The Kite Runner: Friendship And Survival

Friendship is the state of being a friend; association as friends. It is a relationship between two or more individuals that share a mutual bond of trust and liking as well as commitment and personal feelings and experiences, which allows them to benefit from each other. In William Golding’s novel, the boys need to do everything to survive the island, to do this they have to stick together and help each other. Similarly, the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, they needed to stick together and support each other to survive the harsh life in Afghanistan. Both novels, The Lord of the Flies and the Kite Runner both rely on friendships and bonds that hold them together heavily. These novels display friendship and survival by standing up and defending each other, fighting for what is right, and by trusting and respecting each other.

Both novels display friendship and survival by standing up and defending each other. Since the beginning the strong boys bully the weak. The boys bullied the whiny, intellectual Piggy whenever they needed to feel powerful and important. Jack was one of the bullies who bullied Piggy whenever he wanted to. As he bullies him more and more, Ralph have had enough of him and stood up for Piggy and told Jack to stop bullying him so much. Piggy felt really happy when he saw Ralph standing up for him, this shows friendship because Ralph is standing up for Piggy and protecting him from the bully. They had to stand up for each other and protect each other to survive in the island, because if they did not they would just end up killing each other. “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.” (Golding, 202) These lines show how much Piggy and Ralph became really close friends by the end of the book, they realized how they were saved from death on the island, and that when they get back it would never be the same because of everything that happened in the island and their experiences. Piggy and Ralph trusted each other and believed that they would survive the island; they both stood beside each other and defended each other from troubles. In the same way, Hassan was Amir’s loyal friend and servant. They did everything together except go to school. After Hassan’s rape by the bullies, Amir was feeling guilty of not saying anything to him. In a desperate effort, Amir hides his expensive watch among Hassan’s belongings. He accused Hassan for stealing his watch, rather than tells on Amir, and defends himself he lets Amir’s father, Baba, that he stole the watch. Hassan and his father moves away. This type of loyalty shows love to Amir and how much he respects and cares for him. Hassan would rather accept the shame himself. “A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything.” (Hosseini, 24) This quote was directed to everyone in the book and even the readers, if you cannot stand up for you self you cannot stand up for anything unless you try.

Both novels display friendship and survival by fighting for what is right. In Lord of the Flies, Piggy’s glasses are valuable for starting fire and became important possession after the tribe splits. In order to survive in the island, the boys needed fire to warm themselves or either cook food. After the tribe splits Jack wanted to take the glasses away from Piggy in Ralph’s tribe. He ordered his boys to go at night and take his glasses from him in order to build fire. The glasses are significant because they represent the intellectual side of humanity. Piggy’s glasses also represent the hope of being rescued, as well as the characterization of Piggy. His eyesight was weak, and he needed those glasses to see. Even though his eyesight is weak, his insight is very strong. “What you goin’ to do, Ralph? This is jus’ talk without deciding. I want my glasses.” (Golding, 170) This states that Piggy really wanted his glasses back that Jack stole from him. He needed the glasses because it was his object for him to be able to see anything or anyone. They also wanted it back to start a fire for food or either a signal fire so that they would be saved. Similarly, Amir is standing up for what we think is right when he tried to take back Sohrab away from General Sahib, he wanted to take care of him and adopt him. Amir was standing up for Sohrab, and protected him. This shows that he really cared for Hassan and owes him back for the times that he disrespected him and treated him really poorly. “You see, General Sahib, my father slept with his servant’s wife, and she bore him a son named Hassan. Hassan is dead now. That boy sleeping in the other room is Hassan’s son. He’s my nephew. That’s what you tell people when they ask. And one more thing, General Sahib: you will never again refer to him as “a Hazara boy” in my presence. He has a name, and it’s Sohrab.” (Hosseini, 361) What Amir said to General Sahib was moving and teaches everyone to stand up for what is right, Amir protected and cared for Sohrab really deeply and would do anything to owe Hassan back, by doing the best he can to take back Sohrab away from General Sahib.

Both novels display friendship and survival by trusting and respecting each other. Trust and respect are hard things to earn from a person. Trust is the relationship in which one person holds title to a property or assets for the benefit of another person. It is the confident expectation of something; hope. Trust is the bases of leadership, without trust all the boys would not be able to survive. When Ralph trusted the littleuns to work without him or anyone’s guidance, he was showing respect for them that they will work for their goal to survive. But instead of working, the littleuns played around instead which cost Ralph’s trust in them, the littleuns were not to be trusted to be left alone to do work by themselves, they need someone to teach them and tell them what to do, if not they would just play around and not do work. Ralph trusted Jack, but this cost his life and the other boys’ life, for example Jack slapped piggy on the face, and also when Jack raided Ralph’s camp and stole what they had such as food, wood for fire, and especially Piggy’s glasses. Trusting one another is very important if you are trying to survive from something, you need to work together as a team and respect and trust each other. Trust issues were a problem in Lord of the Flies, a lot of people trusted each other but at the end they would just split into another group and steal their old friend’s belongings. Similarly, Amir is really close friends with his servant, Hassan. While Hassan was getting raped with by the neighborhood bullies, Amir had a chance to save Hassan but the way he acted affected their lives which led them to follow two separate paths in life. As years pass by and everyone got older and older, an aged and wise Amir struggled with the choices that he made as a young child that ultimately altered the friendship with Hassan. Hassan really was loyal and trusted Amir a lot even after the incident that Hassan had with the bully, he still loved Amir as a friend. No matter what Amir does, Hassan will still care for him and be his friend no matter what, even if Amir hides his own watch in Hassan’s belongings and accuse him of being a thief, he still cared about Amir. After Hassan died, Amir really felt guilty about what he could have done better for him. “There is a way to be good again” (Hosseini 226) So he decided that he need to repay Hassan back for all the good that he has done for him, even though he knew that nobody could live up to the loyalty and trust that Hassan gave him. Amir loved Hassan and wanted to repay him in as many ways as possible; Hassan would have done anything for him if he was still alive today… “A thousand times over” (Hosseini, 2)

The Lord of the Flies and the Kite Runner, both display friendship and survival by standing up and defending each other, fighting for what is right, and by trusting and respecting each other. Each person in the novel had their own role for standing up for what is right, trusting and respecting each other and also showing a lot of loyalty and love to another person. Both novels showed tremendous loving and friendship, they all needed this for them to survive in the island or the harsh times in Afghanistan. Friendship is a relationship between two individuals that share a mutual bond of trust and liking as well as commitment, personal feelings and experiences, which allows them to benefit from each other. Friendship is in our nature to build relationships with one another. It is a need that can’t be denied nor ignored