F08250_msimonson

=== "Tattoo" by Peter Johnson (1997)        ===

Way 1: First Impressions
My first impressions upon reading this poem was one of confusion and sadness. Several questions I had while reading it were--who is speaking?, why does this person have a war waging inside?, and why the feelings of isolation? Because of the sentence "A man who can't fight is disgusting," (4) the speaker is a boy. Also, the presences of several tattoos shows his rebellious side. Feelings of isolation are clearly visible--"neighborhood children are rewarded" (8) while he is "sent to bed" (10). Most confusing was the sentence "Most fathers are, even the one who erected a basketball board..." (5). He uses a plural and singular within that one sentence to identify his fathers. The confusion the readers feels from that one sentence, brings about even more questioning, and closer scrutiny of the poem.

Way 2: Engaging with the Text
The sounds this poem makes are hard-like consonants: examples--tattoo, **tiny **, barrel, beckons, basketball, board, tense. With these types of hard-sounding words, the words and sounds both work as tools the author uses to to portray the speaker's hard edge. However, with the hardness also comes the feelings of being tiny himself with the feelings of isolation. That is why this poem is able to express sadness for the speaker along with the hard-edge, rebellious feeling. The poem is 11 lines long with no rhyming. The structure is very simple and straight forward.

Way 3: Vertical Thinking: Close Readings and Interpretations of the Text
The form of "Tattoo" is very simple. With 11 lines and no rhyming, the lines are of equal length. The reason most lines are of equal length is because of how the author chooses to show the way the speaker's thoughts are flowing. The way these words are spaced, "Most **fathers ** (line 5) are, even. . ." (line 6) is written demonstrates this point. Starting the sentence near the end of line 5, writing the "are," ( with the comma) on line 6, breaks up the flow of the poem. It feels jerky to read. The correct way to write it would have been: "Most fathers are, even. . ." all on one line. The way the sentences are broken up within the poem to form equal lines regardless of proper form, helps place emphasis on not just the words. The structure and form of a poem and where it is placed upon the paper, all add to the story the poem is telling. Poetry, most of time, is short and to the point. Any way in which to help convey the message or story of the poem is used.

Way 4: Unpacking Figurative Language #1
Symbolism is used extensively in this poem. The use of words "phallus" and "barrel" point to the symbolism of power found in a man. The ideal that a penis represents power is shown when the word "erected" is used to describe the action of putting up a basketball hoop. These words point to the power of a man through that which identifies him as a man.

Way 4: Unpacking Figurative Language #2
Using the word **erected ** to describe the action of putting up a basketball hoop shows the ideal of power. The use of the word erect is correct, but when looking at erect with the other words within the poem, such as phallus, barrel, erect takes on more significant and deeper meaning. Not only does it lead me to think of the basketball hoop being put up, but it points to the word phallus, which can also be erect and brings to mind sex.

Way 4: Unpacking Figurative Language #3
"**The sun shrugs its tense shoulders** " (8) is another line using figurative language. The sun has no shoulders nor feelings, thus it could not feel tension. The boy is speaking of his own feelings. The tension he feels being sent to his room, the anger that is slowly being built up all add meaning to the word "tense." Why did he use the sun instead of another object? My only thought to this may be that the sun is bright and can blind a person. When blinded, it is difficult to distinguish objects. The use of sun is a tool used to represent that blindness.

Way 4: Unpacking Figurative Language #4
The speaker points out the symbolism in the poem--the "tiny gun" (1) is a symbol of the war that rages inside himself. With the gun a consistent reminder on his hand, he always has a symbol of what he may use to get out of his room. Whether is is a way to hurt himself or others, "tiny gun" (1) is a symbol of violence and escape. The speaker feels powerless in his world, thus the need to have tattoos to help him gain some control and say over himself. The "**tiny doorknob** " (10) also represents freedom. By having it tattoo on his other hand, he can use either hand as a means to escape. The gun through self-destruction or violence towards others, or the doorknob to open the door and walk out.

At first I did not apply any meaning to the tiny doorknob tattoo on his other hand. I was focused on the gun tattoo. I must have read this poem a hundred times, but when I had to look for more figurative language in the poem to finish up my wiki page, I questioned myself on why a doorknob and not another gun? The doorknob must be a symbol for something. Then I got it--escape! Escape from his room, his life, his house!

Way 5: Setting
The boy in this poem is in his house as indicated by the line "I'm sent to bed." Clearly, the action that is taking place is from within this setting. Also, the line "outside my bedroom window," is another clue. All the actions are taking place and observed from this setting. The bedroom represents not only his room, but a feeling of a prison. When speaking of his observations from the bedroom window, the boy talks about "**children are rewarded** " while he is not. The environment is one of being imprisoned within his own house, not one of freedom and "rewards" that are given to other children.

**Way 6: Identifying and Analyzing the Text**
Told in the first person, the poem's speaker uses the words my and I. However, at one point in the poem he switches to the second person narrative by using the word you--"visible when **you** stare directly at the sun." The use of second person narrative switch seems to indicate that he wants to pull the reader into the poem with him, draw out feelings, and make the reader feel included somehow. Then the speaker switches back just as quickly to the use of "I." The inclusion of just one **you** in the poem seems to point to a subtle shift and goes back just as quickly to first person narrative.

Way 7: Complexity, Ambiguity, and Difficulty
Complexity, ambiguity and difficulty came into the poem in several areas. The use of fathers instead of father pointed to the fact that the speaker has more then one. Trying to determine the standards of a father and living up to those standards, only to have another father added or totally removed to make room for a new father, is at best, confusing for a child. That confusion is was shown in this poem with the use of the plural of father. Another instance was when the speaker referred to "you" (3) in the poem and then switched back to the first person narrative.

Dr. Chick stated in Week 9 that "Ambiguity means u//ncertainty of meaning;// ambiguity is the result of the possibility of more than one interpretation or meaning". I found an instance in the poem that held uncertainty of meaning--"barrel beckons like the phallus that's visible when you stare directly on the sun" (2 & 3). A phallus is visible when a person stares directly at the sun? If taken literally, a person see a phallus if looking at the sun. That statement is one where ambiguity and difficulty come into the poem. Was it just a way for the speaker to introduce the word phallus so that it could be tied to the word erected? The use of phallus and erected are intertwined and add weight to the poem. The boy, in his indirect way, wants the reader/listener to know that he is speaking not just of fathers but of a man.

Way 8: Considering Canonicity
"Tattoo" is able to convey a story of a young man and his isolation within his world and does so in a profound way. However, with the criteria of what belongs in a canon of literature, I feel this poem falls short in several areas. Its does not give the reader a comprehensive look at the boy's life. It is a brief view of his feelings and isolation while young but does not include enough details of his life or interaction with others. "Tattoo" is a poem that is able to express many emotions but does not do so in a way in order to qualify for inclusion in top literature.

Way 9: Biographical Context
**Peter Johnson** was born in Buffalo, NY. He came from a working class family--his father was a mailman and steel mill worker. Johnson attend a Jesuit high school. (Academy of American Poets) When looking at this poem "Tattoo," I thought maybe he had been raised by a single mother. But, upon reading his biography and learning more about Johnson's writing style, that he tends to include satire in his poems with a humorous slant, put a different interruption on my poem. Johnson is a professor at college in Rhoda Island, is married and has two sons.

I find that this added knowledge of his normal upbringing and traditional life that he is living, makes the poem that much harder for me to interrupt. Had Johnson been from an unstable home environment, the poem would have been easier to //see// through his eyes. Gaining knowledge about Johnson and his life has not added significant insight into my analyzes, it seems to have added more a burden. "You don't obsessively attack or make fun of something unless you are very hurt because that "something" is not living up to your expectations," Peter Johnson said in an interview with Stephen Frech from __Another Chicago Magazine__.

Way 10: Historical and Cultural Contexts
The boy in "Tattoo" is from a home with multiple fathers, "most fathers are" (5) states this fact clearly. Step families are more common then they were 30-40 years ago. However, that does not take away from the fact that step families are more complex than traditional families. Children within the step family configuration are more likely to rebel. "Children are in need of stability for successful upbringing" (Edwards pg. 155). A young boy experiencing "fathers" is not in a stable environment, and thus less likely to succeed. Also stated by Edwards is that "step families relations are not regarded as subjects to stability as the same way as parent-child relations development in unbroken families" (156). Within the context of these statements from Edwards, it is easy to see that the boy in "Tattoo" is not experiencing a stable environment in which to grow up. The presences of tattoos and the punishment he is receiving by being sent to bed without ice cream, point out his lack of a consistence, stable home life.

Historically, the time-frame of this poem can only be ascertained by the date it was written, 1997. So, approximately 10 years ago this poem takes place; which puts it close to current time. The ability to look at "Tattoo" with the added information from the historical aspect was awkward. During this time frame, the world was branching out in the technology field. The Internet, cell phones, digital cameras, video games, etc., were starting to become common in households. Knowledge of this may add insight to the parents perceptive that being sent to one's room is not a punishment as entertainment may be found within. The parents may not be aware of the boy's longing to join the other children of the neighbor in receiving "rewards of ice cream."

Way 11: Critical or Theoretical Context
Using psychoanalytic criticism to analyze "Tattoo," I asked several questions. First, how does the reader react to the poem? What symbolism is taking place within the poem that helps promote imagery? How do those images help the poem express itself and what are the readers' reaction to those images? Basing the readers' reaction to the poem on my own reaction, I felt the sadness expressed by the boy, his feelings of the need to rebel, his isolation from other children as he watches them from his bedroom window. The symbolism such as "sun shrugs its tense shoulders," offers a look at the speaker. The speaker, I believe has tension building up. Thus the need for the symbol of the "**tiny doorknob **" tattoo on his hand.

The action that is taking place in the poem is another way to look through the psychoanalytic approach--such as "wars I wage" (2) and "sent to bed" (9). In the first, he is doing the action on himself, in the second something is being done to him. What meaning does this add? First, he is capable of some autonomy, and second, he is not allowed to have total control over his choices; thus the feeling of a war within himself. Using psychoanalytic criticism "where psychology of the reader and the text study literature in order to learn more about the unconscious," (Bedford St. Martin) is an effective way in which to achieve deeper understanding.

When I first read "Tattoo," I felt the speaker had no say in what was taking place. Using this approach, I realized the boy does have some control in his world even if only in what he does to his body and not in where he may go.

Way 12: Another Critical or Theoretical Context
New Critics would approach this poem looking at the structure and close reading. New Critics would view "the structure of a work...and that it should be not be divorced from meaning" and "pay special attention to repetition and the sound effects and rhythms" (Bedford St. Martins). Tiny is used three times in the poem. This can be seen as a way to express the feelings of the speaker. Does he feel tiny about himself? With the repeated use of the word tiny, it does. Stated previously in Way 3, the poem's lines do not follow formal sentence structure. Commas and pauses are broken up and do not flow smoothly. The lines are approximately the same length. The New Critics would say that this allows the poem to express itself. By using this criticism, I feel like my Way 3 is on track.

Using this approach did added one element to my understanding. The repeating of tiny was brought to my attention. I noticed the word, but not its repeated use. By realizing that it is used three times, it helps me to further understand the speaker's feelings about himself. When using the same adjective three times, it helps to drive home the point of the speaker.

Way 13: Overall, Unifying, Coherent Interpretation
Literature is more than just a story, poem, tale, or drama. Literature holds deeper meaning that can only be found with close reading and studying of the text. When first reading "Tattoo," I found myself confused and troubled. The mixed up words like fathers and "the one who", and switching from first person narrative to third person then back to first person, only added to the confusion at first. But, by applying various approaches and deeper analytical thinking to this poem, I was able to draw out more meaning and understanding.

The boy deliberately uses the words father to show who he has in his life without coming out and saying "I have had more than one man in my life who thinks he is my father--I have had several!" And, by inserting the word "you," he is trying to pull the reader into the poem. Evident is the boy wish to escape his world. By having tattoos on both hands, and different tattoos not the same one, it symbolizes his wish to escape his world. By applying my knowledge about symbolism, I became aware of the hidden meaning about the doorknob. Also apparent is the boy's wish to escape whether through violence or just walking out, he has given himself several options from which to choose from.

Using "13 Ways of Looking at Literature," I was able to understand the poem without having to rely on my classmates' interruption. By applying each separate way to individual words, the structure of the poem and then the symbolism, the poem came together for me. Several areas in which I gathered more meaning from were the realization of the tiny doorknob, the use of the word fathers, using you only once in the poem, and the boy's ability to have some say over his actions. During my initial read throughs, I did not notice these clues within the text. I really grew to like this poem and come to a better understanding of the speaker's feelings and circumstances. He did not have an easy life through no fault of his own. He was a helpless by stander who had to find ways in which to deal with his confusing world of fathers and punishment.


 * Works Cited:**

Chick, Nancy. "Week 9 & 10 Ambiguity". __University of Wisconsin Colleges Online__. 2008. 9 December 2008. 

Edwards, Rosalind. “Creating Stability for Children in Step-families: Time and Substance in Parenting.: __Children & Society__. 2002 : 154-167. __Academic Search Elite__. EBSCO host. University of Wisconsin Colleges Online, Madison, WI. 25 November 2008 <[|http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uwc.edu]>

Fresch, Stephen. "Conversation with Peter Johnson." __Another Chicago Magazine__. c2004.

Johnson, Peter. "Tattoo." 1997.

Kaston, Andrea. "Poems in Depth" __Bedford St. Martins__. 3 December 2008 [|<http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/critical_define/crit_psycho.html]

"Peter Johnson." Academy of American Poets. 1997-2008. 20 November 2008 [|www.poets.org]