Analyse af 'Why tattoos make my flesh crawl'

1. In the article “Why tattoos make my skin crawl” from 2012, we hear about the widespread tattoo stigma from a negative perspective. The text, written by the politics teacher Neil Davenport, starts off with presenting a lady who caused a lot of criticism because of her having heavily tattooed arms. Some people meant that the lady’s tattoos lacked style and elegance when being so visible. In a ‘Mirror’ article it was stated that tattoos were a depressing ‘eyesore’ and that Britain has become a ‘tattooed nation’. The author, Neil Davenport, even agreed with that statement. Davenport continues his point of view by stating that tattoos are ‘grubby-looking ink daubings’ which tells us that Davenport is not very fond of the idea of having tattoos. In the article, we hear about how having tattoos can be seen as personal expression, and also how a body’s appearance can be used to demonstrate something about yourself.

2. The three rhetorical appeals, logos, ethos, and pathos are used throughout the article. The use of rhetorical appeals is for affecting the readers and also as an instrument to convince the readers best possible. The author uses the appeal form logos, by including history.

“Historically, tattoos have long been part of subcultures...During the postwar period, tattoos were associated with rock’n’roll outlaw chic: the greaser, the rocker, and the Hell’s Angels” The author also talks about how punks and skinheads, who are people that are familiar with tattoos, would have sorts of unusual tattoos. “In the early 1980s, lumpenised punks and skinheads would also have a ‘cut here’ tattoo dotted around their throat” By using the prehistory of tattoos in his argument, he lets his argument remain logical, which increases the readers’ trust. The appeal form, pathos, is used in the author’s argument, where he knowingly tries to provoke the reader’s feelings with for instance, his choice of words and strong language throughout. “In effect, tattoos are a celebration of powerlessness and marginalisation. Getting tattooed up is simply a way of putting ourselves down.” The author states that tattoos are a way of putting ourselves down, and a ‘celebration’ of powerlessness which can anger and annoy many different people with tattoos. Apart from tattoos looking hideously ugly,..you can at least shape barbed-wire patterns on your arm” Here the author even calls tattoos extremely unflattering and ‘shape barbed wire-patterns’. It is indeed these provocative concepts that really will get to the reader. In the article, there is less of an appeal for ethos, which is an ethical appeal used as the author’s trustworthiness and credibility. The author tries to increase the readers’ trust by explaining his own experience, when it comes to tattoos in Britain. “While sitting in a pub garden recently, I realised I was about the only person whose flesh could be considered a blank canvas” He states that he was in a pub garden, as the only person without tattoos. It increases the author’s trustworthiness since he was in the public himself, experiencing and observing the tattoo ‘wave’. So with the author’s use of the three different rhetorical appeals, he uses them as persuade-instruments, making others believe in his particular point of view. He does it by making his point of view clear in his argument.