Double Consciousness in the Kite Runner and to "julia De Burgos"

Double Consciousness in The Kite Runner and To “Julia de Burgos”

Double consciousness can be presented by a character as a persona which causes a self that is divided. Meaning that a character can have two personalities, one can be his or her own personality and the other one can be seen as their alter ego. Both literary sections have certain characters that preset this double consciousness; Amir and Julia de Burgos. In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and Julia de Burgos’ To “Julia de Burgos”, one can see how both authors present the duality and the double consciousness in the characters.

In The Kite Runner, Amir is the character that most present the double consciousness. In the novel he says his life changed the winter of 1975; this is when the duality becomes, this is when the persona starts to exist in him. The double consciousness is seen when Amir and Hassan start to have problems with their friendship. That winter of 1975, when Amir saw Hassan suffer and be mistreated by Assef and Amir was not capable of helping Hassan, everything in their lifes changes. After this moment is when Amir’s personality changes and becomes more dual.

In the novel, it is easier to analyze the double consciousness of Amir because the reader knows about his life and knows why the duality begins. One can see Amir’s double consciousness when Hassan and Ali are leaving the house because, supposedly, Hassan stole Amir’s watch. The truth is that Amir was the one that put his watch under Hassan’s pillow so Baba could blame Hassan. While Baba is talking to Ali and Hassan, Amir is thinking about if what he did was wrong or right. Amir stares at Hassan and thinks:

I loved him in that moment, loved him more than I’d ever loved anyone, and I wanted to tell them all that I was the snake in the grass, the monster in the lake. I wasn’t worthy of sacrifice; I was a liar, a cheat, and a thief. And I would have told, except that a part of me was glad. Glad that this would all be over with soon. (105)

With this quote one can see how Amir’s feelings change. First he says that he loves them and wishes to tell everyone the truth that it was him the bad one, not Hassan. Despite the fact that Hassan knew that Amir saw him in the alley, he never said anything about it and sacrificed for Amir once more; “Hassan knew. He knew I had betrayed