For the YA book we had to read earlier in the year, I read The Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn. The book is set in the future, in the year 2025. It's about how there is a bar code one can get tattooed and all their info is on that bar code. It's like a credit card that's permanently tattooed on you. Kayla Reed, the main character, and other people are against the bar code and for that they are basically targets of the government, or otherwise known as Global-1.
There were quite a few symbols in this book. But I think one of the stronger symbols is the bar code tattoo.
I think the bar code tattoo is a symbol for Global-1, the name for the government that basically has control over everything. Literally everything: food, money, schools, the mail,etc.
The reason I think the bar code represents Global-1 is because in the book, the bar code is represented as it was something evil. It was because of the bar code that two people died anyways: Kayla's dad and a Global-1 postal service worker. The reason Kayla's dad died (he committed suicide) was because he had gotten depressed over the tattoo. The postal service worker got killed by the police (run by Global-1) because he claimed that the tattoo was dangerous. So basically, the bar code tattoo is evil.
Global-1 is also evil. They are in control of everything and have access to everything and know everything about you. In the year 2025, privacy was not a right because Global-1 could tell what food you last ate since they own all the food in the world; the last clothing item you brought; your medical records, family history,etc.
So clearly the bar code tattoo is evil because it ends up being the reason many people die, it must represent Global-1, the government, as a symbol because they are also very evil.
Overall, this was a great read. I recommend to all.
Great job Arlet! I really liked the way you saw the bar code. I read this book also and I did not notice how the bar code kind of ties into global-1! I was very interested in seeing what other people thought on the same book I read and saw. You saw it in a very different way I saw it. I actually did not really look at the bar code tattoo in that big of a way. I really enjoyed you post! Great work!
ReplyDeleteThank you Tygerlily! I did not realize that the bar code represented Global-1 at first, either. But when I read back, I read critically, and noticed that the bar code does in fact represent Global-1.
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