The Illustrated Man

The narrator, on a walking tour of Wisconsin in early September, meets the Illustrated Man. He doesn’t realize the Man is tattooed yet but does notice that he’s overweight, with the face of a child.

The Man asks if the narrator knows where he can find a job; he has been unable to hold one down for 40 years. Despite the heat, he does not roll up the sleeves of his shirt. He explains to the narrator that, though this is prime carnival season, they always fire him after 10 days or so. Once he confirms it’s all right if he stays, he shows the narrator the Illustrations on his body. Children especially seem to enjoy them: “Everyone wants to see the pictures,” the Man says, “and yet nobody wants to see them” (2).

The narrator marvels at the beauty and realism of the images: “If El Greco had painted miniatures in his prime” (3), they would resemble his tattoos. The Man wishes he could destroy them, though, because they reveal the future. He claims that in the year 1900, 50 years before, a witch from the future tattooed him. He’s tried to find her every year since, intending to kill her, but has been unsuccessful.