Stereotypes today

[Eveline M. Bailey]

Khalid Hosseini states in an interview with The Atlantic that the novel has helped create empathy among readers for the plight of Afghanistan and Afghans:

“[T]here’s been awareness of the richness of its culture, its heritage and its history. …I see an opportunity for [nations] to engage with the Muslim world. For example, in Afghanistan, we’re looking at a very young population—over 60 percent of Afghans are under the age of 25. And most of them are not radicalized or have any hopes or desires of becoming radicalized. There are people with energy, vigor, entrepreneurial dreams; people who want to engage the modern world through technology and education, and I hope we move towards a form of engagement with the Muslim world that is more constructive than simply depicting large sections of a billion people under umbrellas that are pejorative.”

Published after 9/11 and the many terror attacks committed against other countries by radical Islamists in the last decade and a half, Hosseini engages as part of a dialogue with fearful, hurting societies wary of any Muslim. Has Hosseini successfully dispelled the stereotypes and misconceptions about Afghans and Afghanistan for his American readers? Explain.

[Todd Thrash]

The book does a good job at giving Americans a closer look into Afghan culture pulling Americans from the stereotypes that may have been developed due to 9/11. This has been done by humanizing them by giving Americans a personal aspect of their lives removing the terrorist stereotype.

[henry.ro...@gmail.com]

I feel that he has exposed that the taliban regime did not represent all of the muslim's, but that the muslim people were held hostage in their own country and killed for not following their strict rules.So I do feel that he has done a wonderful job in dispelling the manipulated view created by the few radicals.

[Joseph Jarrell]

Well, the novel he produced certainly presented enough cultural aspects of Afghanistan to be capable of dispelling the stereotypes of Afghans. However, no matter what is done stereotypes will still exist in societies just because of a few people. Therefore I do not believe he 100% successfully dispelled the stereotypes of Muslim Afghans. 

[Devyn Orozco]

I believe that Hosseini faces the negative stereotypes of Muslims present in western countries, not only through condemning the actions of Islamic radicals, but also by describing the victimhood of the Afghan population during the Soviet and Taliban occupations. Upon Amir's return to Afghanistan, Hosseini notes how the Taliban has manipulated the words of Muhammad in order to justify their cruel actions. Also, Amir describes the American culture present in Afghanistan that he experienced as child; before the takeover of the Taliban, through things like movies. I think that Hosseini successfully portrayed the people of Afghanistan as being troubled, rather than hateful or violent.

[Joseph Jarrell]

A differentiation is made between Muslim Afghans and Taliban to show that they are two completely different sides of middle eastern culture. 

[torie parsons]

Hosseini eliminates the stereotypes by bringing Amir and Baba into the American society he humanizes them. By giving them regular jobs like Baba in the gas station and  the market setting he shows us that they are regular people trying to earn a living and not every Muslim is a terrorist. When Baba ask for Soraya's hand in marriage he allows us to see that Afghani's do still follow their culture even when in another society. Afghani's care about their image, they do not want to be seen as anything except Afghani and will uphold the same standards as they would at home. In Afghanistan with the rise and fall of the Soviets and then the rise of the Taliban shows them as a devastated and lost culture, but by bringing them into the land of opportunity this is proven false, even though their life is full of hardship even here, it is the American dream.

[Morgan Carnish]

The Kite Runner provides a different narrative with Muslim people. Stereotypes are dispelled through the Taliban assumptions. We are given the thought the Taliban are cave dwellers that are poor and living in the desert just roaming around. However, in the Kite Runner the Taliban are very wealthy people that run everything around them. They make the rules and do whatever they want to the environment around them.

[ginny...@gmail.com]

Obviously not. Yes, Hosseini brings Amir and Baba to America, has them live and become the bottom of the social pyramid, has readers feel empathy for them and shows them to be human even through Baba's death. He brings them to a familiar environment in which they live and work and die like American people. However, one cannot pretend that one book will change the overall perception of American racists especially considering that the readers of this book would most likely not hold as biased opinions about Afghans as those who would simply ignore the book. However, the question asks simply for American readers, those that read the book instead of being dismissive and so already have a somewhat "forward" view, at least in relation to their fellow Americans and so there's a higher chance of personal change within the readers however, one still must realize that one book will not "dispel" all stereotypes and misconceptions a person will hold. Kite Runner holds similarities to Things Fall Apart in this aspect. The book sparks the chance for personal change however, it is up to reader to take the spark and feed it. 

[Laney Thornton]

maybe in a way he did, he showed aspects of the culture that can be depicted as less stereotypical and more of humans. but in another way, the stereotypes will always exist just because thats how people are and thats how people classify other people into social groups. amir and baba are a class of their own until they come to america, they are given a job, but it isnt a higher class job. so they arent seen as bad people. but the way that baba still acts, follows that afgan culture he followed before he came to america. 

[ashley.s...@gmail.com]

Hosseini shows the lives past the sterotypes. He shows the real lives of Afghans, the good and the bad. When Amir saw the dead bodies it was almost casual, they get hurt too. having to leave their own country because they need to, not out of want. Some kids born into the the war, not having bad intentions. You cant just blame every single Afghan for some of others choices.

[ashlee cole]

Hosseini dispelled the stereotypes and misconceptions about Afghans and Afghanistan for the American readers by presenting two distinct groups of the Muslim people. The first being like Amir and his family where they are shown as normal, everyday people that the American readers can relate to. The second being the Taliban where they are somewhat like the stereotype many Americans develop seeing the Muslim people as "terrorists" and bad. Although, the stereotypes are still shown he does successfully show a difference where not all Afghan people fit within this description.

[allison alvarez]

I think that Hosseini has successfully dispelled the stereotypes about Afghans and Afghanistan, many people believe muslims to be diffrent and dangerous due to their beliefs but Hosseini paints the life of Hassan and Amir to be not all that diffrent from that of a child in western life, they worry about children things like kites and face the same problems with bullys that kids all around the world know all to well. By his choice in characters he also shows that only very few Afghans are extremest, in the whole novel, we only meet Aseef who aligns with such views and every one else is just trying to live under such strict power. Not only that, but he does all this in a very imformative matter, unlike what many people think, Afghanistan was not always the war ridden place it is today. I think the books allows readers to see the characters as people like themselfs and not some Afghan muslim extremist.

[lance koch]

Throughout the Kite Runner, there is a lot of violence, but there is also a peace and connection that everyone can have with the situations presented throughout the novel. But he does show that the people from Afghanistan want to leave in order to get out of a war torn country and as well have a better place to live for themselves and their future family. However, he also showed how they aren't all okay with the American lifestyle shown when Baba gets into an argument over how he is paying for something, this shows a lack of assimilation into American and not trying to at least change some of the ways they did things before. So he did show that the people from Afghanistan aren't all bad people, and shows how their lives are hard and how they want to have better chances in life, but also shows their lack of want to change their ways from how they did everything before.  

[Kirstyn Gomez]

Hosseini did not successfully dispel the stereotypes and misconception because there will always be those people with many stereotypes about Afghans. Hosseini did however, provide a lot of valid information based off of Afghanistan and the Afghans and their cultural aspects allowing the American readers to understand, but not necessarily change their perspective of their culture.

[Tony Munoz @mexiporean follow me on twitter]

The general stereotype about Muslim peoples and those from the Middle East and much of Eastern Asia is that they're bomb makers and terrorists, and that they are quite barbaric, which stems from the many traditions in the Muslim faith involving women and violence and other things. Those with any knowledge of how the Islamic faith operates knows that the Quran doesn't actually condone violence-- although there are radicalized groups that use the Muslim faith as a guise to commit their crimes. Because of these groups, the Taliban and ISIS, namely, and the negative Western media attention that those groups garner, it has led to a common belief that Muslim people and those of the Islamic faith are all radicals, and that they all wish "death to the West". Hosseini largely changes that by providing a narrative that allows many people to relate to someone of the Muslim faith, something that hasn't been done all too often. It's almost taboo in America and in most of the Western world to sympathize with someone that most people consider a villain. By providing a relatable character, Hosseini humanizes people of the Muslim faith, in the eyes of the West, and shows that Muslim people, despite the generally negative connotation that being Muslim carries with it, are just like us, the "more civilized" West. 

[William Menefee]

The cultural exposure throughout the book likely makes the general public more sympathetic towards the Muslim minority, but also showing the portion of them who are like Assef, it reinforces the deep setted stereotypes that strike fear in most people. A better way to explain this would be that it does tear down the misconceptions about Afganis and their culture, but the book did little to nothing about the stereotypes. It did provide a voice for Afganis, and added more humanized characteristics to their people, but voices like this are not very common in the west, and the stories do not get to the entire population, leading to the continuation of these stereotypes.

[Emma Batte]

due to 9/11, american's have given the afghan's a certain stereotype which includes them being considered all "terrorist" and evil. the novel "the kite runner" gives an inside look by giving american's a in depth look at the afghan culture. 

[Brett Bihm]

I do not believe Hosseini successfully dispelled stereotypes and misconceptions about Afghans and Afghanistan for american readers because in the book they move to America and own a gas station. BAM. stereotype. For real though, overall he does good showing that they have the same wants, needs and cultural ways just like someone in the Melting pot of america. That in Afghanistan there are many different people and many different beliefs and ways of life to go along with each story that could possible be told. However, for american readers he does a good job of dispelling the stereotypes and misconceptions but those components of the world we live in today will not go away.

[Alize Holt]

Amir did a good job of showing different aspects of Afghan culture and how they deal with the taliban or even how the average Afghan is treated by the Taliban in their own country. Proving that not all Afghans, and not all Muslims, fit the stereotype that they have been portrayed as. However, even though we are shown these things i still don’t believe he succeeded in dispelling the stereotypes that are in place because, one has to be open to letting that stereotype go and a lot of people are not open to it, regardless of the information they are given.

[Brittany McWhorter]

Kite runner does successfully dispel some stereotypes and misconceptions about afghans and Afghanistan's, but I feel it wouldn't fully convince every American because there will always be stereotypes. He clearly shows how in Afghanistan Muslims were given the choice, by the Taliban, to either join or die, which isn’t much of a choice at all. When Baba and Amir come to America just to survive it allows one stereotype to be eradicated because you get an insight that not all Muslims come to America just to terrorize. The Kite Runner also shows how different life in Afghanistan due to the class systems, which conveys a sort of sympathy for the Muslim people.    

[Larry Bonvillain]

Yeah, for the most part. I mean, those who read his book should be able to identify and sympathize with the plights of Afghans & Afghanistan, due to how the characters are written in such a way that bares their emotion during their trials, and thus humanizing them. But for Society as a whole? Meh. It may have helped a bit, but not all people in America have read the book, and even if they did, not everyone would really care or for that matter even agree.

[Sarah Kloesel]

The novel did present that there is a similarity between the Americans and Afgans, that everyone is human, just trying to make the best out of the world. However, he presents Amir and Baba who were considered high class in their country, they were perceived as a high society. He demonstrated the struggles that they faced and their flee form Afghanistan hoping for a better life in America. He had Amir go to school and get his degree, going to college, and both Amir and Baba had low paying jobs which could make the reader feel pity towards them due to this bug shift. Hosseini tried to demonstrate that Amir and Baba brought their culture with them to American, which caused Amir to find a wife and want a family. He is demonstrating a normal American life for the 2 refugees. He is making them seem more common and innocent. Demonstrating that not every foreigner comes to American for harm, but a better life then what they were given. With Amir going back to Afghanistan and is showing the war and pain that all his people are in, is also trying to cut a deep connection with the characters and the readers, showing the pain they had to live through and why they would have wanted to move to America. This novel made the readers feel that connection with the characters as well as share their story about the suffering and pain that other countries go through.    

[Gabby Williams]

In a way Hosseini does disspel the stereotypes of Afghanistan and afghans. The book strips away the stereotypes given to Muslims, showing that they aren’t just “terrorists”. Many think of the Afghan culture as poor people who live in bad conditions and such, but in the kite runner Hosseini depicts that Baba and Amir were once once before coming to America. They come to America but still hold their true culture. Once in America, they live and do as Americans. But Hosseini can only dispel so much when it comes to a society like ours. After 9/11 everyone within that certain culture were considered radicals by people who were uneducated and thought they were all a terrorists, which is clearly untrue. Hosseini does dispel these stereotypes in a way but there’s still more work to be done.

[emileean...@gmail.com]

Though I think Hosseini did a good job displaying the cultures of the people of Afghanistan throughout the book, I think it would almost be impossible to dispel ALL stereotypes and misconceptions about Afghans. 9/11 put the stereotype in the American mind that a Muslim looking person might be a terrorist. Hosseini did get to show us that there are two different types of Afghans- those that are actually apart of the Taliban and are out to kill their own and those like Amir and Hassan who have families and do the normal things that people do everyday like go to work. I don't think stereotypes will ever disappear, but he definitely does remind us to not judge a book by it's cover and see that a Muslim looking person doesn't do harm.

[mayraherna...@gmail.com]

I believe Hosseini successfully dispelled the stereotypes and misconceptions about Afghans and Afghanistan for his American readers, by showing and describing more of the Afghan culture and what Americans readers don't tend to realize. He presents the social classes Amir and Baba are in and presents this concept of how they are just like any human being by having a family, etc. When the Taliban invasion occurs it gives them no other choice to leave and to go to America. They start from the bottom  by having to work in insufficient jobs, but eventually work their way up. He shows that the people of Afghanistan are as troubled and would do anything to maintain a regular life rather than being "violent or hostile", which some American readers might have assumed or believed in.

[Abby Cody]

Hosseini has dispelled the stereotypes and misconceptions about Afghans and Afghanistan for his American readers but not completely. By having Amir and Hassan being friends just like anyone in America would having faced issues through life, some more extreme than normal but still having a sense of humanness just like anyone else and Amir and Baba going to America to have a better life and lived like any other American alters perception of stereotypes. However from the notion of the Taliban's overthrowing the country the stereotypes of that spreading to America can still be there for readers based on what they were told throughout life. As a whole they are not categorized as all bad and harful but with beliefs having  grown up to know it is hard to be changed by a story.

[Miraya Mathews]

Hosseini does successfully dispel the stereotypes about Afghanistan and Afghans to American readers. Many Americans are unaware (and sometimes uninterested) in what's going on in the world and their only exposure to news are the monumentally bad events that are broadcast globally, such as terror attacks around the world, or 9/11 which happened close to home. The stereotype labeled on Muslims because of these events have been branded and left alone for so long no one really cares what's happening to them or their country. The Kite Runner shines a light on a people and a culture that many people are unaware of, and shows the Afghan people, and Afghanistan as a whole, in it's most vulnerable state. Americans can empathize and sympathize with them because they've been through the same thing. Hosseini has portrayed a different perspective than the one most people have that shows that instead of Afghan people as terrorists who are set on radicalizing Islam, they are actual people struggling to just survive. 

[Zane Gibson]

Hosseini is successful in some ways at dispelling stereotypes made about Afghanistan and its peoples' culture. His showing a different perspective on how Afghanistan's peoples' culture has changed since the occupation of Russia, the Taliban and after 9/11. We as the reader can sympathize with many of the characters in the novel such as Amir and Sohrab, who go through trials that change them as characters. In this way I believe Hosseini has succeeded in dispelling stereotypes, however, no matter how well described or explained, after 9/11 many Americans became blind with rage, and a common enemy was needed to take the blame, this unfortunately was the Muslim people.

[Katherine Z]

Hosselini successfully defines the differences between certain groups placed on the scale of social herirarchy such as the taliban and the pastune people; however he still allows for stereotyping within the groups he defines as seperate. He clearly shows that Americans find themselves superior to the middle east (for example, the immediate sterotyping based off of racial profiling of Baba in which an American worker assumed Baba to be a thief), then that the Germans believe themselves to be superior (for example, Assef telling both Amir and Hassan he would soon reign control as Hitler had the correct belief that because of race he was superior), then that Pastunes find themselves superior to Hazara (mostly seen through Amir's poor treatment of his "Hazara boy"), with each of these being based off of race. Looking deeper into these, the only reason one group believes itself to be superior to another is because of the racial profiling they give to two groups of people that are NOT connected. Hosselini successfully defines the differences between these groups, but still allows for the taliban to be sterotyped as violent not off of their racial profiling. This allows him to show that sterotypes are made based off of the social heirarchy that defines the political status of the location. He dismisses racial profiling, but allows the taliban to be seen as violent and incorrect as outsiders even though the taliban believed themselves to be superior and their way to be the way. 

[Paisley Fernandez]

I think the Kite Runner helps to dispel stereotypes and misconceptions by putting people in the perspective of not only Afghans/Muslims, but by also allowing the reader to discover that many Afghans before this time period did not practice radical Islam. We especially see this when we discover that many Muslims in Afghanistan do not even fully practice Islam, such as how Baba drinks alcohol. This shows that the picture created for Mulsims after the incident on 9/11 does not depict every Muslim accurately.

[Enjanae Taylor]

I think The Kite Runner is a great story about Afghanistan that goes past the stereotypes of it’s people. As mentioned, most people only know about the poverty, war, and destruction of Afghanistan. The book offers insight on their culture and way of life, while giving the reader an enjoyable storyline to read. It showed the problems of Afghanistan and the struggles unique to it’s characters, while showing struggles that are common to everyone so it was relatable. I believe anyone who reads the novel will have a better idea of what Afghanistan and it’s people is really like afterwards.

[Kirbie Linthicum]

For the most part, Hosseini does successfully dispell the stereotypes and misconceptions about Afghanistan and its culture throughout the novel through character development and description of settings. For example, unlike the stereotype that all Muslims are radicals that support the suppression of educating women Amir's mother was described to be extremely smart with what can be assumed as an open perspective of other cultures as shown by her large collection of history books that discuss the conflicts between Hazaras and Afghans. While also being an educated woman, Amir's mother is characterized to break another common misconception about the treatment of women in Afghan culture. A common stereotype some Americans are led to believe is that women in any Muslim society is to be denied the opportunity and respect from any man; however, Hosseini's description of Amir's mother characterizes her as a very educated public figure who also has the respect from many men for her achievements as a female educator and of royal bloodline. Hosseini further dispels stereotypes about the strict and radicalized culture in Afghanistan through the views of Baba. Unlike the rules that Amir's Islam teacher taught about the sin for drinking, when conversing about the topic with Baba, Baba provides an opposing perspective of sin that radicalism would not support. Baba views that in Islam there is only one sin, the sin to steal. Unlike misconceptions about Islamic culture to have many sins that can never be opposed by any person and must be universally excepted, Hosseini provides a character that has an opposing interpretation of sin.

However, Hosseini does not fully dispel all stereotypes or misconceptions to American readers. The roles of men in Afghanistan are commonly believed to be the head of the household or to have manly qualities that compliment strength or power. Baba is so disappointed with Amir for having a passion in writing rather than in business while in Kabul because it is perceived as a more feminine passion and a career less likely for a male to succeed in to support a family or societal standards for men. 

[sophia....@gmail.com]

I think that The Kite Runner helps give a different more personal perspective of Afghanistan. a child growing up and seeing his town and country as home is very different than an American defining the country because of the wars going on. I think that the novel reminds readers that Afghanistan is a real place with real people who have (or had normal lives. It gives insight to the complexity of an individual's life without the clouded and simple idea of a "war country" which tends to make people forget about people having normal lives and relationships.

[Ashley Diaz]

Hosseini has dispelled stereotypes and misconceptions about Afghans. In the book, there are many occasions where Amir sees dead bodies lying on the street. Hosseini shows that this is the norm for Afghans. Amir was shocked when he saw the body, but others who live in the area didn't react. To them it was like seeing a crack on the street. Hosseini shows that the whole country of Afghanistan isn't against us Americans. They're suffering too, seeing relatives be murdered before their eyes. Discompelling any stereotypes about Afghans. 

[Jessica Trujillo]

I believe that Khalid Hosseini does a good job at displaying the stereotypes and misconceptions about Afghans by showing through the novel that most Afghans were effected negatively by the radical Islamists. Hosseini showed the wealthy who were forced to leave their home or the ones who stayed behind murdered on the street as others walked by. All the different sides and possibilities were seen throughout the novel including the radicals. Therefor, I believe that he dispelled the stereotypes and misconceptions successfully.

[David Ayers]

I think the book does a great job of presenting different ideals of the Afghanistan culture. Hosseini is successful in not only presenting one representation of Afghan culture, he created different variations and different definitions by different people, just like we can look at the United States and see the different cultures and differences in people here, Hosseini is able to do so in his book. For example Hosseini is constantly defining and redefining "a true Afghan" person and what they are or are not supposed to be, this accurately reflects what a group of people would see when they reflect on themselves as to what a true representation of them a whole would be, the group of people would hold different ideals of what is the best representation. For me Hosseini was successful in breaking down some misconceptions I have about the Afghan culture, and I feel like there are many people what if they read "Kite Runner" will have those same misconceptions(or different ones) cleared up.

[Dylan Limas]

Hosseini fairly executes the dispelling of any stereotypes one may have of afghans or Afghanistan culture. In the novel we are able to get a better insight of what really goes on in Afghanistan besides just terrorism or any other invalid assumption one may think. We are able to see how many lives of aghan people are not too different from those in any other country. The stories depicted in the novel show how the people that live in Afghanistan, face similar obstacles to many people around the world. However, I don’t think Hosseini dispells stereotypes of Afghanistan and their people entirely because I feel as if Afghanistan will always be affiliated with terrorism/terrorists because of assumptions people have on it.

[lillian Morales]

The book does a decent job at breaking stereotypes made about all Muslim people and even teaches the reader about how hurtful and destructive racism can actually be. Hosseini gives us a story of just a little boy and his family who has the same emotions and challenges as anyone else despite race, religion, or what they may look like. In the story it's self, it shares how wrong racism can be, in the book we have Assef who talks of Hitler and how he thinks he could of been a great leader but Assef said he himself could be even better and get rid of all the Hazara, this can open the readers eyes to how wrong it is to pick a specific race to exclude and to think they're here to hurt you and the place you live. People are still human even if they have different values or religion and this book lets it's readers on the outside take a look into a family that just wants to have a better life.