Wing Young Huie Response

Wing Young Huie - Young Girl Wrapped in Dora the Explorer Blanket, We are the Other (2012-2013)
URL: http://photos.wingyounghuie.com/p709406511/h7f32b48c#h7f32b48c

Young Girl Wrapped in Dora the Explorer Blanket, photographed by Wing Young Huie, was published in 2012 in South Minneapolis, MN. Upon first examination of this photograph, one can see a young girl that seems to be around ten years old or so. She is wrapped in a towel that has a drawing of the character of Dora, from the cartoon television show Dora the Explorer, printed on it. She appears to be very content, as shown by the smile on her face, with an older lady by her side, potentially her mother. Finally, it is evident that she was either getting into or out of the red minivan behind her prior to this photo being taken. This appears to be set in a city - there is a building in the background.

By looking deeper into this photograph, a connection can be made and a relationship identified between this girl and the towel she is wrapped in. It is apparent that she looks an awful lot like Dora and it is not a bad assumption to claim that this young girl is Hispanic or Latina, like Dora. The usage of this towel could be merely by coincidence, but that is hard to believe. The simple fact that she is having a photograph taken of her in this towel and that she appears to be genuinely smiling is reason enough to believe that she particularly likes this towel and deliberately chose to wrap herself in it. This can be interpreted to suggest that she has a stronger connection with Hispanic or Latino characters than with characters of other ethnic origins.

Although they go about it in different ways, Wing Young Huie and Margaret Atwood both present the concept of "othering", meaning the deliberate portrayal of a person or a group of people as different, in their work. Wing Young Huie achieves this through image, as he has taken a photograph that allows the viewer to implicitly eventually see the alienation of the pictured young girl, as well as the entire Hispanic population. Huie wishes to depict the fact that many Latinos are associating with Latino TV shows and characters, separating them from the U.S. culture. All of these implications, which relate to the idea of "othering," are identified simply by looking at this one photograph - there are no words needed. Therefore, Wing Young Huie illustrates the "othering" of Hispanic people in the U.S. through an image.

On the other hand, Atwood also brings up "othering," but by using a completely different method. Instead of doing this through a photograph, she presents it in the dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale. This in turn means that she utilizes a different approach - layout, or format. In this book, the main character, Offred, is presented as socially isolated by the society of Gilead. The limitations placed on the freedoms of Offred and the other handmaids, such as not being able to read or write, force them into a life lived in seclusion, during which they can only freely think at night when they are alone in their rooms. Atwood shows this by separating the novel into different sections, some examples being Shopping sections, Night sections, and various others. This allows for the reader to clearly see the difference in Offred's, and the other Handmaids', actions and thoughts in different sections and therefore the fact that the Night sections are the ones in which Offred is most able to retain some of her suppressed freedom. Because of the use of different sections, an element of format, in The Handmaid's Tale, the isolation of Offred and the other Handmaids is clearly shown, along with the concept of "othering."