Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” Martin Luther King, Jr.’s statement is proven true in the novels The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. Although these novels are inherently different, the presence of oppression demonstrates that both novels have a more profound connection. The oppression each character faces is caused by their social and religious standings, their circumstances (briefly elaborate?), and ultimately the number of times each character deals with injustice, causing a repetition in the oppression they experience. Ender of Ender’s …show more content…
He must deal with the torment because being a Third is such an unheard of situation in their society. When Card writes, “"You 're a Third, turd. You 've got no rights"” (Card, 17), it demonstrates what Ender must face before he goes to battle school. Being a Third means that Ender is given no rights; even for an extremely intelligent six years old, he is disregarded in most cases because he is a third child that should not have been born. Factors, such as limited rights, play a role in his oppression within his family environment. Clearly, Ender is oppressed because of his social standing, something that he cannot control, and ultimately he suffers because of it.
In The Kite Runner Hassan’s religious standing causes him to be oppressed. Similarly to Ender, Hassan encounters discrimination and injustice because, in Afghan society, Hazaras are thought of as lower class and are often servants to Pashtuns like Amir and his father. Hazaras live very different lives in comparison to the people they serve, one example is their living conditions. “In the eighteen years that [Amir] live[s] in that house, [he steps] into Hassan and Ali 's quarters only a handful of times. When the sun [drops] low behind the hills and [they are] done playing for the day, Hassan and [Amir] [part] ways. [Amir] [goes] past the rosebushes to Baba 's mansion, Hassan to the mud shack where he had been …show more content…
Along with Hassan’s social standing, his loyalty to Amir is what allows him to be oppressed further due to the fact that it is one sided. “"Amir agha won the tournament and [Hassan] [runs] this kite for him. [He runs] it fairly. This is his kite." "A loyal Hazara. Loyal as a dog," Assef said…. "But before [Hassan] sacrifice[s] [himself] for [Amir], think about this: Would [Amir] do the same for [him]?...” (Hosseini, 77). Hassan is put in a situation that tests his loyalty, which unfortunately is unwavering. His loyalty makes him easy to take advantage of, especially while he is so vulnerable, which is exactly what Assef