Eng 105 - Teenagers and Tattoos Rhetorical Analysis

Amy Bodine

English 105

September 30, 2016

Dr. Skeen

How many times have you judged a teenager because of their tattoo?  A lot of the time, tattoos are seen as mistakes, through the eyes of an adult.  Without thinking about the reason behind these permanent designs, tattoos are seen as negative choices made due to the ignorance of youth. Andres Martin, a child psychiatrist, is very familiar with this territory.  He studied teenagers and tattoos and expressed a different point of view in his work.  His work as a child psychiatrist was important because it shared with everyone a different perspective on teenagers and tattoos, causing people to rethink their original judgements.  Martin does a good job of persuading his audience with his interesting look at tattoos and adolescents in his work titled, “Teenagers and Tattoos.” (2000).

In Andres Martin’s (2000) “Teenagers and Tattoos”, Martin recognizes that tattoos and piercing have become quite common in our ever day lives, especially common in the lives of adolescents.   Immediately the contradicting opinions between adolescents and their parents are touched upon.  Martin addresses that “for the adolescent, piercing or tattoos may be seen as personal and beautifying statements, while parents may construe them as oppositional enraging affronts to their authority” (p. 143).  Martin recognizes that teenagers could be drawn to the idea of tattoos for many reasons, one being that tattoos and piercing can be used to express one’s identity, especially in the stage that is for many, an identity crisis.  Teenagers may feel this way because by permanently marking their bodies it allows them to have control and express themselves in the way that they which to be seen. Another reason tattoos may be desirable for teenagers is it allows for memorials of important concepts and symbols. They allow for a constant representation of a bond that was held with someone or something.  Martin also shines light on the fact that, like many of us, teenagers have an undeniable desire for permanence in this constantly changing world; it is a fact that “tattoos stay, while all else may change” (p. 144).   

In Andres Martin’s “Teenagers and Tattoos,” Martin is addressing adults and informing them on teenagers and tattoos by bringing their attention to another perspective.  Due to the fact that the article is published in 1997, I would assume that the audience’s expectations would be that Martin would just confirm their assumptions: that teenagers with tattoos are rebellious.  Due to the fact that it is an academic article, the audience would expect that this piece of writing would include facts/ evidence supporting his theories.  They would also expect it to be in a professional format.  The audience most likely expects Martin’s work to include case studies and examples as evidence to support his statements.  Before reading this article, most adults probably assumed that teenagers with tattoos are rebellious kids.  At that time, when people thought “rebellious kids” they would’ve associated that possibly with gangs, drugs, and destructive activity.  After reading this article, they would consider the good reasons for having tattoos, such as, a memorial of a loved one who has passed away and a way to express their identity.  This article may have made an adult change their mind on a teenager with a tattoo.

(Thesis Statement left out)

Connotations are words that leave an impression with the reader, that is outside of their literal definition, subliminally steering the reader in a specific direction.  Andres Martin (2000) explains that “by indelibly marking their bodies, adolescents can strive to reclaim their bearings within an environment experienced as alien, estranged, or suffocating or to lay claim over their evolving and increasingly unrecognizable bodies.” (p 144). By using words such as suffocating and estranged to define the environment in which adolescents experience, Martin leaves the reader with a negative impression.  The feeling that tattoos take advantage of a struggling individual Child psychiatrists would have believed, prior to this article, that tattoos were rebellious and distasteful.  After reading this example they would have felt unsettled due to the harsh, descriptive words.  I think Martin very effectively persuaded the psychiatrists with the use of his connotations.  By using words such as suffocating and estranged to define the environment in which adolescents experience, Martin leaves the reader with a negative impression.

Sentence structure is the way a sentence is arranged in order to be most effective and to be correct.  It can persuade the audience because of the length, placement of ideas, contrast, and balance it gives to both or all points. Andres Martin (2000) states: “For the adolescent, piercing or tattoos may be seen as personal and beautifying statements, while parents may construe them as oppositional and enraging affronts to their authority.”  The structure of this sentence is balanced because it states one point and then contradicts it with another point of view.  The weight is evenly placed due to emphasis on both points, the adolescent’s perspective, and the parent’s.  Placing the weight evenly would help Andres Martin to persuade his child psychiatrist audience because gives them something that they would be familiar with and the opposing view, to help them better understand the different perspective that an adolescent might have.  I think that the child psychiatrists would think that the quote is successfully structured.  It helps them to better understand both sides and persuades them to look at teenagers and tattoos differently.  By giving equal balance to both points it makes the psychiatrists understand the validity of what Martin is saying because it is putting their point of view on the same level as the adolescents.  Considering that the perspectives are now on the same level, Martin’s point is persuasive and effective.