Skin

The Great Divide can be harsh and relentless, and a person experiencing extreme poverty can be tempted into the unthinkable to survive. In “Skin,” Roald Dahl examines class and wealth in postwar France, creating a protagonist who is alone, miserable, and destitute. The juxtaposition of the lower and upper classes and poverty and wealth emphasizes the rigid divisions of class, along with Dahl’s use of irony and foreshadowing.

Drioli’s characterization mirrors France’s postwar state. After World War II, the country struggled to repair itself, the economy was devastated, and the divide between social classes became greater. Drioli, cold and hungry, is forced to walk the streets of Paris in a freezing April wind. His situation contrasts with his memories of 1913, before the First World War, when Drioli knew happiness. He had his friendship with Chaim Soutine, his wife, Josie, and steady work with his tattoo business. Even after World War I, Drioli returned from the conflict to a pleasant life. However, in the wake of World War II, he lost everything. The narrative’s structure—the frame of telling a story within a story—compares Drioli’s present (1946) to his past (1913), aligning prewar and postwar settings. The positive associations of prewar (celebration and the excitement of the tattoo) contrast with the negative associations of postwar (loss, hunger, loneliness, desperation), illustrating how severely war has affected the country.

Juxtaposed with Drioli’s privation is a world of comfort and luxury on the other side of the art gallery’s window. The window represents a physical barrier to this world, but its transparency allows Drioli to view the other side. The inhospitably cold streets contrast with the “wine-coloured carpet” in a “beautiful and warm” room (14). The contrast in settings alienates Drioli, as do the descriptions of the upper-class characters in the gallery. Drioli is filthy and compared to a hedgehog, while inside, immaculately dressed people hold catalogs, representing the means to purchase art. The social divide is clear, and Drioli nervously glances inside, “wondering whether he dared go forward and mingle with this crowd” (14). The Great Divide is symbolically represented, as the upper classes are visible to Drioli but inaccessible.

The recognition of his friend’s art gives Drioli the courage to enter the gallery; however, he is immediately told to leave. The onlookers’ expressions suggest their complacency as they think, “There’s no danger to us. It’s being taken care of” (15). The reference to Drioli as “it” diminishes him to an inanimate object, establishing the theme of Dehumanization and Objectification. He is perceived as a problem to be taken care of, not a person with equal rights and needs. The isolation Drioli feels echoes Soutine’s emotions years earlier. Both characters are outsiders due to their social class. Dahl emphasizes the irony of this situation as, while the upper classes celebrate Soutine’s work, they look down on individuals who stem from similarly humble origins.

Drioli’s desire to be accepted in this upper-class space is demonstrated when he removes his coat and shirt to reveal the tattoo. By demonstrating he owns a Soutine, Drioli hopes to prove his belonging. The valuable artwork on his back should afford him power and social status. As the owner of the art, he has a rare artifact in his possession. Instead, the tattoo transforms the other characters’ appraisal of him from worthless to a commodity that can be bought. Soutine’s artwork reduces Drioli to an objectified product to be owned and places him in danger.

The exploitation of the lower classes in an unequal society is illustrated in the resulting negotiation over Drioli’s tattoo. The scene takes on the atmosphere of a macabre public auction as offers and counteroffers are made, and the gallery crowd speculates on how the tattoo can be separated from Drioli. Drioli’s perceived disposability is highlighted by an anonymous character’s suggestion: “Perhaps, if one were to offer this old man enough money, he might consent to kill himself on the spot” (20). The comment foreshadows that there is no way for Drioli to benefit from this transaction. The protagonist’s alienation is deepened by his inability to negotiate, unlike the gallery owner and the man in the canary gloves. Drioli’s powerlessness underlines his lack of social mobility. His possession of the tattoo does not make him a social equal but a target of the other characters’ scheming.

The negotiation process over Drioli’s tattoo highlights the difference between greed and desperation. The gallery owner and his business rival exhibit greed, determined to acquire the art as a status symbol. Meanwhile, Drioli is driven by a desperation to meet his basic needs. Significantly, the life of luxury promised by the hotel owner involves relying on the servitude of others—a marker of the upper classes. The offer includes “a plump, attractive girl to manicure the nails of his fingers, and a maid to bring him his breakfast in bed in the mornings” (18). However, in Drioli’s straitened circumstances, these offers seem fantastical and do not address his most urgent problem: hunger. It is only when the hotel owner promises him a duck dinner that Drioli “drool[s] at the mouth” and agrees (20). His physical hunger ultimately seals his fate. Despite recognizing the predatory nature of the stranger, whose neck extends “like a snake” (20), Drioli’s desperation overrides his survival instincts. Ultimately, the stranger commits an act so gruesome that Dahl omits it from the story and doesn’t directly address the protagonist’s fate, although the supposed hotel owner’s prior comment that Drioli would never survive an operation of this type foreshadows it.