Author: Wing Young Huie

1. By looking at this picture we can see that there are fireworks being shot over a lake.  It is the Fourth of July.  We can also see three people standing by the waters edge looking out over the lake, and up at the fireworks.
2. As we look deeper we can notice the houses in the background.  What we notice about them is that all of their lights are on.  Since all of their lights are on, one possible assumption is that the families that are inhabiting them are celebrating the independence of the United States together.  Now, if we think about the three people we can infer that their may be a problem going on with them.  They could be teenagers and could be having trouble with their parents and they may just want to celebrate with their friends instead of being at home.  They may be considered outcasts.
3. In Huie's photograph, and Margaret Atwood's Novel The Handmaid's Tale, othering is very prevalent.  Both of these texts have outcasts from society.  In The Handmaid's Tale, the Unwomen are seen as the outcast whom cannot fit in with society.  They cannot fit in because they cannot birth a child, unlike the rest of the women.  In this photo, the three people are also outcasts of society.  They are not with their families celebrating the Fourth of July.  Instead they are by themselves and on the other side of the lake.  The separation of the vast lake is a huge symbol in this picture because it is as if they will never fit in and they have been cast out. In The Handmaid's Tale, a symbol that represents separation would obviously be the wall, as well as the prefix Un.  Because of these the Unwomen are forced out of society the same way that the three people in the photograph are.