The Kite Runner

I recently started reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, a novel about the bond between two boys and their adventures together while growing up in Afghanistan. The story begins with the narrator, Amir, one of the boys as an adult living in San Francisco, sharing and reminiscing about his childhood living in the Middle East with a boy named Hassan, as Amir's father kept Hassan's father as a servant to take care of the house. The novel shows the importance of family, and the limits a person will push themselves to go in order to help their family members. Honor, pride, humility, and respect, are all important factors of family, and I'm curious if those factors hold greater meaning more so in other countries than the United States? In Afghanistan, Hassan, as a young servant, acts brotherly toward Amir, and helps him to learn the benefits of patience and how words can hold such a powerful meaning. Hassan's loyalty as a friend helps rescue Amir as the local neighborhood bullies instigate fights with them, and he helps to protect his friend. However, I wonder if the importance of family plays a greater role in lower social classes than in higher social classes? The amount of money a family has must come into effect with the opinion on the limits of how far a bond can stretch...whether or not money can buy families protection? Or is the family is strong enough, both physically and mentally, to protect each other? Amir's father is wealthy and well known throughout the city they live in, and having a great many friends, he is capable of doing almost anything for his family and home. He would buy himself cars, his son toys to play with, and he would also treat Hassan and his father with gifts and comforts that the average servant did not experience in Afghanistan. While reading this novel, I continue to grow curious in how loyalty to family has changed over the years, and how other countries perceive the idea of family.