Eat: A Look at a Wing Young Huie's Photograph

http://photos.wingyounghuie.com/eat/e58670c0a

This photograph, taken by Wing Young Huie under the "Eat" section of his collection, is simplistic at first, clearly portraying a reflection of the room.  The two lights, table, and portrait create a mirror-like and basic effect, while the two people at the table also mirror each other in hand movements.  The obvious disruption to the reflection image is the black and white subjects of the photograph.  Though they are both male, one is a middle-aged white man and one is a teenage black boy.  The white male is eating a salad with white dressing, and the boy is eating a rice dish with what looks to be Tabasco sauce.  This is an example of othering because of the contrast of normalcy between the two males: the mundane appetizer of salad with dressing and the strange mixture of Tabasco sauce and rice.  This suggests that white people's eating habits are what is "normal" and catered to in the real world.  The portrait is also noteworthy because it is of a black man looking disapprovingly at the white man.  This could indicate the photographer's own disapproval with the concept of white superiority.  Contrasting these negative views of the racial implications in this photograph is the fact that a white and black male are eating together in a house.  It suggests an intimacy that does not occur anywhere besides a home, and the combination of man and teenager is also unique and adds to the progressive ideologies of the photograph. 
The Handmaid's Tale and this photograph present othering in, overall, different ways.  They both show both sides of the power spectrum (the extremely powerful males and the subordinate females and the while adult and black boy).  The females in Handmaid's Tale are explicitly treated as inferior, but the photograph is much more implicit.  The slightly tilted view of the photograph represents othering; illustrating the superiority white people believe they have over black people. In reality they are just two people, whether eating at a kitchen table or otherwise.  The two sitting at the table in the same positions show this perspective, and this is never seen in Handmaid's Tale, for even Moira, the extremely independent, rebellious woman in the novel, falls to the power of the male.  Othering is also countered in this photograph because of the mirroring quality, as well as the idea mentioned earlier of black and white male coexistence--living together and eating together.  In Atwood's novel, the men and women live together, but the women are treated as "containers, it's only the insides of our bodies that are important" (Atwood 124). There is no coexistence, there is solely use of women.  Though the stereotype of black and white men normally not being together is proven time and again, this picture shows the opposite, rejecting some othering aspects.  In The Handmaid's Tale, othering is seen so much that it is clearly rejected by the author, and, like Huie, conveys to the audience a major issue that Atwood feels must be addressed.
Citation: Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. New York: Ballantine Books, 1985. Print.