Summary Of The Thin Red Line

What We Don’t Acknowledge about “The Thin Red Line” Jennifer Egan’s, “The Thin Red Line” argues between self-injures and body modifiers having an unknown difference. Getting a tattoo or a cut design is not the same as slashing one’s flesh. “One is a shared act of pride; the other a secretive act steeped in shame (162).” Mutilation is the act of self-injury that degrades the appearance of the body, and modification is the act of changing something, in this context, the body. With Egan’s segregation between modification and mutilation that is where “The Thin Red Line” is made. The line is very thin and that is what people do not acknowledge, they think it is all the same but it is not. One is controlled and prideful, the other is an uncontrolled
When we modify our body such as tattooing, it is an “imperturbable” thing and is accepted more by society. Tattooing can become a serious thing and one can get addicted because of the pain. Getting tattoos is something one do for fun or to be cool, we control whether or not we tattoo or pierce our bodies. We have the option to say yes or no. We choose to be a modifier. People tattoo their bodies for attention, expression, addiction, rebellion and more. Hair dying, piercings, plastic surgery, hanging, and castration are forms of modification and “Partly, the purpose of these practices is to create a decorative scar (161).” We are proud to modify our bodies to make them look better or make our bodies look how we want it to look.
Mutilation is uncontrolled. People feel depressed and so they are not able to cope with life, they cannot help themselves. They feel the need to feel another pain besides what society is giving. Some cut, burn, scratch, break bones, and even become anorexia. Mutilators are sick and eventually will be in need of help. Mutilation starts at a young age, usually teen years. Harming themselves is a mechanism when dealing with stress or problems in