How Does Hassan Take the Role of a Scapegoat in the Kite Runner?

The Kite Runner

Many stories involving social class contain at least one scapegoat character. Sometimes it is someone in the same class but most often this is a servant or other low class character that in truth no one would normally care about. Hassan is the scapegoat in The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, and suffers greatly. Hassan is a servant and is one of the characters that often gets forgotten in this type of story so he makes a perfect scapegoat.

Hassan and his master’s son, Amir, often spend time playing together and Hassan feels like they are friends. He would do anything for Amir, such as when Amir wins the contest with the kites, Hassan rushes to get the kite to claim victory for Amir. When he gets there, a gang jumps him and say he has to “pay” to get the kite. Amir approaches just as they proceed to rape Hassan. As this happens, Amir turns and leaves instead of defending him according to chapter seven, “In the end, I ran.” (Hosseini 77). When Hassan gets home, it is clear he has a feeling Amir was there and left however they never truly talk about what happened. This is also found in chapter seven, “He closed his mouth, opened it, and closed it again. Took a step back. Wiped his face. And that was as close as Hassan and I ever came to discussing what had happened in the alley.” (Hosseini 78). This is one way he is a scapegoat.

After the rape Amir cannot look at Hassan because of his guilt. Despite this, he makes the situation much worse. Amir does not apologize to Hassan, but instead he gets rid of him. He comes up