Since the beginning of civilization, humans have been divided based upon similar qualities such as wealth, aesthetics, and age. These partitions are what social classes are based upon and cause human interaction and relationships to be limited only to those belonging to similar classes. If social rankings are ignored and friendships are formed between individuals of differing social statuses, several problems arise due to the identity associated with each class, manipulating the way individuals treat their partners.
Both the friendship of Khaled Hosseini’s characters Amir and Hassan from the novel "The Kite Runner," and the friendship between the brothers Jamal and Salim of Danny Boyle’s film "Slumdog Millionaire," demonstrate that the societal divide between classes causes friendships between individuals in differing social ranks to be implausible.
Friendships that cross the distinct barriers between social classes are destined to failure, due to issues caused by the higher class individual, whose higher status causes the inequality in the relationship to become prevalent. Due to the differences in social rankings between Amir and Hassan as well as Salim and Jamal, three similar issues arise in both the novel and film due to social inequality. The first issue which comes to light is the blatantly low commitment level that the higher powered individual has invested in the friendship, caused by their opinion that the relationship is disposable and unimportant. Another issue that arises is abuse of the lesser individual due to the higher status individual’s knowledge that they are socially superior to their companion, thus becoming consumed by their own power and title, causing the ensuing abuse.
Lastly, an act of betrayal performed by the higher status partner inflicted upon their lesser counterpart for self-centred reasons causes the detonation of the already unstable friendship to occur, resulting in the termination of ...