Wing Young Huie & Margaret Atwood: The Othering

Wing Young Huie. Walter. 2012. Minneapolis, MN.

This photograph from Wing Young Huie's collection, We are the Other, shows a young man sitting on a bench. He holds a sign that reads, "Equality for the undocumented." It seems like he is waiting for a bus because he is sitting at a bench with an ad on the back, which is characteristic of bus stops. It can be inferred from the bag on his shoulders, his young appearance, and his casual dress that he is going to school. At closer examination of the picture, the young man's face portrays a lot of emotion. His eyes are looking down in a blank stare, his mouth is drooping down in a slight frown, his chin is pulled down and his posture is slouched. This conveys feelings of worry, shame, and despair. It is possible that these emotions could arise from a variety of influences and factors, but the young man is holding a sign, which clarifies the cause of his emotional distress. It is evident that he is struggling with being treated unequally as an undocumented immigrant or perhaps his emotions are coming from witnessing the inequality among people he knows. Huie made the artistic choice of putting this picture in black in white. This reveals the sad tone of the photograph and causes the photo to have a more dramatic effect on the audience. The context of the photo also adds to the meaning. Huie does not add any of his own comments to this photo but many things can be inferred from setting of this photo. This young man is waiting at a bus stop, meaning he does not enjoy the luxury of a car, and is more likely to belong to the lower class. He appears young, so he may have traveled to America with his parents. He is waiting for a bus to perhaps take him to school, but meanwhile he is reflecting on the inequality of undocumented citizens in the U.S., so he might be dissatisfied for his opportunities in America, or how he is being treated in the places he finds himself, like school. This all accumulates to the purpose of this photograph, which is to portray what it's like to be an "other" in the diverse community of the United States. 

Margaret Atwood also explores the concept of the "othering" in her novel, The Handmaid's Tale. Atwood goes about portraying the othering in a more implicit manner than Huie. In the hyper-patriarchal Gilead, anyone but a white male is the othering. In Atwood's novel it is implied that black Americans are shipped away off to North Dakota. Atwood writes:

"'Resettlement of the Children of Ham is continuing on schedule,' says the reassuring pink face, back on the screen, 'Three thousand have arrived this week in National Homeland One, with another two thousand in transit.' How are they transporting that many people at once? Trains, buses? We are not shown any pictures of this. National Homeland One is in North Dakota. Lord knows what they're supposed to do, once they get there. Farm, is the theory." 

In this passage, Atwood implicitly implies the mistreatment of black Americans, and places them as the othering. The Children of Ham is a biblical reference. It is relates to the debatable perception that the descendants of Ham were cursed with blackness. This was a justification used by Christians, Muslims, and Jews for the enslavement of black people. Atwood then chooses to describe the color of the newscasters face with "pink." She adds this description to introduce the idea of skin color, which had not been previously mentioned before. Atwood alludes to several marginalized groups in history with her diction. She starts off with the word "resettlement." Resettle manipulates the truth of what is really going on. The "Children of Ham" are being resettled, but that is the nice way of putting it. Resettle can allude to the native american populations in America. In colonial America, all the colonists did was simply "resettle" the native Americans. The word "resettle" glosses over the dark truths of the matter. Atwood also discusses the transport of the people. She includes a rhetorical question about how such a great amount of people were being transported. This brings the readers' minds to the mass relocation of peoples in the past. Such as Jews, gypsies, and homosexuals to concentration camps, or the Japanese to internment camps.  Atwood then makes a final nod to slavery at the end of the passage by implying that they will be farming in North Dakota. The overall tone of this passage is oblivious. Offred dos not really understand what is really going on, and she seems clueless. This is due to media manipulation. Offred has not seen any pictures of this and only has guesses about what is going on. It is clear that the government does not want the people to know what is really going on. This is the only part in the novel that Atwood mentions race. Her exclusion of this has significance. Atwood provides a glimpse of these otherings but does not mention them again to show their importance and relevance to the society.

Atwood portrays the othering in a more implicit manner. In Huie's photograph, it is explicitly showing that the photograph is addressing the issue of immigration, however, in the passage from Atwood's novel, the message is implicit and is only understood fully through ample historical background knowledge. Huie's photograph uses an emotional appeal. The body language of the young man and the use of black and white, emphasize the emotional implications of being an othering. In the passage from The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood uses a logical appeal by subtly and implicitly referencing historical occurrences where a group of people was treated as different. Atwood and Huie both aptly portray the concept of the othering, however, they approached the topic differently.