49 pages • 1 hour read
Suzanne WeynThe Bar Code Tattoo
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2004A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Desensitizing Influence of Technology
The Bar Code Tattoo explores the emotional impact that technological and digital advancements can have on society, for while they are immersed in mainstream society, many of the characters experience increased apathy, desensitized emotions, and a selfish disregard for the suffering of others. The increased influence of technology also impacts teen slang, resulting in commonly used phrases such as “banged” or “banged out” to mean that someone is out of luck, or is in poor condition. This inherently violent phrasing is meant to raise negative connotations of gun violence.
The lack of empathy transcends the world of teenagers to infect bureaucracies and education alike, and this dynamic is implied when Kayla’s guidance counselor, Mr. Kerr, informs Kayla that she will never receive an art scholarship or get into college at all due to her lackluster computer skills. As the narrative states, he “shook his head, full of sympathy manufactured for the moment” (3). Because Mr. Kerr fully bought into the conveniences of modern technology and even has a bar code, it is clear that he has also subscribed to the notion that computer skills hold more inherent value than other subjects. By extension, those students who lack computer skills are less valuable than those who have them, and in his mind, they are therefore less deserving of his efforts or sympathies. This implicit insight into his character makes him one of the first characters to exhibit the callous detachment exemplified by many who conform to the strictures of Global-1’s “perfect” society.
By contrast, Mfumbe is an artist like Kayla and a tattoo resistor; he therefore stands as one of the most genuine characters in the novel. His passion for advocacy can be seen in his dedication to the KnotU2 magazine, and it is notable that he works to distribute a physical magazine in a world where digital reading has superseded the use of traditional textbooks. Mfumbe is the strongest resister to the bar code alongside Kayla, demonstrating a strength of will that likely comes from his resistance to the overuse of technology. Likewise, he is one of the only characters who displays true empathy for Kayla’s struggles. When she finds a true romantic connection with Mfumbe, a technology-resistant artist like herself, she realizes that her previous infatuation with Zekeal cannot compare to the love she feels for Mfumbe.
Furthermore, Kayla finds real connection in the “uncivilized” world that the resisters inhabit in their reclusive camp in the mountains. Eventually, the idea of returning to the “civilized” world fills Kayla with dread because she realizes that mainstream society has nothing to offer her but “death, loneliness, lies, and betrayal,” and she realizes that she is “happier [in the Adirondacks] than she’d ever been in her entire life” (244). While mainstream society believes that technological advancements equal greater contentment, the author implies that such a mindset desensitizes people to human connection. The resisters recognize this fact, and their off-grid methods increase their sensitivity until they become capable of immense psychic feats such as telepathy. These internal, organic advancements symbolize the depth of social connection to be found by disconnecting from technology.
Resistance to Conformity
The novel offers many different examples of resistance to conformity, particularly with the introduction of the various resistance groups, along with Senator David Young as the leader of Decode. Most importantly, however, the resistant actions of both Kayla and Mfumbe drive the plot forward, and their struggles to break free of society’s strictures prove that unquestioning conformity has many detrimental effects upon individuality, evolution, and freedom As Mfumbe states, “‘No matter what I’d get from [the bar code tattoo], I’d feel like a prisoner’” (194).
When Kayla first becomes involved with the KnotU2 magazines, she finally realizes that “freedom and true human dignity were things of the past, [and] that the future held nothing but restriction and conformity” (112). Appalled by the thought that even the creation of art has been given over to AI, Kayla rejects conformity from the very beginning because she recognizes the dangers that it poses to her society. Already, the removal of human ingenuity from the creation of art has led to soulless, unimaginative computer-generated artwork, and the individuality previously celebrated by artists is being lost as art techniques are condensed into one singular method. Kayla soon realizes that this unthinking conformity is infecting all aspects of daily life, bringing intellectual evolution to a virtual halt.
Within this context, it is eventually revealed that the psychic abilities of Kayla and other resisters are an example of resistance to conformity and the evolutionary changes that take place as a result. Those who do not resist the influence of Global-1 have embraced a form of eugenics, arranging for the “best” of humanity to be cloned while the “worst” dies out, creating a stagnant, unchanging society that never grows or improves. Only the resisters, who value and celebrate their individuality, can keep evolving; they therefore attain powerful psychic abilities that the rest of their society lacks.
Ostracizing resistant factions is a frequently used tactic to compel obedience and conformity, and this dynamic arises at several different points in the text. As the diner manager says to the untattooed Kayla when denying her application for a job, “It’s not just the bar code itself […] It’s what it represents, what it tells us about the kind of person you are” (67). Kayla retorts, “Obedient, compliant.” This scene establishes that employers see the tattoo as proof that an employee will be fully cooperative and easy to control; because Kayla is not tattooed, she is assumed to be someone who questions and challenges authority. As Global-1 campaigns for the populace to support the bar code tattoo system, the qualities of conformity are implicitly touted as prerequisites for social and vocational success, and the fact that the entire system violates civil rights is obscured beneath the propaganda. A similar tactic used by recruitment agents involves “point[ing] out that going against the United States Senate is unpatriotic […] Complying is not only patriotic, it’s also an attractive trait. The untattooed person risks social ostracism” (123). By making resisters such as Kayla believe that they will be seen as incompetent employees, unattractive romantic partners, disloyal friends, or unpatriotic citizens, Global-1 instills fear and loneliness in people, and this social pressure ultimately convinces them to get the tattoo to avoid losing connections to their family, friends, and community.
The Dangers of Convenience Culture
While technological advancements are a large aspect of convenience culture, the novel explores several different ways in which this ease of living negatively impacts societies. When Kayla asks Mr. Kerr about his opinion on the bar code tattoo, he claims, “It’s convenient, I suppose. All my banking and identification numbers are encoded right here. If I were rushed to the hospital, billing and medical information would be right at hand” (8). Like Mr. Kerr, Amber Thorn advocates for the bar code’s overall convenience, telling Kayla, “Soon no one will be able to do anything without the bar code. Anyone who hasn’t got it will be shut out of everything” (84). Ironically, while Amber initially believes the tattoo is more help than hindrance, her words foreshadow the widespread social and political issues that the implementation of the system will cause, and she eventually falls prey to this process herself when her entire family is callously denied access to jobs, housing, and funds. Characters such as Amber and Mr. Kerr represent the segments of society who rationalize their reasons for accepting the problematic system. Such characters are easily compliant because they have been conditioned to expect certain conveniences and have therefore relaxed their inhibitions about the potential danger to their civil rights.
Even strong-headed and ambitious characters such as Nedra fall victim to convenience culture. Nedra renounces the resistance cause when her life ambitions are thwarted by her lack of a tattoo. Her conditioned need for gratification and her career ambitions lead her to become a recruitment agent for those who support the tattoo system. Convenience culture also affects empathy, resilience, and patience over time. Because most people in Kayla’s society are used to getting what they want as soon as they want it, they become selfish, weak-willed, and impatient. This dynamic also influences their career decisions, as shown by Zekeal. He embraces the callous practice of systematically conning young women into falling in love with him so that he can convince them to get the bar code tattoo, and this approach reveals his distinct lack of empathy. In his mind, engaging in unethical acts is perfectly acceptable if he receives a benefit from it. As Kayla notes later in the novel, Zekeal “wasn’t Mfumbe. He wasn’t someone who would stand up for a principle even if it wasn’t in his own best interest” (224-25). Zekeal only looks out for himself, and he is clearly a product of a society that gratifies his every need and desire. His reliance on the conveniences of “civilization” is once again exemplified in the speech he gives Kayla in the Adirondacks when he attempts to convince her to return, for he says, “Do you really want to be a prisoner of these mountains, unable to leave, forced to rough it out in the woods? You’re an artist, Kayla. What are you going to do up here in the forest for the rest of your life?” (224). Unlike Kayla, Zekeal would not survive the simplicity of life in the mountains; he has lived a life of luxury that has fostered a lack of patience and a low tolerance for inconvenience.
