This particular photo from Wing Young Huie really caught my eye. This photo, which he has titled Father and Sons, was taken by Huie in 2007 in The Springs, California. At first site, this photo has a lot to take in. The very first thing I noticed was the expression on the men's faces. The men look tired and solemn but each have a slight variation in their expression as the father on the left looks weary, the man in the back looks angry, and the man on the right seems almost hopeful. Furthermore the men are holding picures of family members, which I found out after reading Huie's excerpt about the photograph, are still back in Mexico. The setting of this photo also gives insight into the lives of these men as they are using a folding chair as a bed side table with a single book and lamp without a shade. These men are working to support their families back home and stay afloat. The man on the right is wearing jeans with paint spots on them which also suggests that these men may be working long, difficult hours in manual labor that is notoriously underpaid and overworked. Lastly, I found the most striking feature of this photo to be the picture of Mickey Mouse on the back wall. I was immediately struck with emotion when I discovered the reason they hung it there was because it is the ultimate dream that they will go there someday with their families. This picture gave me such a reality check of how privileged we are here in America, and how I am personally, knowing that my family will always be in one place if we want to be.
The way that Huie and Atwood present othering is very similar in their lack of home. What I mean by this is that both in the way Atwood describes Offred's room in The Handmaid's Tale and the way Huie's photo displays these migrant workers' room is cold, sparse, and lack the sense of home. The others of our world and of the Republic of Gilead are found in the cold, forgotten places where they must live despite never being home. I am sure these men have come to have some sense of security in their residence in California but their pictures of their family members shows that Mexico will always be home because that is where their family is. Similarly, Offred's home will always be in the past because that is where she finds the ones she once loved so her new life will never provide her with a sense of home even if it was cozy with comfortable and lavish furniture (which it is not at all).
I'd also like to add that the last line of Huie's explanation of his photograph of the men caught my eye saying, "They were still waiting"(Huie). This line immediately connected my thoughts to Offred as she is always found "waiting". Both Huie and Atwood found that the concept of othering means waiting because they are never fulfilled. Those who do not have power must wait. Be it feminists in The Handmaid's Tale or migrant workers in The United States, "the others" must wait for justice and salvation.
Waiting is a most torturous form of protest, is it not? But that is the nature of othering, I suppose. We are all in waiting for something.
Huie, Wing Young. "Father and Sons." From the Archives. N.p., 2007. Web. 18 Sept. 2016.
I find it interesting that you find the common theme of "othering" between Huie and Atwood is their representation of a lack of home because it holds true to what we can see from both sources. I'd like to add the idea that both Offred, along with these men, while homeless in a sense, due to the "othering" that is present in their lives, are able to create a home in any situation as they both have proven to do. This idea relates with the theme you brought up with waiting which I really enjoyed, the men waiting for family to come to make their home a real home, and Offred waiting to find people she loves again. This reminds me of the saying, "home is where your family is.".
ReplyDeleteI agree with the representation of "othering" found in both Atwood and Huie's representations of home. We, or at least the majority of us in the IB program, are unfamiliar with this cold and empty representation of home. It is alien to us. Also, there is a contrast between Offred's situation and the men in this picture becasue the men in the photo have home despite the emptiness of the room, Offred does not. She doesn't even have access to photos of her family like these men do.
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ReplyDeleteI find that the connection between waiting as a form of protest as very interesting. To me this seems as though they are waiting because of their nature as an other and not because they are protesting, because the migrant workers are working to support their family and maybe bring their family to the States. This would then make them not wait any longer and would result in them not being an other anymore. This is also backed up by your good explanation of how others do not live where they perceive home is, like Offred's and the migrants rooms. So if the migrants family moved their then they would perceive that place as their new home and it would not be protest but rather a state that defines others.
ReplyDeleteI find that the connection between waiting as a form of protest as very interesting. To me this seems as though they are waiting because of their nature as an other and not because they are protesting, because the migrant workers are working to support their family and maybe bring their family to the States. This would then make them not wait any longer and would result in them not being an other anymore. This is also backed up by your good explanation of how others do not live where they perceive home is, like Offred's and the migrants rooms. So if the migrants family moved their then they would perceive that place as their new home and it would not be protest but rather a state that defines others.
ReplyDeleteLove that you looked at the surface element and then considered possible implications. Push yourself a bit more to strengthen your analysis- think in terms of the Big 5 and FIDDS/SPARSE...and watch out for generalizations and assumptions in doing so!
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