Social Justice In City Of Thieves: Written By David Benioff

Tayari Jones wrote, “I don't mind expressing my opinions and speaking out against injustice. I would be doing this even if I wasn't a writer. I grew up in a household that believed in social justice. I have always understood myself as having an obligation to stand on the side of the silenced, the oppressed, and the mistreated”. The novel, City of Thieves written by David Benioff demonstrates compelling consequences faced when a social injustice is present in a given society. City of Thieves is based off of World War II, in a society where people are mistreated for a variety of reasons. German soldiers take advantage of innocent women and force sexual relations in exchange for just enough food in order to survive. Russian Colonel, Grechko, gives
The protagonist Lev and his new accomplice, Kolya, encounter a couple who invite the two boys up to their building with the offer of a dozen eggs. Lev and Kolya are assaulted by the couple who reveal themselves to be cannibals and try to eat the two boys. Whilst looking in disbelief at human remains, Lev says, “Maybe my brain tried to convince that they weren't looking at what they were looking at: a flayed thigh that could only be a women’s thigh, a child’s rib cage, a severed arm with the hand’s ring finger missing” (Benioff 58). As disturbing as that scenario is, it was the harsh reality innocent civilians faced during the time. The government does not care about the innocent civilians fighting for survival everyday, in a city lacking shelter and resources. The government causes inequality in the society, forcing things such as poverty and cannibalism to happen. The same issues are present in today's society. People are overlooked and mistreated by society. Approximately 4.9 million Canadians live in poverty today, which translates to 1 in 7 people in Canada. A commercial striving to end poverty, states: “If 4 million Canadians were to stop driving on highways, were to stop going out to shopping centres, were to stop going out in period, you would notice. But how can over 4 million people in Canada living in poverty
The protagonist in the novel Lev is first portrayed as an innocent, seventeen year old kid. He loses his family, and is left on his own to fend for himself. His friends and him notice a dead german soldiers body on the ground. He lives in a city with lacking resources so naturally goes to pry any resources from the body. He is arrested for this act of looting by Soviet Union Colonel, Grechko. He is given a choice to find a dozen eggs in one week in a city with no food or resources, or be executed. This unfair and unnecessary decision made by the Colonel whom already had eggs, acted as some sort of entertainment to Grechko. This demonstrates the abuse innocent civilians received from the government and military for simply trying to survive in desperate times. After beating German soldier, Abendroth in a game of chess, Lev knocks down Abendroth and says, “I sat up and shoved the point of my knife deep into his chest, through the breast pocket of his jacket, below the cluster of medals, the blade sliding in all the way to the silver finger guard” (Benioff 231). Lev kills German soldier Abendroth because of the inhumane things he has done to the sex slaves including cutting off one of the girls feet. Throughout this “egg hunt”, Lev’s character transforms into a completely new person. He goes from being an ordinary, innocent kid, to killing another man in the span of