READING CLASS AND BELONGING: A CONFLICT-AND-HYBRIDITY STUDY OF THE KITE RUNNER  

Abstract

This research paper examines how power imbalance and mixed cultural identity shape the lives of the central characters in Hosseini's The Kite Runner. Rather than treating ethnic division as background detail, the paper argues that the novel's Pashtun–Hazara hierarchy is the engine driving its major relationships, betrayals, and reconciliations. The analysis draws on Karl Marx's account of class conflict to map how dominance is built and maintained inside Afghan society, and turns to Bhabha's notion of hybrid identity to explain what happens to individuals who are pulled between two cultural worlds. Two case studies anchor the discussion: Amir, who eventually reconciles his Afghan upbringing with his adopted American life, and Baba, who admires Western values in principle but cannot settle into them in practice. The paper concludes that exposure to a second culture does not affect everyone the same way — for some it becomes a workable, even freeing, blend, while for others it produces lasting unease. The paper closes by suggesting that recognizing these two outcomes can help readers understand their own encounters with unfamiliar cultural environments.