In both Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, literacy and education play key roles. A man's education gives him power and can determine his stature or influence in the community. Literacy gives man a vision of knowledge that can be important. By developing characters with different levels of education, Khaled Hosseini and Harper Lee develop and reinforce the idea that literacy and education are dangerous tools and can mean the difference between life and death. Khaled Hosseini and Harper Lee describe literacy as both helpful and harmful. They also show how ignorance leads to being exploited. Using these ideas they reinforce the idea that education and literacy are dangerous, but necessary tools for survival. The Kite Runner is a novel about Amir's journey through a difficult time in Afghanistan's history. Although he has the ability to read, Hassan does not share his gift, and Hosseini uses this difference between them to show that Hassan's lack of literacy disadvantages him compared to other people, and Amir's proud literacy is one of his only points of strength. At the beginning of the book, Amir explains Hassan's illiteracy by saying that "Hassan was attracted by the mystery of words, seduced by a secret world forbidden to him" (Hosseini 28). Hassan wants to read and Amir is able to feel important because reading makes him feel better than Hassan. Amir has always wanted to have something that separates them, something that makes him special, because he has always been jealous that Baba gives the same treatment to both Hassan and Amir. Reading it finally gives Amir the special gift he can have, that of making him more important than Hassan. Amir's feelings about being important because...... middle of paper ......hed.The Kite Runner shows how illiteracy disadvantages people, but even illiterate people could be educated. To Kill a Mockingbird shows the other side, where literacy may not always be helpful and lack of education is always deadly. The two books show that literacy can be exercised as a tool or can be turned against those who use it. Hosseini shows the useful properties of literacy, while Lee explores its dangers. Together they demonstrate that while literacy is necessary for survival, it must be mastered. If literacy is not mastered, it allows those who use it to benefit. The illiterate and ignorant always lose to the educated, but even literate people could suffer if they were not well educated or not careful. Literacy is necessary for everyone, but education is even more important, because being literate means nothing if you are not educated.