Bildungsroman in American and Iraqi Fiction: A Study in Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and Ali Bader's Papa Sartre

Abstract

Khaled Hosseini wrote The Kite Runner (2003) concentrating on an Afghani developing writer who had his living in the America. It is a fiction work revolving around a disturbed young, jealous boy and the experiences that Amir is shot through, which in a sense alter his nature of personality while living in Afghanistan. This novel demonstrates spiritual growth of the main character. It is about a quest of saving and returning to humanity. This study tries to analyze and evaluate Ali Bader's Papa Sartre (2001) who follows the life story of an Iraqi existential philosopher who stands for the sham intellectuals of 1960s after failed attempt to study in France to get a Doctorate in Philosophy. The Sartre of al-Sadriya tries to mimic Jean-Paul Sartre in his manner of speech, stature, dressing clothes, and even one-eyed face! Thus, the goal of this term paper is to exam and analyze how the protagonist's character, in both novels, developed and formed. Throughout the novel, The Kite Runner, it can be assumed that the protagonist has obtained spiritual and emotional maturity through the concept of loyalty, past, responsibility, and traveling to America believing these are the factors that help the protagonist to relieve himself of his wrongs he committed in his childhood. As far as Ali Bader's Papa Sartre is concerned, readers are met with an anti-hero, The Sartre of al-Sadriya who falls into a world of sensuality and moves from the lab of one woman into another. He spends his money on trivial matters. He presents himself as the philosopher of Arabs, Sartre of Middle East. He lies and he and his friends credit the fake story.