Eraser Tattoo

As a permanent reminder of their love, Shay gives Dante an “eraser tattoo” by rubbing her initial into his skin with a pencil eraser. The tattoo is a multifaceted symbol, taking on various meanings in the story. It represents the lasting effect Shay has on Dante, but it also comes to symbolize the mark that white gentrifiers leave on Black communities. Dante notices that the tattoo turns his skin white, symbolizing the white people who come to Black neighborhoods in Brooklyn and end up displacing residents and contaminating their existing culture and community.

The tattoo also represents the damage that can come from resisting change. Dante refuses to let go of his relationship with Shay so staunchly that he insists on getting her initial tattooed on his arm. But the tattoo burns unbearably—a symbol of the emotional pain Dante inflicts on himself by refusing to accept change.

The stoop where Dante and Shay sit for the majority of “Eraser Tattoo” symbolizes the Black neighborhoods in Brooklyn that become gentrified over time. As Dante and Shay sit on the stoop talking, the new residents who bought Shay’s house pass by them over and over, pushing them farther to the stoop’s edge until Dante and Shay have no room left and have to stand up.