From other + -ing

Othering in The Handmaid's Tale

The word "othering" of course has a very specific role in The Handmaid's Tale, written by Margaret Atwood, as a device for casting people out of the society. In the Republic of Gilead, order and sameness is valued in order to establish clear lines between classes of people. These rules extend to their names, relationships, choice in wardrobe, roles in the household, and even what stores they can shop at or events they can attend. Women are cast from the society as unimportant, pointless.. a useless object.


"This is the kind of touch they like: folk art, archaic, made by women, in their spare time, from things that have no further use. A return to traditional values. Waste not want not. I am not being wasted. Why do I want? (Atwood 7)"

Handmaids in the society are the ones that make the babies and are therefore very important. One reason "unwomen" are an inherent part of the society may be because Handmaids are so valuable. An "unwoman" is like a defective product. There is no use for them. But a perfectly fertile handmaid is what is important. They carry the babies and they birth them. If an infertile woman was put out there to have the babies, there would be either very unhealthy babies or just a bunch of still-borns. By weeding out the "unwomen" the Republic can increase their chances of having healthy babies. The controversial part of that is that there is no such thing as an "unman". Commanders are encouraged to keep having sex with the Handmaids even if they cannot produce the sperm needed to conceive. It may not be as important for them to be able to produce sperm because the Handmaids rotate so often. The esteem of the household comes from having a baby and the only way to do it is to have a handmaid and sperm. In this way, the Commander can be seen as dispensable in the master plan. At first it may seem that the Commanders are the ones with the most power in the household but that is not true. Atwood most likely would agree that despite being alienated in several ways to attempt to restrict their freedom within the society, women are the most essential part for the growth and prosperity of Gilead. They have their own unique power most recognizable in this scene where Offred and Serena Joy plan to dupe the Commander by setting Offred up with Nick. With their positions as Wife and Handmaid they are hesitant to commence with their betrayal despite knowing it's the only way to accomplish their goal.


"This idea hangs between us, almost visible, almost palpable: heavy, formless, dark; collusion of a sort, betrayal of a sort. She does want that baby (Atwood 205)."


Othering in Wing Young Huie's Work


"(1) “We are the Other” is new work presented as a serialized photographic novel that infuses several concepts to connect people who don’t know each other well or at all."

photo by Wing Young Huie

A photo of Hai in Minneapolis, Minnesota from the "We are the Other" collection by Wing Young Huie (2012)

 Wing's Blog Post

- A denotative examination: He is an older man that plays the guitar and works in a barbershop. It looks pretty old-fashioned -- not much is updated and the hairstyles and photos are dated. Hai is dressed in his best suit and playing his instrument for the picture; he is looking his best. He is a man that works simply for income and food to eat. He takes pride in his work and enjoys it but still wants more.

- A connotative examination:
He is a man that has been through many events in his lifetime. Settling down and working in his barbershop is a way for him to live a quiet life without a ton of drama or worrying. Many do not know about his passion for music. He never gets bored waiting for customers as he is always thinking about music. He has been through and experienced loss and migration, burning bodies in India, sights in Alaska and Wyoming, the death of his mother and memories of his homeland Vietnam before communists took it over -- all of which has been mentioned in the 40 songs he has written in the last 20 years. He was inducted into the South Vietnamese army at age 20, served as a radio operator for 14 years, was briefly captured by the Viet Cong and spent a week as a POW before escaping. He became a barber in Vietnam of which he recalled that the barber, not the customer, chose the style of hair because communism made people afraid of choice and thought it'd be better to leave the decision up to the barber and not argue... or you would be killed.


Wing Young Huie communicates that a person is not defined by how they look or act but are defined by their experiences in life and what they have accomplished. Instead of being just an ordinary barber, Hai has had the experience of surviving a war-torn Vietnam, loss of his family, and working toward a brighter future in America. His experience with Communism and it's harsh regime has shaped him into the man he is today: a barber that enjoys his job and is in truth not fundamentally different from any other American looking to live the American dream.

“America knows how to build a civilization,”  “What better way to understand American culture than to make people look nice? My clients come from all over the world: Mexico, Laos, China, Cambodia, Russia, Africa. You don’t have to be a politician to affect a community. You can just be a small business owner.” - Hai 


So... 

All in all, othering can be found in any society. In both The Handmaid's Tale and in Wing Young Huie's work, othering is a product of authoritative pressure. Each individual has their story in which they will be affected by regime or governmental statures that restrict them in some way. Othering is a product of society but whereas "Unwomen" are shameful and undesirable, people in Wing's series are made to seem personable and worthy of attention.