate all
the time and takes risks for Amir’s wellbeing, but Amir is
not as supportive as Hassan since he often gets jealous of
Hassan for being a good kite runner. Also, Amir doesn’t
respect Hassan’s ideas and opinions. For instance, when
Amir tells his friend the plots of the stories he has
written, Amir is disrespectful and dismissive of Hassan’s
good advice about how to improve the stories. Thus,
Amir tries to show dominance over his friend Hassan,
who always steps back because he is younger, weaker
and poor. Hassan clearly shows his loyalty to Amir by
defending him against Assef and his friends, who are
schoolboy bullies. In spite of these many proofs of loyal
friendship, Amir doesn’t report to an adult when he
secretly sees Assef assaulting Hassan. This suggests that
the friendship of a rich and poor person in that society
worked in one way… for the benefit of the richer person.
When he became a mature adult, Amir realized that
Hassan had been his truest friend in life. Amir had already
moved to the U.S.A. and had become an American
citizen. He lived in safety. He then learned that Hassan
and his wife had died during war in Afghanistan. Amir
decided, for the sake of their childhood friendship, to
rescue Hassan’s son, Sohrab, from the Taliban, as he was
being used by them as a child slave. |Amir changed from
egotistical and disloyal into a true-hearted personality.
He became a real father to Sohrab and fully adopted the
orphaned son of his friend.
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During the childhood of Amir in the movie, he is also
presented as a foil to his father, “Baba”. He frequently
disagrees with his father’s opinions, but the dominant
character in the family, not surprisingly, is the father.
For instance, Baba and Amir discuss whether if drinking
alcohol is a sin or not. Baba tells Amir that the only
sin on the Earth is to steal, and drinking is not one of
them. Although Amir looks like he is not convinced,
Baba’s idea might have modified his son’s life philosophy
afterward because as a young adult Amir drinks alcohol
with his father at an American bar right after his college
graduation, which implies that the father is the moral
authority of the house in Afghanistan who alters other
family members’ life decisions and behaviours.
Amir and Assef are completely contrasting characters
although they are both Pashtun boys. Amir represents
someone who will be successful in the future and not
forget his friendships whereas Assef symbolizes inherent
evilness and aggression. As a teenager, Assef was the
leader of a gang of bullies who used to brutally attack
young children from the minority Hazara group. He stated
that he learned to hate other ethnic groups because
of his father’s teachings at home. Assef continued this
terrible behaviour as an adult in a more horrifying way
by becoming a Taliban leader and running a terrorist
regime where there is no peace, fairness or comfort.
He ended up blinded at the end of the movie, crippled
for life after a victim fought back against him. On the
other hand, Amir discovered his good characteristics.
He worked hard, helped others, and was respectful,
understanding, and courageous in standing up for the
rights of others. Amir followed positive dreams, so life
paid him paid back with a happy and stable adulthood.
Foil characters show us the contractions in a society and
remind us to be aware of the decisions we take in life.
All people are different, but good choices for personal
values help us to face difficulties with courage and bring
us happy futures.
Burak ALANYALIOĞLU
10-C