the relationship. The friendships of Amir and Hassan, as well as Jamal and Salim are destroyed due to imbalances in the social status of the individuals involved in each relationship. Although the friendships and status divisions among the characters from the book and movie differ in nature, problems in both friendships are caused by the higher status individuals, Amir and Salim, abusing the perceived power they possess in each relationship. Through greed and self importance, Amir and Salim are able to overlook the bonds they share with their lesser status companions and strive for further advancements in their own social climbs.
To ensure the longevity of any friendship, it is of the utmost importance that the commitment of both partners be as similar as possible. Friendships between individuals of unbalanced social statuses will cause the partners to undoubtedly weigh the importance of their relationship differently, causing a variation in commitment to occur. The higher social class of one partner will allow this individual to view their relationship with their lower class acquaintance as being less significant comparative to their own status. In the novel "The Kite Runner," the higher class individual Amir, feels that his relationship with Hassan is trivial and his commitment to Hassan is hardly comparable to that of his partner’s. This is due to Amir’s perception that the relationship holds little significance in comparison to maintaining his own status.
In a a quote from Amir while he and Hassan are being harassed by the neighbourhood tyrant Assef, Amir demonstrates his weak commitment to his relationship with Hassan. Assef had targeted Hassan due to his religious and ethnic background, which are both factors in the lower class position which Hassan holds. Instead of retaliating and defending Assef’s cruel comments, Amir immediately conjures up ways to distance himself from Hassan to prove to Assef that the relationship...