An important stepping stone in every child's life is when a child makes a vow to be another child's best friend forever. Many girls consolidate this promise by purchasing a necklace with half hearts on it, while boys can engrave their names on trees, but in any case this promise is very important for children to show that they have someone they can trust. In Khaled Hosseini's best-selling novel The Kite Runner, two boys, Hassan and Amir, have a friendship that is not as typical as that of most children. Even though they carve on a tree that they are the “sultans of Kabul” (Hosseini 27), their friendship is weak and one-sided. These kids grew up in Kabul, and while their childhood friendship might seem like something out of a book, complete with pomegranate trees and stories, it was dark and emotionally draining. One of the main reasons for this was the subtle difference between these boys, omitting the differences in character; Hassan is a Hazara and Amir is a Pashtun. For this reason, Afghan society has classified Hassan as an inferior human being and he, together with his father, is in servitude to Amir and his family. Amir's lack of self-confidence throughout the novel hinders his ability to have a true friendship with Hassan. Amir ruins the possibility of friendship between him and Hassan because he is jealous of Hassan, thinks that Hassan is an inferior human being and because of his bitter resentment. An underlying cause of the problems Amir has with his friendship with Hassan is that he is jealous of Hassan; this jealousy leads him to test Hassan and take advantage of Hassan's unwavering loyalty. Amir constantly ridicules and tests Hassan; this only serves to prove that Hassan is inferior to him. Amir confirms this by humiliating Hassan to himself, taking advantage of Hassan's illiteracy to amuse himself: "Well, in my school everyone knows what that means," I said. "Let's see. 'Imbecile.' means smart, intelligent. I will use in a sentence for you. "When it comes to words, Hassan is an imbecile" (29). having to prove, even to himself, that he is smarter than Hassan", is not accepted by his father, so he feels he has to make fun of Hassan to accept himself.