The fate of the countries and their people get shaped and influenced by the political, economic and social upheaval taking place within and on the global stage. “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini offers an insight on Afghanistan monarchy during the seventies while “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams gives an overview of the early twentieth century. The essay compares conflicts, suppression and exploitations in the two stories and how the authors have used the characters, their language and mannerisms to reflect the racial tensions and class conflicts.
The literature of “The Kite Runner” and “A Streetcar Named Desire” allow one a better understanding of class conflicts and racial tensions. When making a comparison of the theme or scenes in the two texts, both authors make use of vocabulary, setting’s and characterization to show the conflict between the two characters or classes and how one dominates the other because of their political and social advantage. While the social class issues taken in both texts are from different eras and different settings, they make potent reflections of social class issues and racial conflicts.
In both the novels, the social class issues and tensions develop conflicts and suppression. The authors depict the class difference thorough the mannerisms of the characters or how and where they live or through their mannerism. The conflicts and tensions develop because of the differences in social class. For example, in ““A Streetcar Named Desire” Stanley walks in dressed in a “bowling jacket” and “blue denim work clothes” (Williams 470). Blanche appears wearing a “fluffy bodice necklace and earrings of pearl” (Williams 470). The words like work clothes and bowling jacket contrast with the fluffy bodice and pearl. The class difference is obvious, and Stanley stands for the new industrialized south and the inferior class. Blanche stands for the aristocratic and sophisticated class. Stanley’s slang, the clothes he wears and his job at the steel mill place him in the lower class. The language of each character helps in building ideas of class conflict. While Blanche uses sophisticated language and speaks in a quiet voice, Stanley yells and uses unsophisticated language. Blanche uses of language reflects education while Stanley’s speech is more expressive and showy in his likes and dislikes. In another scene, she describes him to her sister as “He acts like an animal, has an animal’s habits! Eats like one, moves like one, talks like one! There’s even something–sub-human–something not quite to the stage of humanity yet! Yes, something–ape-like about him.” Thus, how Blanche compares Stanley to an animal and an ape, shows the poor impression she carries about him
In “Kite Runner”, the author points to the class difference based on where the characters live. “I went past the rosebushes to Baba’s mansion, Hassan to the mud shack where he had been born” (Hosseini 5). The author is very descriptive when he creates a sense of place. “The sprawling house of marble floors and wide windows. Intricate mosaic tiles, handpicked by Baba in Isfahan, covered the floors of the four bathrooms. Gold-?stitched tapestries, which Baba had bought in Calcutta, lined the walls; crystal chandelier hung from the vaulted ceiling” (Hosseini 3). When he talks about his house built by his father, it is one of the prettiest in all of Kabul. Amir describes the elaborate design and structure that gives an impression of wealth and status. The author is very descriptive when he creates a sense of place. The descriptions place the two characters Amir and Hassan in different class and apart from one another. Although Amir’s and Hassan’s houses were nearby, at the end of the day, each parted ways and went to their homes. One was like a mansion while other was a mud shack. When he talks about his house built by his father, it is one of the prettiest in all of Kabul. Amir describes the elaborate design and structure that gives an impression of wealth and status. However, when he discusses Hassan and his house, the readers get a sense of poverty. “it was spare, clean, dimly lit by a pair of kerosene lamps. There were two mattresses on opposite sides of the room, a worn Herati rug with frayed edges in between” (Hosseini 5). Thus, the social and caste division are clearly developed by the authors in both novels with the help of how the characters dress or speak and where they live. Those social divisions develop the background for tensions and conflicts in the plot of both novels.
In both novels, one finds the politically advantaged group dominating the other and taking advantage of their stronger position. In the play “A Streetcar Named Desire “Blanche stands out for the old aristocratic upper class of the south who is bound by traditions.“She finds herself in an unfamiliar environment that is far from her notions of genteel morality. Stanley represents the predatory working class persists on its vitality and strength which are lacking in the working class. Blanche, represents the fragile south which is crushed by Stanley, the new south. Stanley is used to dominating his wife and treating women like nothing. He refers to them as “You hens cut out that conversation in there” (Williams 48). When blanche turns on the radio, “Stanley crosses to the small white radio and snatches it off the table. With a shouted oath, he tosses the instrument out the window “(Williams 56). On a societal level, male dominance over women in a patriarchal world is confirmed in the play” The streetcar named Desire.” Stanley shows that he has no respect for the women in his life and use of metaphor is seen here as he calls them hen.Blanche presents herself as a proper female who is vulnerable and prefers to act like a damsel in distress and looks at Mitch as the knight in shining armour. Blanche’s actions reveal her as a performer for her gender expression because of her traditional upbringing. Yet, she is propelled to move forward in her life because of her desires and because of those desires she feels conflicted. Her interactions with Mitch demand her to be enticing and entertaining. Through Blanche and Stella, the author emphasizes their reliance on men for identity. The women in the play depend on men for their happiness and reputation. Stella relies on her husband Stanley to fulfil her dreams. Blanche relies on Shep Huntleigh for financial security. The domestic homes where they feel safe and secure become a violent playground. Blanche dislikes Stanley but cannot do much about it because of her situation. When she tells her sister Stella that “In my opinion? You’re married to a madman!”, her sister doesn’t agree with her. Stanley dominates his wife on every aspects and when angry, he seizes her arm and says “Don’t ever talk that way to me! “Pig–Polack–disgusting–vulgar–greasy!”–them kind of words have been on your tongue and your sister’s too much around here! What do you two think you are?” “(Williams 116). Characterization is used here by the authors to bring out the personalities of different characters. In the above line, the actions and dialogues of Stanley shows his demeanour and motivation.
In “Kite Runner”, one finds Hassan suppressed because of his class. He is dominated and bullied by blond, blue-eyed character is of Assef who was born to a German mother and an Afghan father. . His word was the law, and he loved to intimidates the other children. His strong political views and looking at himself as a pure Afghans, not a Flat-Nose, like Hassan. Hassan is often called “flat nosed” because of his characteristic Hazara Mongoloid features. Hazaras were Mogul descendants who little like Chinese people. Amir finds a book on Hazaras history, how they were oppressed by Pashtuns. Hassan is often shouted at by the soldiers-“You! The Hazara! Look at me when I’m talking to you!”. Again one can see the sue of characterization here by the author and how Hassan speaks and his dialogue and actions show his intention to dominate.
The Hazaras were called names like mice eating, load?carrying donkeys and flat nosed. Hassan was also called by those names many times by the children in the neighbourhood. Even Amir was afraid of Assef and if it were not for Hassan, he would have been bullied and beaten by Assef. Economic status, religion, and ethnicity between two communities in Afghanistan have developed tensions and conflicts. Amir states “In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shi’a, and nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing.” Those words carry a finality within them about the rigid class systems that are not going toc change, no matter what. Amir develops his own sense of superiority and a sense of ‘otherness’ of the Hazaras in the Afghan society. The conflict concerning the two classes is evident right from the start.
Rape is a symbol of violence and complete suppression in both the literary texts. Rape in itself is a violent act that shows a complete dominance of the perpetrator over the victim. In both novels, the stronger rapes the weaker and takes advantage of his position in the society.
Stanley signifies the new industrial youth and the lower class. His society is based on force and physical strength. No one questions Stanley’s authority, and he prefers to do what suits him. On a symbolic level, the new industrial age new industrial age South with the rape Blanche suffers. Stanley rapes Blanche inside the Kowalski’s home, and the violence on the streets finds itself within the apartment. The setting of the rape shows that even home is no longer safe for women but is a violent space where men can take advantage of them. The rape taking place in the home add to the emotional trauma of the character. Blanche is not able to protect herself despite being well aware of his predatory advances. She is broken in her final confrontation with Stanley and retreats from the world. When the cathedral bells chime, she says “Those cathedral bells–they’re the only clean thing in the Quarter” (Williams 147). Use of metaphor can be seen here as cathedral bells are placed here to stand for purity. Those words show that Blanche no longer feel clean about herself. In the other story, “The Kite Runner”, Hassan gets raped by Assef. The look and expression of a” lamb” on Hassan’s face when he is being raped shows that he does not want to struggle and has resigned himself to his fate. Personification can be seen here as Hassan has been compared to a lamb to show his helplessness. He is aware of the stronger power of Assef over his weaker class and allows him to rape him.The narrator cannot stop looking at two things amid the garbage, in his memoirs, one is the blue kite, and the other is brown corduroy pants that belong to Hassan thrown on a heap of bricks. The blue kite and brown corduroy pants are used as imagery here to create a reference point for the rape in the mind of Amir. Those images will always remind him of Hassan’s rape.
Hassan’s rape destroys both Hassan’s and Amir’s while in case of Blanche, she suffers and is seen as soiled goods by the patriarchal society and ideology. Hassan masks no resistance to the rape while Blanche does make an effort to face Stanley with a broken bottle end to show that she is not a weaker sex. The positon between Blanche and Stanley and Amir and Hassan are comparable as each of those characters is aware of the class differences set by the society because of their religion, position and economic status. The only difference is that Blanche gets taken advantage of despite here higher status while Hassan suffers for being a Hazara.
To conclude on the above discussion, there is adequate literary evidence in the above two texts to express the class conflicts, social tensions, and dominance in the plot. The authors describe the character, how they speak, where they live and their mannerism to express the differences in their positions and status.
References
Banu., S. Shahira, ” Discrimination, war and redemption in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns” Language In India, vol. 1/no. 1, (2016), pp. 180-192.
Brandon Johnson. ‘A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams’. [2017] freebooksummary < https://freebooksummary.com/a-streetcar-named-desire-by-tennessee-williams-2-41203:> accessed 24 Sep 2018
Dwivedi, Akshay Sharma and Dr Amitabh V.. “Re-reading Khaled Hosseini’s Works: A Revival of the Lost Afghan.” Language In India . vol. 18/no. 41, (2018), pp. 1-13
Free book summary. 2017. ‘Discuss how class conflict is represented in A Streetcar Named Desire’[2017] freebooksummary < https://freebooksummary.com/discuss-how-class-conflict-is-represented-in-a-streetcar-named-desire-a-streetcar-named-desire-by-tennessee-williams-41246) accessed 24 Sep 2018
Naidu, Shabangu M. “The First World’s Third World Expert: Self-Exoticization in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner.” Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies. vol. 3/no. 1, (2015), pp. 40–56.
Panda, Ram Narayan, “Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire: A Study in Sexual/Textual Politics.” IUP Journal of English Studies, vol. 11/no. 2, (2016), pp. 50.
Robert, Rea, “‘Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire: A Global Perspective.” South, vol. 49/no. 2, (2017), pp. 187-209..
Schmitt, Khaled Hosseini, ” The Literature Of War, Credo Reference’.” EBSCOhost, Gale. vol. 3/no. 1, (2015), pp. 40–56.
Silvester, J. Dhivya, “’Reconstruction of a Nation: A Reading of Khaled Hosseini’s Fiction’.” Language In India, vol. 18/no. 6, (2018), pp. 304-317.
Williams, Tennessee, “’ A streetcar named Desire. New York?: New Directions’ .” A New directions paperbook: NDP50. vol. 1/no. 1, (1980), pp. 1-154.
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