Wing Young Huie Photography and Othering

Wing Young Huie, Baker, Montana, 2001

In Wing Young Huie's photograph there appears to be a crowd with a man standing in front. The man is noticeably different from the rest because hi is the only Asian, he is standing up in front, and he is facing a different direction of everybody else. The people sitting seem to be in stands at some type of event as if they are observing something. This is verified by the writing on the stairs that specify each individual row. The people in the stands also seem to be segregated in a way also. The majority of the elderly people are sitting in the middle while younger to middle aged people are sitting off to the left for the most part and the mothers with there children are grouped together in the bottom right.

When this picture is observed through a connotative lens a few thing stick out. The main point of this picture is to show how an Asian living in America is always left out. The photographer, himself being Asian as well, was trying to portray the difficulties of trying to fit in to society.he is literally and figuratively standing out from the crowd and is different from the rest. Everybody has their own group they are with whether its a group of moms or elderly people except for the man in front who is all alone.

In both Margret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" and Wing Young Huie's photograph othering is a key focal point. In the picture othering is shown by positioning mostly. The man in front is being "othered" by everybody else because he is out in front and facing away. by going against the flow of things he is put out on a pedestal almost to be shown as different. In "the handmaid's tale" Offred is also also a victim of othering. she must act differently than everybody else in the sitting room by kneeling instead of sitting. she is also othered by her job. in a household there's always people with somebody to talk to except for handmaids.The Guardians have other Guardians, the Marthas have each other, and the commander and wife can talk to each other but Offred as a handmaind has nobody to talk to. Another way othering occurs is through color. In "The Handmaid's Tale" Offred is othered by being forced to wear the color red all the time. she is left out because she is the only one in the house wearing red. In the Photograph by Huie the man is tan while everybody else is more white giving the same effect.