In both The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini uses the official modern-day language of Afghanistan, Iran, and Tajikistan Farsi. The use of Farsi in The Kite Runner partially distances the reader from the sensitive topics that appear as well as ostracising the Western readers from having a full understanding of the tumultuous events of Amir's life in Afghanistan. Hosseini seemingly does this to emphasize the lack of relatability with other countries. However, it is arguable that the narrative is also guided by betrayal, corruption, and family trauma which is not bound by cultural values but can be felt by all irrespective of personal cultural normalities or language. Similarly in A Thousand Splendid Suns Hosseini uses Farsi to highlight the cultural nuances of Afghanistan and the differences in cultural norms and beliefs with Western countries. The use of the Farsi language allows for different interpretations of relationships, such as the relationship between Mariam and her mother in A Thousand Splendid Suns and the extent to which it is forged on fear or respect, meaning the story and characters can develop differently with each reader. Discounting language distance is also likely to be naturally occurring within each novel as Hosseini didn't experience Taliban Afghanistan as he and his family were able to escape when Hosseini was 15 and didn't return, much like Amir in The Kite Runner, until he was much older. Hosseini later explains the guilt he felt as a survivor during the Soviet invasion and following wars. His feelings of guilt allow him to use guilt as a strong emotion within each novel. While Hosseini in both The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns uses language to distance the reader from some aspects of Afghanistan culture, arguably, the Farsi language can also allow a deeper more accurate depiction of the Afghanistani society regarding cultural references which appear to span boundaries such as jinn relating to the supernatural creature believed by Mariam to enter her mother's body when in reality she is having a seizure.
In The Kite Runner Hosseini uses the realm of time to streamline Amir's story. The reader is initially distanced from the story as Hosseini starts 'I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975'. This pathetic fallacy highlights the severity of the experience and likely refers to how desensitized he has become after carrying this burden for so long. Arguably Hosseini creates an ominous nature of Amir distancing us from his character and his story. As suggested 'Hosseini's sequences of events and the handling of time generates suspense' (O'Kelly). There is little suspense created as the change in time is quite swift and flows with the momentum of the novel however it is arguable that suspense is created in the fact we are curious as to what the relevance of his new life is to his past in Afghanistan. Furthermore, the jump in time towards the middle of the book allows us to see Amir's growth and development as a character outside of Afghani culture as he becomes immersed in American culture. However, he still holds the essence of Afghanistani morality by upholding customs and traditions such as the want to carry out the 'shrine-kori' during the engagement period, 'chills' wedding bands and 'namaz' prayers, the use of the Farsi language may confuse readers meaning they have to grasp meaning from the rest of the sentence allowing for meaning to be lost in the language barrier. This disjointed understanding and meaning are similar to a child as a developing reader, not having the depth of knowledge required to understand Hosseini fully but as the book develops a greater understanding is forged between the reader and the language used by Hosseini. This may distance some readers from Amir as the collaboration of both Afghanistan and America may appear contrasting however as a more modern reader in the multi-faith, multi-cultural society that is developing today we can understand the transition Amir is making and relate it to our own experiences. Contrastingly an Afghanistani reader or someone who has migrated to another country reading this book will be able to understand and relate to the difficulty of Amir's situation in moving to a foreign country. This could potentially create a bond between the reader and Amir. Similarly with the introduction of Laila 'Nine year-old Laila rose from bed' in A Thousand Splendid Suns and the other children in the area we can see a stark contrast between pre-Taliban Afghanistan and the current Afghanistan with the Taliban government restricting the girls and women massively. A large part of both Laila and Mariam's lives is being controlled by the Taliban government and their husband Rasheed. Under Taliban rule it was stated that women were forbidden from working and leaving their homes without a man 'They chop off hands for stealing bread...what do you think they'll do when they find a dead husband and two missing wives' evidencing the severity of consequences and prosecution for minor crimes causing fear for those extreme crimes that are becoming necessary for both Laila and Mariam. Furthermore, Women were required to wear burqas and were denied formal education. This cultural decline can be seen downwardly spiraling throughout the book as when Mariam was a child she had the desire to go to school but was limited due to the abuse from her Mother. Whereas the women and girls in the later period of the book are void of the option completely and must be submissive to men 'In Rasheed eyes she saw murder for them both' clearly in fear of death. The imagery of Rasheed's eyes is symbolic of the window to his soul. This could show his evil and power-hungry nature in dominating women. Alternatively, within Rasheed's eyes, we could see the reflection of the Taliban regime and how it corrupts those stricken by pain and uses Rasheed as a tool representing the worst effects of the Taliban government furthermore Rasheed's character could be used as a device to encapsulate everything that the Taliban stood for and the expectations of men within the regime. However, it is questionable whether Hosseini would have had the ability to connect us to a character during the Taliban government as mentioned previously he was able to escape before Afghanistan was entirely assimilated by Taliban rule meaning he may not have had the extent of knowledge to emotionally connect the reader to these characters automatically distancing us due to an incomplete understanding lacking depth and experience.
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Furthermore, these women are raped, abused, and completely exploited by Rasheeds 'painful acts of perversity'.The plosive 'p' sounds paired with the alliteration create a sense of casual normality highlighting the commonplace that assault and rape had in Afghanistan. The rape culture in Taliban-governed Afghanistan was, although not widely spoken, widely accepted throughout society. Moreover, a similar acceptance and disregard for rape culture can be seen in The Kite Runner with the repeated theme of 'bacha bazi' - sexual abuse between older men and a young adolescent 'dancing boys'. This abuse was often connected to sexual slavery and child prostitution. Although this was illegal under the Taliban government, punishments were rarely enforced due to powerful warlords being involved and policemen being connivant. Even though these crimes were exposed by Hosseini in The Kite Runner, further international pressure was needed for any action to be taken. This darker aspect of Afghani culture transverses generational boundaries seeing firstly Hassan was raped and later his son seemingly trapped by the same man and exploited by him as well as his comrades in this perverse relationship he had been forced into. The blatantly obvious references and depicted images of rape may distance the reader due to the sensitivity of the topic possibly causing unease when reading. 'He kissed the side of Sohrab's neck. The boy flinched a little' The uncomfortable intimacy of Sohrab's abuser Assef creates emotions of anger and absurdity for the reader as we are now aware that this is the same man who raped Hassan when they were boys. Mariam's mother and Rasheed constantly bombard her with the idea that she is a 'harami' - referring to an illegitimate child, born with guilt and into a low position in society- continuously invalidating her emotionally. 'harami' is embedded into her existence throughout the narrative' (Hinchcliffe) suggesting that Mariam evolves her persona around being told she is a 'harami', many western readers may be confused by why she is so affected by this as we don't understand the weight this term carries. 'Hosseini chooses not to use the English term 'bastard', keeping the gravity of 'harami' as an experience unique to its context' (Hinchcliffe) Hinchcliffe here suggests that Hosseini keeps the term harami to retain the cultural meaning behind the word and that it can completely entrap Mariam.
Assef is presented continuously as a tyrannical dominating figure preying on the weak and dictating those around him. This predatory nature is emphasized when Sohrab is likened to a 'slaughter sheep's eyes'. The imagery of the sheep reminds Amir of his father and the tradition of killing the sheep at the end of Ramadan and the beginning of Eid.'Apply mascara to the eyes of the sheep and feed it a cube of sugar before slicing its throat. The association of Sohrab's abusive imprisonment with such a happy time in Muslim culture would likely be deeply distressing to Amir, furthermore, the readers of the Muslim faith will understand the significance and importance of the celebration of Eid. The reference to sheep is arguably part of Hosseini's attempt to highlight Sohrab's powerlessness over his imminent abuse, Sohrab has become accustomed to the abuse from Assef and no longer fights against him. The 'cube of sugar' is seemingly of clear reference to Sohrab's innocence, sweetening the prey before attacking. This sheep motif can be seen earlier in the book upon Hassan's rape by Assef. 'Hassan didn't struggle. Didn't even whimper. He moved his head slightly and I caught a glimpse of his face. Saw the resignation in it. It was a look I had seen before. It was the look of the lamb'.The emphasis on Hassan's face and the apparent resignation on it when he realizes his fate implies that he has become accustomed to being subservient while growing up in a kind household. Hassan wasn't naive to the history of persecution of Hazaras which is evident here. Amir's description of Hassan has obvious religious implications of the sacrificial lamb, often for the greater good. Hassan has accepted his fate and knows by this point that Amir isn't going to intervene and protect him as he would for him. This event is the catalyst for a large shift in the relationship between Hassan and Amir, ultimately leading to Sohrab's rape creating an irony that this cycle rape and submissiveness of both Hassan and Sohrab can only be broken by Amir's intervention although stagnated. Arguably Hosseini can create a closeness with the reader rather than distance due to the Afghani culture seen in the generational parallel, the reader feels relieved that Amir is doing what he should have done in 1975 in having some courage and saving Sohrab. This parallel had been foreshadowing since the start of Amir's story 'the past claws its way out' in which Amir is confronting the long-oppressed memory of ignoring how his actions affected Hassan. The rescuing of Sohrab is the past re-emerging for Amir to finally face.
Religion and morality are a key underpinning of each novel. The strength of Amir's religion spans throughout his culture and tangles with American culture upon fleeing Afghanistan. His morality is constantly put into question most prominently when Amir 'turned away from the alley' he was aware that he 'was a coward... aspired to cowardice'. Amir makes it clear that he is turning away from Hassan to try to win his father over. 'Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba'. The reader will likely feel distance immediately from Amir because of his disregard for Hassan, this is when our moral compass and empathy comes into play. We, as readers, no matter our culture will understand that Amir made the wrong choice because these are basic human emotions that bind us as citizens of the world rather than separated within our own culture we can realize that these explored emotions transcend cultural and linguistic boundaries meaning arguably there are more features of The Kite Runner which ultimately unites the reader with the characters rather than distancing them, especially as we can see how much more value Hassan attributes to Amir with the repeated phrase 'for you a thousand times over' playing in our minds throughout the novel. This aspect of the book shows that irrespective of culture or language we can still be equally distanced as we can each see Amir's lack of courage and extreme selfishness toward Hassan. Furthermore, Hosseini draws attention to Amir's cowardice and selfishness with 'aspired to cowardice' the italicism of aspired creates a hyperbole and focuses the reader's attention specifically on this aspiration. The juxtaposition within this phrase will again confuse the reader and force a state of comprehension allowing the reader to take more time in apprehending Amir's foolish decision. This period of stagnation within the novel 'Was it a fair price? The answer floated to my conscious mind before I could thwart it' is a useful technique in enticing the reader further into the character's thoughts, the lack of fluidity and somewhat slow and mundane thought process as insinuated by 'floated' giving a lack of urgency or care because 'he was just a Hazara' allowing the reader to forge an opinion on Amir. Religion is a theme that maintains prevalence throughout the novel and is also a large factor behind Baba's morals 'There is only one sin. And that is theft: When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth' The persistent emphasis on sin and theft becomes ingrained into Amir as he begins to create his moral compass, his whole life becomes aimed toward pleasing his Father and having his love. This is shattered upon Amir's realization that Baba is Hassan's father 'I felt like a man sliding down a cliff, clutching at shrubs and tangles of brambles and coming up empty-handed'. This simile emphasizes Amir's confusion and lack of belief during this turbulent period in his life now faced with the task of finding and saving Sohrab, this simile's use of shrubs and brambles depicts an image of desperation amounting to worthlessness within nature highlighting the need for him to accept his fate. As a result, Baba's image of perfection is corrupted by his sin 'I've just found out my whole life is one big fucking lie!' Amir now has to come to terms with a new man. The expletives in his response personify his anger and distrust further, this confusion will affect readers differently depending on personal experience therefore this becomes subjective. On one hand, a reader may form a deeper bond with Amir as a character whereas on the other hand, a reader may not have any experience in such a life-altering moment so may feel distanced from Amir and unable to empathize with his situation. Baba's focus on the theft can be interpreted as ironic in regards to Amir's life, theft in Baba's eyes was the ultimate sin when in reality he stole Amir's childhood, he stole Ali's right to be a father, and Hassan's right to the truth. Further reinforcing his corruption as he is now painted as a hypocrite. This corrupted fatherly image is also evident within A Thousand Splendid Suns with Mariam's father Jalil 'he betrayed us, your beloved father: he did it happily'. Jalil abandoned Mariam and her mother in favor of his other wives and children whereas Baba always stuck by Hassan even if he wasn't aware of the truth. However a more positive fatherly image and the figure could be taken from Mullah Faizullah, he is not only Mariam's teacher of prayer but also becomes the only true emotional support throughout the grief of her mother. During this period of grief, we are reinforced with the underlying theme of religion. 'He (Allah) does not approve of the taking of life'. The persistent reference to religion can distance and ostracise the reader from Mariam's guilt and grief meaning there may be a lack of emotional connection and sympathy between the reader and Mariam. The apparent disapproval of Allah invalidates Mariam's grief and even distances her from Mullah Faizullah.
It becomes evident throughout each novel that Hosseini's varied use of language both distances and draws the reader closer to the characters. Hosseini's use of cultural nuances provides a fuller, more authentic picture of Afghanistan. This authenticity distances readers who have a lack of understanding about this culture but in turn, creates closeness with those who connect with Afghanistan culture. A distanced interpretation of both novels gives the reader space to gain knowledge of Afghanistan and its history whereas those with existing knowledge can deepen it upon reading these novels whether that be in a reminiscent nature or a historical one. These novels, though dramatized, have common themes of religion, assault, and politics which were commonplace during the Taliban reign. To conclude Hosseini's use of language and culture capture the reader's attention from the start whether through distance or otherwise.
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