Children Clinging to Their Last Coins
How Levi and Ramzi Expose the Inhumanity of Poverty in Attack on Titan
(A Thread)
How Levi and Ramzi Expose the Inhumanity of Poverty in Attack on Titan
(A Thread)
Levi and Ramzi lived on opposite ends but were kindred spirits as “children of the Underground”
While the world celebrates their privilege of being “born into this world," the poor are neglected, seen as inconvenient and told to die just for the petty crime of stealing to get by
While the world celebrates their privilege of being “born into this world," the poor are neglected, seen as inconvenient and told to die just for the petty crime of stealing to get by
The mere fact they HAD to steal and how this connects to their brutal undeserving deaths tells us of the nature of our world and how AoT approaches poverty
“The Rumbling” is the ultimate dehumanization but its also oddly a representation of the most common evil:
The hell of war
“The Rumbling” is the ultimate dehumanization but its also oddly a representation of the most common evil:
The hell of war
Ramzi and his brother Halil spent days scraping by and saving up for their family's welfare, maybe even an escape from their poverty, tried to hold on to hope but they became the victims of the hell of war
The Rumbling crushes them
Now how does his fate connect to Levi?
The Rumbling crushes them
Now how does his fate connect to Levi?
Levi lived in the Underground, a place where the “Walled” of Paradis could throw away criminals, prostitutes, the poor, the “extra mouths” they do not want to feed
Everyone was unwanted and unloved, creating a harsh world where only power ensured survival
Everyone was unwanted and unloved, creating a harsh world where only power ensured survival
This was the world Kenny Ackerman was born into: where all humans were empty flesh
Both grew stronger from their struggles but often not highlighted and sadly ignored is how this is not what the world is meant to be.
Power is glorified as we struggle because we don't have it
Both grew stronger from their struggles but often not highlighted and sadly ignored is how this is not what the world is meant to be.
Power is glorified as we struggle because we don't have it
No Regrets shows AoT's class discourse
Kept from the sun, deprived of freedom
The Underground was an empty world that made them helpless but unlike the surface that built walls to, ironically, bring meaning with social control, the Underground had no unifying meaning but survival
Kept from the sun, deprived of freedom
The Underground was an empty world that made them helpless but unlike the surface that built walls to, ironically, bring meaning with social control, the Underground had no unifying meaning but survival
Like the Underground, Marley’s refugees were ostracized, unaccepted
Both suffer without the freedom to see the sun
As foreigners who can barely communicate with Marleyans, they are even more disadvantaged than ghetto Eldians
Needing documentation, resources to be considered human
Both suffer without the freedom to see the sun
As foreigners who can barely communicate with Marleyans, they are even more disadvantaged than ghetto Eldians
Needing documentation, resources to be considered human
Even their presence signals a crime
As if telling generations those of other color or deprived of means isn't human
As awful as Ymir’s slavery was keeping her from connection
She was convenient
But the world doesn't expect Ramzi to be good and would be better if he was never born
As if telling generations those of other color or deprived of means isn't human
As awful as Ymir’s slavery was keeping her from connection
She was convenient
But the world doesn't expect Ramzi to be good and would be better if he was never born
And their suspicion of him harboring "devil blood" is a continuation of Sgt. Gross' discourse, that even when Eldians are cursed, people make excuses to justify fear and their comfort zones
131 and Ymir's appearance hinted that suspicion be true but does it matter?
A child died
131 and Ymir's appearance hinted that suspicion be true but does it matter?
A child died
Just imagine that child, beaten up for trying to survive in an awful situation no one helped him with, dying for a “justified” genocide of “enemies”
IT contradicts Eren’s love for human dignity when "necessary evil" is justified if it is for others' convenience
IT contradicts Eren’s love for human dignity when "necessary evil" is justified if it is for others' convenience
It reminds us that systemic problems like poverty are never individual matters
“You get yourself out of it"
The kid could only do so by stealing
And the worst part is unlike the racism against Eldians, the refugee discrimination is a more visible yet heavily neglected reality IRL
“You get yourself out of it"
The kid could only do so by stealing
And the worst part is unlike the racism against Eldians, the refugee discrimination is a more visible yet heavily neglected reality IRL
We tell ourselves we progressed but in the end, the Rumbling in Attack on Titan reminds us we sadly continue to look away at children clinging to their last coins
Fearing them on baseless paranoia or not liking uncomfortable realities
Almost as if the Rumbling was made for that
Fearing them on baseless paranoia or not liking uncomfortable realities
Almost as if the Rumbling was made for that
This is why Eren HAD to encounter Ramzi, a child who had it far worse than he did before Shiganshina fell
He saw in Ramzi a soul who could have been proud to be alive
Eren made him feel that for once in his life but Ramzi would not realize the doom the world would bring upon him
He saw in Ramzi a soul who could have been proud to be alive
Eren made him feel that for once in his life but Ramzi would not realize the doom the world would bring upon him
I feel Levi sympathized with the boy right away and knew helping him had to be done
His Underground life reminded him of the cruelty of humanity but fighting the Titans asserted the endless cruelty of forever surviving through violence
Now he saw this life beyond the Walls too
His Underground life reminded him of the cruelty of humanity but fighting the Titans asserted the endless cruelty of forever surviving through violence
Now he saw this life beyond the Walls too
So traumatizing how the Rumbling rendered an already helpless class to nothing, to be forgotten
But its architect Eren will never forget
Pre-fall, kid Eren had a life but Ramzi struggled for it
Was this "just act" on an evil world worth killing the forgotten born into this world?
But its architect Eren will never forget
Pre-fall, kid Eren had a life but Ramzi struggled for it
Was this "just act" on an evil world worth killing the forgotten born into this world?
If a child like Ramzi cannot hope in this hell, if we ignore his death just as we ignored his life, have we really lived up to being human?
The thrown-away, neglected children of the world who are arguably even more helpless than a child who was allowed to dream
END
The thrown-away, neglected children of the world who are arguably even more helpless than a child who was allowed to dream
END
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