Adaptation and Evolution in The Bar Code Tattoo

The science-fiction novel The Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn wrestles with how human evolution and adaptation are affected by genetic alteration. Weyn argues the idea that the development of genetic cloning through technological evolution will halt further natural selection in humanity. However, the signs of adaptation of the resisters that were outcasted from this “brave and scary new world” (Weyn 159) have conveyed that psychic evolution is an alternate option for these resisters to survive and progress naturally and to determine their own fates.

To illustrate, Weyn’s fictional novel is set in a place and time in which she imagines people have evolved much more scientifically, technologically, and, as a result, psychically than our current world. The ruling figure in this society is Global-1, an organization bent on making genetic cloning a regular activity in order to construct “a society of only the healthiest people” (110-111), mainly to increase its own power and to decrease the amount of money spent on keeping people alive and well. The tattoo that is made law during the first half of the story is not the conflict, but a sort of metaphor used to convince civilians that this development in genetic alteration was a convenience instead of torture. What they don’t know is that it carries the genetic code of its owner (157-158) so it is easier for Global-1 to categorize the people of the country into those who are healthy enough to live and those whom Global-1 deem not. The situation is similar to survival of the fittest, though the contestants are blind to the game’s murderous judges and rules. This new society will be one of no further evolution, one of conformity and artificial, manipulated advancement. It will progress in the direction that “man wants it to go, not where it necessarily needs to go” (198).

On the other hand, this change in America’s social and legal environment in 2025 (the Bar Code) has led its resisters to grow away from society and start a new community in the Adirondack woods on the border of Canada (94). The harsher social standpoint, as well as physical environment, caused the resisters to adapt to better fight against it. These adaptations include “heightened psychic ability, such as telepathy, telekinesis, and healing powers” (231). The psychically advanced resisters are being hunted by the government. If they are all captured, depending on the state of their genetics, which they had no control over in the first place, they will either be cloned against their wills and evolve and adapt no further, or they will suddenly have an inconspicuous, “natural” death. Everyone in the country will be forced to accept the Bar Code Tattoo.

Ultimately, the progressive adaptation of the resisters happened as a result of the development of cloning, harmful to society. The evolution seen in the resistance group is a more natural and beneficial form of evolving than that seen in the artificial genetic enhancements that Global-1 is planning to force upon America’s society, as well as others around the world. The American people as a whole will advance genetically compared to the genetic state in the country in this first story, but the resisters have the advantage. The bar coded group of clones won’t have the ability to adapt in times when it may be needed because there will be so little variety in the gene pool of civilization. This large advantage that the resisters hold could potentially end the reign of Global-1, but it would take an extreme amount of power from a small group of people; a small group that decreases by the minute due to the fact that they are constantly hunted by groups like Tattoo Generation that aim to rid the country of any resistance. I have doubt that the resisters can find a way to permanently hide from Global-1 and its followers, let alone long enough to build up the immense amount of power needed to take down a conform-minded government and the large majority of the manipulated country. The resisters can obtain this power by influencing other countries that are Bar Code-free, like Canada, to stand against Global-1. The resisters may be fighting a losing battle, but it could possibly help them win the war.