An Analysis Of The Role Behaviors Of Amir And His Father In The Kite Runner

In the year2003, an Afghan-American writer named Khaled Hosseini astonished the world with his debut novel The Kite Runner, which made him the most prestigious "black horse" in American contemporary literary arena. After its publication, The Kite Runner soared to the tops of various authoritative bestseller lists in America, and made the name Khaled Hosseini a new synonym for Afghanistan. The story was set in chaotic Afghanistan between1970and2001, describing the intricate relationship in an Afghan family and all the joys and sorrows in this family. Two of the main characters in the novel, Amir and his father, possesses multiple social roles. The ways they deal with those roles have profound influence on their relationships with each other and with others. Through a thorough analysis of the role behaviors of Amir and his father, this thesis aims to explore the meaning of role behavior to individuals’social relationships, the negative impacts of problems like role strain and role conflict on personal life and development, and the measures on role problems.Besides the introduction and the conclusion, this thesis includes four chapters.The introduction briefly introduces the life experience of Khaled Hosseini, the creating background and the influence of the Kite Runner, reviews the research status of this novel both in China and abroad, and raises the research questions and significances of this thesis.Chapter One gives a detailed introduction to role theory, including its origin, development, and the main role theory concepts used in this thesis. Role expectation is the certain standards of behavior for a role. Role strain comes into being when the role expectation is not met. Normally, each individual plays more than one role in the society, which is called a role set. And when a role player can not meet the expectations of all the roles he plays at the same time, it will lead to role conflict. The society is in continuous development, hence social roles in continuous change. Role transition refers to role players’ continuous change of roles for certain needs. These concepts interrelate with each other, and constitute the basic system of role theory. Chapter Two focuses on the analysis of Amir’s role behavior. Long-term difficulty to meet his father’s role expectation brings Amir serious role strain, which leads to his long-time depression, makes him more introverted, and negatively impacts his friendship with Hassan. Besides, Amir’s role conflict between the role of a friend and the role of a master, also the conflict between the role of a friend and the role of a Pashtun are also discussed in this chapter. Serious role conflicts not just cause great mental stress to Amir, they also disturb his judgment and his sense of right and wrong, which finally lead to his betrayal of Hassan, and put his friendship with Hassan to a tragic end.In Chapter Three, the role behavior of Amir’s father is analyzed in detail. Amir’s father suffers from multiple role conflicts, including the conflicts between being Hassan’s master and being his biological father, between being Ali’s righteous brother and being a loathsome betrayer, and between being an Afghan and being an American. These conflicts not only put him under great mental torment, it also affect his relationship with his son Amir to a large extent.Chapter Four illustrates the settlement of Amir’s and his father’s role problems. After migrating to America, the role expectation of Amir’s father gradually changes, and Amir’s role strain comes to an end. Besides, influence from his good friend Rahim Khan, change of the environment, and Amir’s own efforts help to bring about Amir’s role transition. The conflicting roles turn into one role---the role of a brother. Settlement of the role conflicts finally terminates Amir’s depressed mental state, enables him to face life with a whole new attitude. Mediation of the conflicting roles of Amir’s father brings positive influence on his life.Through the analysis of the role behaviors of Amir and his father, it is revealed that their role behaviors have enormous influences on their social relations, mental states, and personal development. It proves that role behavior is of great meaning to individuals’social relationships and personal developments, role problems like role strain and role conflict have serious negative impact on role players, and that it is of great necessity to solve role problems without delay.