Chapter 5

Within chapter 5 of The Kite Runner there are three significant examples of evil. The first event is when Amir recalls a time when he watched as “Assef’s blue eyes glinted with a light not entirely sane and how he grinned, how he grinned, as he pummeled that poor kid unconscious.” (41) Assef is committing Blumenthal’s definition of moral human evil as he is seen intentionally inflicting pain on another human being and according to Amir; he seemed to get pleasure from this action.  Assef’s view on Adolf Hitler is the next example of evil in the novel.  Assef believed he was “A great leader. A man with vision. Ill tell Daoud Khan to remember that is they had let Hitler finish what he started, the world would be a better place now.” (43) Assef is siding with one of the most disgusting men in the world and supporting the unbelievably cruel things that he did to innocent Jewish people. The final act of evil and racism come from Assef when he declares that Pashtuns are the pure Afghans and that his vision is to rid the land of the “flat nosed” Hazara’s like Hassan.