Graffiti Knight Essay

Graffiti Knight written by Karen Bass gives the reader the opportunity to examine concepts and aspects of the equity and development in global context. Graffiti knight is a narrative of a young boy, by the name of Wilm, who goes on missions with his friends to help proclaim revenge against the soviet union who have wronged him in more than one way. This book thoroughly demonstrates equitability and development issues, by exhibiting hardships of families post World War II living in poverty, racism, and gender rights.

Bass portrays the unequal opportunities that the citizens of Leipzig endure. The author provides an in-depth analysis pertinent to the harsh living conditions within poverty. The lack of equality in opportunities children and adults
encounter, force them to lead a life without basic necessities. Attributes appropriate to poverty are showcased through the children going to work, so they earn enough money for basic needs instead of useless luxuries. In addition to that, people who live in poverty, also live in hunger.“...I ate the sausage without looking up, tore my dark bread into chunks and dropped them into the soup. Ate each soggy bit and tried to pretend it was juicy sausage. My stomach wasn't fooled. And it wasn't full, but I knew better than to ask for more” This shows the high need of food that can fill growling stomachs. The citizens of Germany were ruled by a one-party dictatorship. This led to the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer. This could attribute to Wilm’s current situation. With limited resources and job opportunities, the working middle class would become a minority in terms of aid with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In the story, seeing that the book is set in post World War II, the author illustrates the city being under debris, and many residential areas being demolished by the bombing, causing people to move away or be homeless. Furthermore, the story showcases the absence of medication from drug stores, causing health problems and nourishment deficiencies. Overall, citizens of Leipzig are living in a state of excessive poverty. Racism was a predominant outlier of World War II. Karen Bass greatly showcases the mindset of the citizens back then. Racism leads to unequal rights and responsibilities as the belief is that a particular race/ethnicity is better, higher up of another. In the story, racism is displayed by the Soviet vs German perspective of the book.“The four men surrounded father and pushed him back and forth between them, never letting him fall. “Dirty Nazi” one yelled… The first soldier shouted “you're hiding something. Tell us! He backhanded father” This displays to the reader the injustice and blame being thrown on Wilm’s father, simply because he comes from a German family. Racial propaganda was used to describe this war. Racial propaganda emulates people or a group of people going against another race, solely based on racial stereotypes. There was also an extensive amount racial slurs being thrown throughout the book, consisting of innuendos such as “Nazi.”

Graffiti knight emphasizes the lack of rights and responsibilities women/girls had in 1945.
Gender rights were portrayed to be violated and disobeyed by sexual harassment. “Four of them. I think there were four. Soviet soldiers. I tried to back away. They pushed me to the side… After the first one had finished, I struggled to get away… And the soviet took turns r-ra…” This provides the reader with a sense of quantification. How women are inferior of the soldiers, and how the soviet soldiers take that for granted. One of the morals of the Graffiti Knight was, women shouldn't have to live in fear of men. Wilm’s sister, Anneliese, admitted to being sexually assaulted by 4 soviet officers. Moreover, gang violence was another social issue, as Wilm’s mom was almost assaulted by a group of officers. In the novel, we see Ernst, Anneliese's boyfriend, asking Anneliese why she was at the train station instead of at her home like any other woman. This implies that because women like Anneliese choose to become something more than housewives they are suddenly deserving of sexual harassment or rape. The characters within Graffiti Knight teach the audience how everyone is undeserving of the physical and emotional pain that come with sexual assault. We become aware of the negative physiological impacts victim shaming can
have.

“Peace cannot exist without justice, justice cannot exist without fairness, fairness cannot exist without development, development cannot exist without respect for identity and worth of culture and people” - Rigoberta Menchu
This books shows how the bombings of East Germany were able to steal so much more than the lives of 8 800 000 citizens and military personnel. The bombing left the citizens of Germany in a cycle of despair, misery and poverty, this of which the mass majority of citizens have still not recovered from. History paints the citizens of Germany as people who were able to live luxurious lives during and after the war, the novel Graffiti Knight proves that this is really not the case. The International Business students will incredibly take advantage from reading Graffiti Knight by increasing insight about the global context. Furthermore, it will enlarge their capacity to relate the content to their general surroundings and daily life.