Forgive me for lapsing into something
personal, but I was made aware of a situation that I found highly
interesting and completely relevant to the "tattoo culture"
discussion. First off, the book was deeply thorough—even in just
the introduction—and left me at a loss for things to respond with.
The story of James F. O'Connell was my first thought, because the
reaction of the Europeans seems to pervade into our contemporary
society, where we (meaning employers and the like) prefer them to be
covered and out of sight. They're dirty and shameful, incomplete or
otherwise.
However, when asking my friends what
to write about, I was told of three siblings who speak to each other
in an ongoing discourse regarding tattoos, both literally and
figuratively. They are as follows:
Jenny (32) – Oldest sister, and has
four tattoos. A fish-hook on her left wrist, symbolizing the “J”
of her and siblings' names as well as her love of the beach; the name
“Jackie Blue” with an anchor on her back, which is her mother's
nickname for her in her mother's handwriting; a butterfly, which
sounds common, but I was assured she's a true-blue hippie and owns it; and a
wishbone under her left arm, signaling the time when she split one
with her grandmother whom died two days later after winning the
bigger half over her granddaughter.
Jason (24) – Youngest sibling and
brother, sponsored skateboarder with a dab of ink on his foot to be
explained later.
Jon (30) – Middle child and older
brother. Clean cut, married with a daughter, and ex-varsity athlete
(lacrosse).
The siblings have, on numerous
occasions, gotten into arguments over the purpose and true meaning of
tattoos. Jenny is the full advocate for tattoos. She says that if one
feels more comfortable or more themselves with ink on their skin,
there's no reason not too. It's an expression of oneself, a powerful
one, and it should be accepted as just that. Jon in response will say
that tattoos are nothing more than branding on a t-shirt, except
permanent. Citing the common places for people to get tattoos, e.g.
back, legs, biceps, he says that they are out of sight or obscured
from the bearer, and thus the tattoo is not for themselves, but for
everyone else. They're an extravagant, reckless and permanent marking
that has the same effect as wearing a branded t-shirt. Looking at the
profiles of the two, it's easy to see where the dissonance naturally
lies.
The interesting case though is the
youngest, Jason. Frequently hearing the banter between his two older
siblings, he at first sided with Jon, saying tattoos are stupid and
not as personal as everyone makes them out to be. Yet they grew on
him. In a fashion typical for Jason, he decided that, while he found
them pointless, he wanted to do it for the fun, for the experience.
The tattoo he chose was a skateboard on his foot, placed in such a
way that it would appear to be going up the ramp of his arch. He went
to get the tattoo, and after a few pricks of his skin, realized that
he could not bear the pain and left the parlor leaving three dots of
incomplete ink on his foot.
Jason of course finds his story funny,
but in combination with his other two siblings, he creates one end of
a full spectrum of the tattoo dynamic that reveals and boils down the
contemporary discussion and perception of tattoos. Jenny bears her
tattoos as memories and proof of both herself and her life. They help
to define “Jenny” and honor her as an individual and person. Jon
scorns tattoos as adolescent and careless, defining nothing but the
irresponsibility and lack of self-control of the tattoo bearer. His
sympathies are shared by those I mentioned in the beginning: the
remnants of those who feared O'Connell when he returned home. Jason
is perpetually torn between the two, seeing both sides as valid but
taking a middle road that accepts the tattoo—along with the body
and to an extent, life itself—as something not to be taken all that
seriously, perhaps even temporary or borrowed, echoing the idea that
“'even though it is on my skin it doesn't necessarily belong to
me'” (193).
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