This is Slithy Toves’ Jabberwocky tattoo:

I’ve been an Alice fan since my grandmother bought me the complete works of Carroll when I was 11. Something from Alice seemed like a natural choice for my tat, and being a voracious reader, I loved the idea of using a line of text rather than an image.

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

- Excerpt from the nonsense poem ‘Jabberwocky‘ from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There.

Have a great weekend!

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This quote specifically holds a place in my heart because I think it represents the constant struggle to find yourself, and to hold on to it when you do. I’ve been asking myself this question my whole life and I don’t know if I’ll ever have a full answer.

“Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I? Ah, THAT’S the great puzzle!”

And she began thinking over all the children she knew that were of the same age as herself, to see if she could have been changed for any of them.

- Chapter 2 of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

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Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you’re at!
Up above the world you fly,
Like a teatray in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle little bat!
How I wonder what you’re at!

- “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat” as recited by the Mad Hatter in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

This is Katie’s tattoo:

Why did I pick that line?  I knew I wanted some sort of bat tattoo that wasn’t too goth and I knew I wanted to get an Alice in Wonderland quote on my two feet so voila.  Since Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is one of my absolute all time favorites I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t think of this for months and months!

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This is Eva’s Alice in Wonderland tattoo.

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My tattoo is of the Cheshire Cat from Lewis Carol’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (original art by John Tenniel 1865). The Cheshire Cat is the only creature in Wonderland who uses logic. Though his words often seem mocking and bizarre, his process is always logical. To me the Cheshire Cat symbolizes the fragility of the border between genius and insanity.

Alice: Would you please tell me which way I ought to walk from here?
Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.
Alice: I don’t much care where –
Cat: Then it doesn’t matter which way you walk.
Alice: — so long as I get somewhere.
Cat: Oh, you’re sure to do that, if you only walk long enough.

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“The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo.”

- From “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by John Tenniel.

This is Jennifer C.’s tattoo:

When I was young, I would lose myself in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. It was the most imaginative story I had ever heard. This illustration comes from the amazing John Tenniel – his images were always my favorite.

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“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the cat: “We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the cat, “Or you wouldn’t have come here.”

This is Jessica’s tattoo.  She says:

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This is Morgan’s tattoo:

The idea for this tattoo came from a quote out of Chuck Palahniuk’s book, Fight Club. The quote says, “It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we are free to do anything.”

I was faced with the decision of whether or not to use you’ve/you or we’ve/we. I came to the conclusion that I wanted this tattoo to represent not only myself but also my view on society. It didn’t feel right to use the word “you” because I felt as though it would then become about the person reading it and not about what I have overcome. I also felt that by saying “we” it would stay faithful to my cynicism towards society and how I believe that people do not truly understand what it means to be free inside their own minds, which is what the book is about in the first place.

This tattoo represents having strength and independence and losing all fear no matter what situations we are dealt in life. Most importantly it’s about learning to face your pain full on with your head held high instead of denying that it affects you in the first place.

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“‘I’ll drop my final anchor with the wind howling in my ears above and the swish of bilge below me,’  he declared, ‘and that way I’ll go content.’ And when the time came, I’m sure he went content.”

- From Cradle of the Deep, the fabricated autobiography by Joan Lowell.

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It’s basically a reminder to live life and to experience it and spend time with those I love, and to spend time doing what I love.

“Hershel did not possess a family of his own. He was not such a special person. He loved to read very much, and also to write. He was a poet, and he exhibited me many of his poems. I remember many of them. They were silly, you could say, and about love. He was always in his room writing those things, and never with people. I used to tell him, What good is all that love doing on paper? I said, Let love write on you for a little. But he was so stubborn. Or perhaps he was only timid.”

- Excerpt from Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer.

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This is Sarah’s tattoo:

I fell in love with Ulysses by James Joyce when I was in college studying literature, identifying with the bumbling, conflicted Leopold Bloom.

When my life was recently turned upside down by heartache, I was reminded of this line from the “Hades” chapter, spoken by Bloom: “Plenty to see and hear and feel yet.”

I modified the line to bring out the main points, and had it done in white ink on the inside of my wrist. Most artists don’t like to do white ink tattoos, but I wanted this tattoo to be for me and not immediately visible to anyone else. It’s my daily reminder that no matter what unexpected turns that life can take, there’s always something new around the corner.

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This is Nick’s tattoo:

Attached is a photograph of my own V.F.D. tattoo, located on the inside of my left ankle, from Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. It’s different from most you’ll see in that it’s based on Bret Helquist’s drawing in the ninth book, The Carnivorous Carnival (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 9). I chose this design over the other one because it was more obviously an eye, and less obviously the letters V.F.D.

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Any new idea, Mahound, is asked two questions.
The first is asked when it’s weak:
WHAT KIND OF AN IDEA ARE YOU?
Are you the kind that compromises, does deals, accommodates itself to society, aims to find a niche, to survive;
or are you the cursed, bloody-minded ramrod-backed type of damnfool notion that would rather break than sway with the breeze?
- the kind that will almost certainly, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, be smashed to bits;
but the hundredth time, will change the world?

What’s the second question? Gibreel asked.

Answer the first one first.

- The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

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The reason I got it was because I can really relate to having many paths in my life I might take, and I want to remind myself that if I wait around for the perfect, right one, eventually all my choices will be gone.

- Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar, Chapter 7

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This is Will’s tattoo:

This was my first tattoo, though I’ve been thinking about it for … well, a long time. The phrase comes from Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman” series, from Delirium’s sundial and means “time is broken.” For me, it was always a play on having no sense of time, but realizing that memories are persistent beyond any real sense of time. I can remember what happened ten years ago better than I can what I did for lunch yesterday. I think most people are like that. Having it just above where most people wear a watch is just part of the joke.

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“One word, Ma’am,” he said, coming back from the fire; limping, because of the pain. “One word. All you’ve been saying is quite right, I shouldn’t wonder. I’m a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won’t deny any of what you said. But there’s one more thing to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things – trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we’re leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that’s a small loss if the world’s as dull a place as you say.”

- From The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis.

This is Xin’s tattoo:

The line is from C.S. Lewis’ The Silver Chair, which is the 6th book in the Chronicles of Narnia series. It is spoken by Puddleglum in defiant response to the Witch-queen as she tries to enchant and persuade the characters into believing that whatever they cannot perceive with their senses must be imaginary, and as such, that Narnia and Aslan cannot possibly exist.

As a literature student fresh out of her BA and about to begin her Masters, I do think that there is something to be said about stories being more true that real life. As an aspiring English teacher, I affirm that one must never limit oneself to an understanding of the world in purely scientific or economic terms. As a reader of books, I believe that a life utterly devoid of the rejuvenating power of imagination can only leave us so much the poorer for it. Yet as a Christian who has been called upon to defend her faith, I am constantly coming back to the fact that what I believe in is indeed considered foolishness by so many others.

I do not know if I would die for a story. But I do know that if there is indeed such a being as a God who loved us enough to die for us, then surely I can do no less in giving up everything that I have in this life to seek His face.

The ink was done by Carlos at Lotus Land Tattoo.

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Ron’s tattoo is from Neil Gaiman’s Death: The High Cost of Living.  This is Ron’s story:

I broke up with my ex girlfriend in 2007; she was my high school crush (I’ve known her for 10 years, dated solid the last 5), we never stopped talking and kept trying to ‘make it work’.  Last October 2008 she ended up pregnant.  I stuck by her, did everything I could for the pregnancy, changed my schedule so I could be there for every appointment, went to all the classes; et al.  In May she brought it to my attention, I may not be the father-  I didn’t freak out, I kept going to every class, and appointment, because what would be worse?  Going to the appointments and the baby not being mine, or being mine and I missed all the appointments out of anger?  Lucas Grey was born on 07/08/09, at 10p and I instantly fell in love with him (despite never wanting children).

I stayed at her home, did the midnight changings, put him to sleep, pacified him when he cried.  I was daddy and it really felt good.  On 7/18 I got the test results that he is not mine.  I left and I’ve been entirely devastated ever since.  Buried myself in my work, was drinking a lot, and became a good shut in.  I got this quote for several reasons.  First, When he used to sleep, he would sleep under my left arm, nuzzled onto my chest, secondly its my reminder that its better for both of them without me there, staying only for the selfishness of wanting to be around him.  They are both better without me, and my animosity towards her.  Third, Neil Gaiman is my favorite author, and High Cost of Living is what really introduced me to him, I was a huge Tori Amos fan and I bought the book only to read her forward of the book.  It is also a true quote in every single aspect of life; everything ends, for something new.

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These Harry Potter tattoos belong to Sharon and Chris:

My husband, Chris, and I got Harry Potter tattoos on the same day. I got a Golden Snitch on my thigh which might serve as the basis for a larger Harry Potter piece around it. Chris got a Dark Mark replicated right where it should go: on his left forearm. He claims that it no longer burns, but I’m not so certain. ;)

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Jamie’s tattoo is a tribute to her grandfather, who passed away in 2008.  It was done by Rich at South Shore Tattoo on Long Island.

This was posted as a part of “So it Goes” Saturdays. The phrase “so it goes” appears in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five 116 times. Can you help me collect 116 “so it goes” tattoos? 16 down, 100 to go.

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Is this your Where the Wild Things Are tattoo?

Photos (1, 2, 3) by p22earl; republished under a Creative Commons license.

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