Alienation The two books that have been examined thoroughly are the Kite Runner by Khalid’s Hussein and Parson’s journey by Deborah Ellis. ‘ ‘They called him flat- nosed because of All and Hessian’s characteristic Hazard Mongolia features. ” (Hussein 9) Being alienated from society through poverty and, the minority class, seems to be the most common way that alienation is portrayed. “It was comforting to have a mother taking care of her again too, cooking for her and taking care of her, even though it wasn’t my own mother. (Ellis 1 8)Also the longing for love and affection from one’s family and acceptance from friends s summarized very well in both novels. In both novels the main characters are alienated from their friend or family. Emir from the Kite Runner is foreign from his father’s love, Hosannas is alien to his friend’s love and acceptance, and Hosannas and All are alienated form society for being from a lower cast. In Parson’s journey Varian is longing for her family, acceptance from her friend ASPI and alienated from society because she is a girl.
Both novels distribute a variety of emotions such as being alienated from the love and affection of family, and friends. In the Kite Runner, Emir is alienated from his ether’s love and attention. “If hadn’t seen the doctor pull him out of my wife with my own eyes, I’d never believe he’s my son. ” These are the words of a father for his own son. Baby, Emir’s father has some uncertainty about whether it is his son or not, only because he is nothing like him. Emir is a shy, insecure and, reserved, type of boy who likes to keep to himself. Baby is a respected man, a hero in his county, an over-achiever. Lore has it my father wrestled a black bear in Appalachians with his bare hands. ” On the other hand Emir does not have the courage to even stand up for himself. “I see how they SSH him around, take his toys from him, give him a shove here, a whack there. And you know he never fights back. Never. He just… Drops his head and (Hussein 24) . There is many differences between both of them which continue to tear them apart. Baby was an athletic, competitive boy when he was young and inspires his son to be like him; even with Emir’s best attempts he fails which keeps on widening the gap between them.
Emir tries very hard to get up to his father’s level, but all his attempts fail. The main reason that Emir and Baby are so distant from each other is that Emir does not represent real boy; a real man in his fathers eyes, because Emir has an interest in literature which Baby would never allow for him to peruse, he expects more out of his son. Baby has this mindset that no boy especially his son be interested in such nonsense such as literature. “Real men didn’t read poetry- and gods forbid they should ever write it! It’s not Abs’s fault that his mindset is like that, it’s the condition and mostly the upbringing that he has had. Baby is an over achiever he likes things at their best and why wouldn’t he want his son the same way. Baby tries to get Emir interested in other hobbies UT fail. Emir does not reach to his father level and there seems to remain a gap between them. Looking at the conditions of Afghanistan, it’s not wrong for a father to want his son to be a bit manlier. Afghanistan is a country which is constantly at war, for someone to be not able to protect themselves is just considered a suicide.
People need to have the courage to protect themselves and their families, this is very important especially for a man, who is the breadwinner of the family. The minds of people like Baby are very stereotypical. Abs’s mindset about Emir does not change until they have Ovid to America. He goes from having wealth and a position of power to working a low-paying job at a gas station and living modestly, that is where Abs’s and Amid relationship starts to get better as they have to work together to solve all their problems by themselves.
During those rough times only Emir was there for his father, but still his father disapproved Emir for wanting a future in literature. “l have to find my family. ” (Ellis-1 5) this is parson’s main goal to find her lost family in the wilderness of Afghanistan. Varian has been longing for a mother to take care of her, a sister to fight, tit a little brother to hold, and play with. Due to the war Varian has lost all those close and dear to her. When the war in Afghanistan broke out Varian had to flee with her father as the rest of her family was somewhere else attending a wedding.
Her father died due to lack of nutrition and medical attention. They had been in the desert for weeks, months even because they had no track of the time. After her father’s death, Parson’s main goal was to find the rest of her family, without knowing if they had survived the war or they were dead. On her journey, she met a girl in the same situation. She had been staying at a cabin for god knows how long waiting for her family to come back; waiting for her mother. In the rough conditions of Afghanistan the separation and, loss of family is very cornrow. That is the exact thing that is happening to Varian and her friends.
They are longing for love and affection from an elder figure, which seems to be the hardest to find at this time. “But he’s not my friend! He’s my 44) These are the thoughts Of Emir toward Hosannas, who believes that Emir is his only and true friend. Hosannas was alienated from his childhood friend, Emir. Hosannas was Emir’s reverent son and best friend, they had a unique bond, they have fed from the same breast, grew up together, they were best friend, and half-brothers, but both of them had no idea about this relationship until almost the end of the novel, where only Emir finds out.
But there was still a big difference between them and that was that Emir was a Pasha’s and Hosannas was a Hazard. Hazard is a lower class cast they are known as “mice eating, flat-nosed, load carrying donkeys. ” (Hussein 10) Hosannas was very loyal toward Emir, so was Emir but in some places Emir only thought of Hosannas as only his servant’s son. When Amid friend were around he acted like he did not like Hosannas, despite the fact that they did everything together, from watching movies to playing hide and seek together. There was always the element Of jealousy that Emir had toward Hosannas.
Emir had everything he wanted but the thing he longed for was Abs’s affection which Hosannas got and that made Emir very jealous. “I wished I too had some kind of scar that would beget Abs’s sympathy. It wasn’t fair. Hosannas hadn’t done anything to earn Abs’s affection;” (Hussein 50). Hosannas always came in Emir’s time of need, but when Hosannas was in anger Emir just stood there and watched. When ASPI and his gang were bullying Emir, Hosannas got rid of his fear and stood up to them and protected Emir. Than one day ASPI and his gang cornered Hosannas and raped him Emir just stood there and watched.
There was a part of Emir that wanted to save Hosannas but he could not get rid of his fear also there was one part of his brain thinking if he does not save Hosannas he may be able to get the love and affection he longed for from his father. Emir’s and Abs’s relationship will get stronger. “Maybe Hosannas was the price I had to pay the Iamb I had to slay to in Baby. “(Hussein-82) In reality, Baby would have thought highly of Emir if he had saved Hosannas. His son was not a coward and maybe their relation might have changed instead, Emir thought of betraying Hosannas and getting Baby all to himself.
The idea that Hosannas would not be around to take his father away from him overdrew his feeling he had for Hosannas. At that moment he thought that by not helping Hosannas was the right answer at the moment. After that day Emir and Hessian’s friendship had been lost forever. Varian has been alienated from her childhood and friends, due to the war, avian someone around for a long period of times seem to be the hardest thing. Par-van’s childhood has been stolen from her due to the horrible conditions of Afghanistan. Varian has one friend from her days when she lived with her family, Chassis whom she writes letters to all the time.
But despite her pen pal she has no one to talk to, no friend to play with her and she thinks that is fine because she has a long journey ahead of her and does not want any disturbance. Varian does not like getting attached to anyone, because she knows that it is hard to let go of them and eventually she has to say good-bye. Varian finds a stranded cave in her very rough days; she has not had a good rest in a long time, so she decides to stay in the cave for a couple of days. There she finds a boy named ASPI, “l met a strange creature today. He’s part boy and part wild animal. (Ellis 53) These are the mere thoughts of Varian for ASPI. Throughout the novel we see that Hosannas and All, Hessian’s father are treated badly, only because they are from a different ethnic group, yes there is the element of poverty, and their appearance, but that is not the main reason for the cruelty that they have to face each day. All ND Hosannas are Hazard’s whereas the majority of people are Passions. The Passions are of the Sunnis Muslim religion whereas the Hazard’s are Shih’s. The Passions are the originals of Afghanistan, and practice Islam the way it should be.
In Islam Mohammad (BLAH) was the last messenger as believed by every Sunnis Muslim and they believe that the Hazard’s have twisted their religion and do not practice the faith rightfully. Therefore they are many conflicts between the two ethnic groups. The Hazard’s are treated like dogs, they have no respect, and they even don’t have the courage to raise their voice and end al the torture that is happening to them. “Afghanistan is the land of the Passions. It always has been, and always will be. We are the true Afghans, the pure Afghans, not this flat-nose here.
His people pollute our homeland, our watt. They dirty our blood. ” These are the thoughts of every Pasha’s living in Afghanistan. All and Hosannas have had a rough life they had to endure so much especially Hosannas, because he is young and an easy target. After Hessian’s mother ran away leaving him and his father, when he was only five days old, there was more reason for people to bully him. ” You! The Hazard! ” a older yells out to Hosannas “l knew your mother, did you know that? I knew her real good. I took her from behind the creek over there. (Hussein 7) This is what a soldier on the streets had said to Hosannas. There was nowhere he could go to stop all the bullying. Another reason that All and Hosannas were alienated from the rest of the people in Afghanistan was their appearance. They looked different than the Passions. “Alias face and walk frightened some of the younger children in the neighborhood. “(Hussein 9) Hosannas had a harelip; Alias leg was infected by polio, which gave him a strange walk, also he ad a “congenital paralysis Of his lower facial muscles,” (Hussein 8) a condition that wouldn’t let him smile.
There were many more reasons for All and Hosannas to be out castes by society. Not only were they thought of lower class by strangers, but also by the people they knew, such as Emir who thought of Hosannas as a Hazard and never gave him the respect a friend should have. “Because history isn’t easy to overcome. Neither is religion, In the end I was a Pasha’s and he was a Hazard, was Sunnis and he was Shih’s, and nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing. “(Hussein 27) If this is he way your friend whom you believe in, thinks like, than what more can you expect from strangers.
The conditions of Afghanistan are very bad, especially for girls, and woman. There are strict rules against girls going out in public, without being covered by head to toe, being out on the streets alone and especially crucial about a girl working. Varian is a girl alone in the streets of Afghanistan, if she hadn’t disguised herself as a boy she would have been killed by now or taken away by the Taliban, the terrorist group, ruling over Afghanistan. When asked by one of the men what parson’s name was she plies” Snakes,” giving him her boy -name.
She has to hide her identity for her safety. Woman and girls are treated with such cruelty that it is unimaginable. If Varian had not disguised herself as Snakes she would not have been able to care for her father, or even go out to get herself and her family something to eat. After a girl becomes a woman she is not allowed to leave her home without her, father, older brother, or her husband. If seen she will be punished. Varian became Snakes when her family’s expenses were cut short, and it was hard to survive on the expenses when her fathers school as bombed.
