24 pages • 48 minutes read
Roald DahlSkin
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1960A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Foreshadowing
Roald Dahl’s use of foreshadowing and clues to indicate what will happen to Drioli provides resolution to the story despite the hint of ambiguity on which “Skin” ends. Though there is hope that Drioli ends up on the stranger’s beach with a “maid to bring him his breakfast in bed” (18), substantial textual details suggest otherwise. The first insinuation of danger is the placement of Chaim Soutine’s signature over a vital organ, Drioli’s kidney, making its removal without killing Drioli highly unlikely. Drioli’s unease with both the gallery owner and the stranger with canary gloves heightens the tension, as Drioli watches the owner with “worried eyes” and appears helpless as they discuss prospects for removing the tattoo or parading its owner down the beach as a human art exhibit. He understands the severity of the situation, and his body language shows his uncertainty: “‘I do not like this,’ Drioli said, edging away” (17). The stranger’s neck is compared to a snake’s, increasing plot tension, and his disagreement with the gallery owner—presented as though he were trying to protect Drioli—makes it clear that the man would never survive an operation to remove the tattoo. The gallery owner’s words also clarify the protagonist’s fate: “The picture itself is of no value until you are dead” (17). During the discussion of the skin operation, the word “kill” is said four times, making the later display of the tattoo as an art object an indicator of Drioli’s death.
Situational Irony
Several examples of situational irony, in which what happens in the text is the opposite of what one might expect, occur in “Skin.” First, Soutine’s works of art are worth millions, yet his own life is treated as if it has no value, and he struggles to survive. He states early in the story that his art cannot provide nourishment, yet by the end of the story, his work is associated with 10 million francs. Drioli embodies this circumstance, as he starves due to an inability to purchase food while carrying a treasure on his back. Soutine’s dwellings are meager, yet his work ultimately hangs in the finest shop in Paris, a site of warmth and affluence that the artist would not have been considered worthy of entering while he was creating many of his treasured works. His creations have social mobility that the people who created or carried them lack. Drioli has been reduced to a beggar on the streets, yet he bears art that is worth millions. He is close to wealth and luxury, yet it cannot be his until he is dead. He knew Soutine, yet he is denied access to the gallery that showcases Soutine’s work.
Such situational irony highlights the class divide in the story and provides commentary about who art is for. In this case, it is for those who have the means to purchase it, reflecting the commodification of art and, ultimately, of Drioli’s body.
Paradox
Paradox, the use of contrasting (often seemingly illogical or impossible) ideas to provide insight, presents commentary in “Skin” about how art is defined and how its worth is measured. Drioli asks for a piece of art that is a part of himself, that can be with him forever; ultimately, however, the art is deemed worthless unless separated from his body. The art is only a tattoo until the skin is separated from his body. Though Drioli has become the canvas, as the text states four times, he is not the art.
Drioli understands that he is not the same as a canvas. Soutine tells him three times to put himself upon the easel, but it is not possible. This suggestion of impossibility posits a separation of art and body, yet Soutine proceeds with the project despite its unsustainability.
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By Roald Dahl
