The Kite Runner (Blog 6)
By: Khaled Hosseini

It was sad for me to see that Sohrad was sexually taken advantage of.  Hassan, his father, experienced the same thing from Assef.  Although this book is fictional, it is disturbing to know that this kind of stuff happens in the real world.  Sohrab explained to Amir that he is left feeling dirty and sinful.  He had been sexually abused, and he was left no longer feeling clean and pure anymore.  Sohrab says he wants his old life back.  He wants his parents, grandmother, and Rahim Kahn to all be back with him again.  His childhood has been torn apart, and he feels alone and hopeless.  Even worse, Sohrab isn't the only child like this.  Afghanistan is so torn by the war at this point in the novel that this situation is common.  It is common for children to be orphans, or not even know where their parents are.  "There are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood" (Hosseini, 318).  This quote is a paradox.  If there are many children, we would think that this automatically means that they all have childhoods.  This quote carries a deeper meaning, though.  It is saying that the many children of the country do not have normal childhoods.  They are often abandoned or orphaned, and they do not get to live happy lives like children should be able to.  This isn't how anyone's childhood should be.  Because of this fact, readers feel much sympathy not just for Sohrab, but all Afghan children.