From Kabul to KP: The Timeless Burden of Being a Pukhtoon Son as Depicted in The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini

Abstract

This literary study navigates and matches the cultural Psycho-analysis of the father-son relationship as revealed in Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner with the father-son relationship in Pakistani Pukhtoon society. This work sheds light on how parents in Pukhtoon society emotionally distress their children by comparing them with others and how this practice impacts on their cognitive development. The consequences of such comparisons in Pukhtoon society are far more severe than its impact presented in the aforementioned novel. Furthuremore, this study examines the struggles of a child in Pukhtoon society who seeks to win their father’s affection. Such children constantly strive to fulfill their paternal expectations.. This study reveals similarities in the socio-political aspects of the father-son relationship across two different cultures. Throughout human history, men have suffered due to societal assumptions about stereotypical masculine roles, which reflect the timeless nature of social problems. The aim of this work is to academically examine these similarities in father-son relations and to contribute to social change through the power of words. The data were collected from a thorough reading of the original text of the novel and from the author’s social observations within Pukhtoon society. The methodology employed is qualitative narrative analysis of the text to develop a deep understanding of how the novel presents these ideas, interpreting and analyzing the information based on personal human experiences, observations, behavior and emotions in non-quantified form. This groundwork concludes that how parents in Pukhtoon society slowly intoxicate their children by failing to support their individual potentials, instead indulging them in activities for which they have no genuine interest. .

Key words: Socio-political dynamics, Pukhtoon society, emotionally distress, awful, stereotypical masculine roles, intoxicate, individual potentials, indulging.

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20691113