Nigeria and Afghanistan are two very different Nations, on different continents, with different languages, but no matter where you are from everyone grew up somewhere, and kids of every nation grow up the same as everyone else. Growing up in a certain environment can lead to different personalities and traits, kids with an overly controlled childhood can become ignorant of the real world, and kids who grow up spoiled don ‘t learn to do things on their own. In both Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini the main character, Amir and Kambili respectively, both show great development and change over the course of the novels. Both Amir and Kambili change in their self-perception and how they act on it, how they handle themselves and interact with others, and how they utilize faith. Over the course of the novels each character grows up and changes their self-perception, and how they act based on self-perception.
At the beginning of The Kite Runner Amir sees himself as weak, for instance when Haasan is being raped Amir goes through an internal conflict, “I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan, … or I could run. In the end I ran.” (Hosseini 77). This shows how as a child towards the beginning of the novel Amir was a coward who didn ‘t think he could change what was happening in the alley.
It also showed how he saw himself as better than Hassan, how he was selfish for not helping Haasan because he might himself be hurt. Similarly in Purple Hibiscus Kambili sees herself not as an individual but just a figure who followed Papas orders, who couldn ‘t act on her own, this is clearly shown in . . “if there ‘s a god out there, then I hope he has more important things to attend to than my drinking scotch or eating pork.”(Hosseini 18-19). This shows that Amir grew up under the influence of a non-religious man consequently Amir grows to be a non-religious man as well, until he is forced to it by the despair of Sohrab’s suicide attempt.
Amir follows every word of Baba intently, he imitates him, to the best of his ability, and Baba’s apathy for faith carries over causing Amir to not be religious. Each novel shows the coming of age and development of each main character, both displaying how they change in how they see themselves, how they interact with others and the world and how they use and believe in god within their lives. The novels show how the characters develop through very different societies and very different families, but the similarities are common.
