Atta Girl Atwood Response

Photograph title: Expecting Mother St. Paul
Author: Wing Young Huie
Date:1993-1995
Place of Publication: http://www.wingyounghuie.com/frogtown

     Upon first glance of this black and white photograph, one can see a young, possibly Asian girl lying on a mattress in the center of a room. There are piles of items around her, somewhat disheveled, but still seemingly personal. When the photograph is inspected further, the items around the girl help to reveal her situation. There are several stuffed animals and baby dolls scattered around, as well as an overfilled laundry basket. These items suggest that this is the girl's home, or perhaps a place of living. The boxes and random objects on the table in the background show that the building she is in is quite small, because there is no other place to store them. While there are two suitcases in the frame, this does not necessarily mean the people who live in the house travel often; they could have recently moved or use them for extra storage. Squished between a suitcase and wall of boxes is a thin mattress, causing the girl to curl up as she is too tall for it. This again establishes that her place of living is small and that she is possibly in a difficult financial situation. In addition, the mattress does not have any fitted sheets or blankets for it, suggesting that these are considered luxuries and she sleeps in her clothes only.
     Both Atwood and Huie show a form of bias in their work, as the groups they choose to portray align with their identities. Atwood chose to show the inferiority of women in A Handmaid's Tale to highlight the issues that could come with dropping fertility rates, and Huie wishes to explore the lives of minorities or those living in countries struggling economically. However, both artists' methods of "othering" differs, as Atwood allows the reader to personally identify with the oppressed group while Huie allows his viewers to have a more objective standpoint. Neither author gives their subject's real name, but this was done intentionally in A Handmaid's Tale. The text states, "My name isn't Offred, I have another name, which nobody uses now because it's forbidden" (Atwood 84). While not giving a name to the protagonist is slightly unusual, it was done because of the oppressive nature of the society. Through the same technique of first person perspective, it later becomes known how the "othering" between men and women occurred. Conversely, the unnamed girl in Huie's photograph has a different effect. If this photo is looked at in isolation, the girl is the only representative of her culture and ethnicity. This leads to an overgeneralization of people who share her ethnicity, and effectively submits them to "othering" since there is a separation created among those who cannot relate to her situation. Thus, Atwood and Huie classify groups of people as different by either explaining how false names isolate women from men, or how the lack of a name allows for a broad generalization.