Religious Extremism and the Representation of Diasporic Identity in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner

Abstract

Khaled Hosseini published The Kite Runner in 2003, two years after 9/11. The novel explores several themes; including diasporic identity and ethnic conflict. This article attempts to analyze how religion, as an institution, guides and shapes these themes. Religion in The Kite Runner manifests itself in two forms. First, the novel depicts the relationship between religion and ethnicity through Pashtun versus Hazare or Sunni versus Shia conflict. Second, the novel depicts the relationship between religion and identity as the protagonist struggles to negotiate between different aspects of his identity in a post-9/11 metropolis. This article contends that the novel leaves almost all of these conflicts unresolved. Except for identity/personal conflict, every religious issue remains unsolved because they operate on a cultural/social scale. These conflicts remain open-ended because the novel’s fictional framework reflects the real world.