Synthesis Paragraph

 Khaled Hosseini uses diction, description, and characterization in order to show the social struggles of the book Kite Runner. The passage on pages 244-245 is based on the poverty that Afghanistan is now going through after the Taliban take over the nation. This is especially significant because Amir grows up as a considerably rich person in Kabul before evacuating. Amir is especially shocked by the number of beggars crowd the streets of Kabul. At one point his father gives beggars money every time that he left home. However, now no one is rich enough to give away their money and there are too many beggars to possibly even think of making a change. The important thing to note is the emotion of Amir during this time period. His emotions reflect the social issues of Afghanistan because he was there when he was young and he sees everything now that he has returned. His flashbacks serve to compare what once was with what has become his new reality. Through characterization, it is seen that Amir is unsatisfied with what Kabul has become in the passage. In his childhood, Amir grows up with a carefree and playful nature during his time in Kabul with Hassan. However, now even Hassan has gone from Amir’s world and Kabul seems to have left with him. In many ways, Amir sees Kabul and Hassan as one and the same. Hassan represents all of the struggles and challenges of a person wise beyond their years while Kabul itself represents a place of childhood and simplicity. However, both of these things are no longer existent to Amir and he sees that when he reaches Kabul with Fahir. Socially, the book goes in depth about the results that war and poverty have on the general population in Afghanistan. Poverty is demonstrated when Amir is in Kabul and says that, "Rubble and beggars. Everywhere I looked, that was what I saw" (245). In these lines, it is seen that poverty has left the city with a large amount of beggars and poor which need help from an outside source in order to survive. This same quote also demonstrates a little of the effects of war as well. By stating that only rubble and beggars remain, Khaled Hosseini is showing that everything else is wiped out of the city during the war. War leaves people in poverty and children without a stable future and that is shown when Amir says that, " the beggars were mostly children now, thin and grim-faced, some no older than five or six" (245). This shows that the poverty and war has driven children to leave their education in order to help their families survive. He also explains that the children are mostly with their mothers and that shows that they are trying hard to make up for the lost fathers that are not there because of the wars. Overall, Hosseini shows the effects of war and poverty through the use of specific diction as well as thorough description and some characterization.