Wing Young Huie

 

Author: Wing Young Huie

Date: 2012

Place of Publication: http://know.wingyounghuie.com/tagged/We_are_the_Other (k)now blog

 

Summary

Clearly in this photo you notice the battered American flag hanging outside of a house in Chicago. The gloomy sky also catches the eye and adds to the drowsy and ominous effect on the picture. You also notice that the flag is still hanging on by a thread despite the fact that the majority of it is destroyed. I think that this picture represents America and the American spirit. No matter what the situation or how beat up America gets the American spirit lives on, like how this flag hangs on by a thread. The American flag continuing to fly despite the destruction it has endured symbolizes the American spirit continues to dominate the world no matter what.

 

Atwood and Huie

 

Wing Young Huie and Margaret Atwood both present the concept of "othering" by the use of their symbols and through their characters or main focus of their works. In the above photograph Wing Young Huie shows the American spirit and unity through the flight of the American flag holding on by a thread. Margaret Atwood shows othering through the main character Offred who is constantly looking for a way out of the world to escape the government. Other characters and language are used to represent this othering as well. The Commander invites Offred into his room, which is forbidden, and lets her read, which is also highly forbidden. Neologisms within this work such as "Mayday" along with the language that Offred uses throughout this text serve her purpose of othering (Atwood 43). She is trying to distance herself from this terrible society. 

 

Wing Young Huie presents "othering" by contrasting people with their racial or cultural stereotypes or putting two people together that do not commonly go together. She also choses to put the photographs in color, so you can see more distinction between people, or in black and white, so the differences are few but very evident. The photo of David and Lou puts two people of contrasting backgrounds together and they are now "brothers from another mother." David grew up in safe Minnesota while Lou grew up in violent Chicago. With these different backgrounds you would think that these two people wouldn't get along but they answered the questions the same and are connected like brothers. The battered American flag is an example of “othering” because it is battered and destroyed but it is still hung outside the house to represent the spirit of the nation. Despite the gloomy sky and battered flag, the flag is still flying. 

 

Atwood choses to represent "othering" through her characters actions while Huie choses to show "othering" through her choices of who and what to put together in an image and their language as well as the colors in the image. Two very different styles but both highly effective in representing the "othering" of our society.