Power of Graffiti and Images in Literature and History

Introduction: Images Over Words

Every day, people read the news in the papers or hear reports on television about various crimes. It is easy to dismiss the words on the page or the words of an anchor. It is much harder to look away from an image. Long ago, people discovered that images were more potent than written words could be. There is the old expression that a picture is worth a thousand words. Both "Exquisite Corpse" and "The Wall-Reader" focus on the importance of visual images to convey messages to the world at large.

In the first piece, Ashraf Rushdy uses the stories of Emmett Till and James Byrd to convey how times have changed between one racially-charged murder and another. In Till's case, photos of his corpse were made public to teach the world about the horrors of racism; in Byrd's case, his photographs were not publicized because his family did not think it was necessary. In Fiona Barr's story, a young woman goes out for a stroll with her child only to have her eyes opened to the horrors of the world around her. She embodies the person who could hear about the violence surrounding her and ignore it — until she is face-to-face with it. Both stories are about people who are forever altered by the things they see.

In Ashraf Rushdy's article "Exquisite Corpse," the author compares two of the most horrific crimes in American history. The crimes are more than forty years apart but were perpetrated for the same ignorant reasons. Emmett Till and James Byrd were not killed for anything they did, but because of the color of their skin. Racism was the motive behind their deaths. Their corpses took on new meaning after their deaths — no longer merely the remains of a former human being, they became icons of destruction and symbols of the deadly nature of racism. More than a discussion of two harrowing acts of racist violence in the American South, the article is also a discussion about the importance of the body as a symbol of something larger. The human corpse in the Till case and the bodies of Byrd and his killer are emblems of the psychological and sociological crises of hate crimes.

In "The Wall-Reader," a woman is nonchalantly walking her young child through the streets of Belfast. Here too, the central event is a crime. Although painting graffiti on walls is hardly on the same level of criminality as murder, it is still an act of rebellion against authority. This woman represents the viewing audience. Just as she watches the different graffiti as a pastime, so too does the reader observe her. She is an avatar for all of humanity who sit by as the world descends into acts of violence. At first, she watches the walls for no reason other than to pass the time. Over time, she realizes that the messages are more important than she had originally estimated and that they have a direct impact on her life.

Emmett Till and the Power of the Open Casket

After Emmett Till was murdered by white supremacists in the American South, his mother made the decision to hold an open-casket funeral. This decision completely changed the American conversation about its racism problem. Till's mother also invited members of the press and cameramen to the funeral service so that the state of Emmett's body could be captured and preserved as a part of American history. Before Till, Americans — particularly those in the North — were able to ignore racism or dismiss it as not being a major problem. The unforgettable image of the desecrated young boy in the open casket made the realities of racism undeniable to the world at large.

Many people were unaware at that time of how dire conditions were for African Americans living in the South. Particularly in the northern United States, such a horrendous crime would have been considered absolutely unthinkable. By showing the world what white men had done to her son, Mamie Till Bradley forced a larger portion of the nation to confront the true extent of racist ideology and racist action. Those who had been ignorant of racism in the South were forced to see the truth because of the Till photographs. They could no longer pretend it was not a serious problem. Even in a supposedly free country like the United States, a small young boy could be the target of hatred and violence. His body became a symbol for the larger evil of white supremacy and prejudice in the United States during that era.

Graffiti and Political Violence in Belfast

In Belfast during the period in which Barr's story is set, there is a great deal of antagonism between the native Irish and the British government. This tension is illustrated through some of the specific graffiti that the young mother encounters on her daily walks. It is made clear later in the work that her husband is involved in something potentially quite dangerous, possibly connected to the IRA. Yet the woman chooses to remain ignorant of the precise details. She chats with a disembodied voice about home and family. The majority of people in Ireland at that time would have been at least partially aware of the political upheavals taking place. Few would take an active role in the conflict over control of Ireland, and many would choose to ignore specific acts of violence and acrimony if at all possible.

Works Cited

Barr, Fiona. "The Wall-Reader." W.W. Norton & Company. Web. Nov. 2011.

Rushdy, Ashraf. "Exquisite Corpse." 2000. pp. 356–365. Print.