Violence And Its Wiews On Adolescence

Violence And Its Effects On Adolescence

The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, is filled with many intriguing concepts. Perhaps the most interesting concept is Amir's adolescence being robbed from him by a violent society. The author uses the story of a young Afghan boy to send a message telling of a world torn apart by chaos. This ideal is evident by the way in which the author describes Amir's life. Early in Amir's life, he experienced the hardship of having to abandon his homeland, the rape of a dear friend, and the sting of racial and violent indifference.

In the beginning of Chapter Ten, Amir is fleeing his homeland. His father felt it was necessary that they leave Afghanistan in order to evade the Taliban. Amir was so upset by this action that his "innards were roiling." This quote clearly shows the affects of stressful situations on a young developing mind. Any young child who would come into confrontation with a situation such as this, would no doubt have a negative affect on the overall mental health of any individual, young or old. You would be hard pressed to find any such psychology based studies that would potentially disprove this notion. Given the current landscape of Afghanistan today, individuals may find it difficult to invision Afghanistan a relatively stable country prior to the Taliban.

As if having to abandon the only home that he had ever known wasn't enough, Amir had previously come into contact with a disturbingly violent situation. Amir's friend and childhood companion, Hassan, was once viciously raped in front of Amir's very eyes! As Amir gazed on in horror to the violent act being committed, he "saw the resignation" in Hassan's face. In that instance, Amir "became what [he] is today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975." The witnessing of the rape forever