The Bar Code Tattoo

“I haven’t seen an art scholarship issued to a student weak in computer skills for the last five years, definitely not since 2020. You shouldn’t expect to get one, or even to be accepted at the art schools you’ve applied to. That’s just how it is.”

Mr. Kerr’s stark assessment of Kayla’s future (or lack thereof) points out how critical technology has become within the present society. The expertise of one’s computer skills has the power to determine one’s chances at college or potential career paths, and Kayla’s society values these skills while ignoring all other individual strengths.

“The explanation went more or less like this: Only a few of the most experienced artists were required to input drawings into computer art data banks. These computer-generated images were used to create all other artwork. No art school would award a scholarship to a student weak in data-imaging—a student like her.”

This passage illustrates a key aspect of the worldbuilding that is essential to the series. The passage also indicates the author’s critique of the burgeoning influence of AI-generated artwork in the real world, for in the context of the novel, one specific kind of AI artwork has completely overtaken the art world, eliminating human creativity and individuality.

“The tattoo was impersonal and […] demeaning. But her father had known all that before he’d gotten it.”

In this passage, Kayla acknowledges that her father was well aware of the tattoo’s harmful effects, even though he acquiesced to obtaining a tattoo himself. This fact illustrates how powerful the pressures of the majority can be. Resistance to Conformity is easier said than done, especially when it causes major inconveniences. This context renders the bravery of the resisters all the more notable.