Photo Details:  Charles and Hai at Tip Top Haircut, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2012, by Wing Young Huie


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When I first looked at the photo, my eyes were immediately drawn to the focus of the image, a chalkboard that was on the lap of the African-American man in the barber chair. The chalkboard, said, "I am a fair minded person. I wish the world would be the same." Immediately after that, I realized that the photo was in black and white, and a man, presumably of Asian descent was cutting the African-American man's hair. The Asian man has a look of intense concentration on his face, and he has two different tools for cutting hair. The background of the photograph has a picture that is blurred, but combined with the statues surrounding it, seems religious. Just over the patient's shoulders, there is a bouquet of flowers. After a few more moments of examination, I noticed that the man holding the sign, had his eyes closed, which allowed me to infer that he was either angry or saddened. After reading the commentary, I learned that Huie chose this photo of the man with his eyes closed, compared to one with his eyes open, because he thought that it was a better representation of the sign on his lap. This intrigued me, and made me rethink the coloring of the photo. Eventually, I came to believe that Wing Young Huie chose black and white to symbolize the divide between the two races within American society. While the patient obviously has a darker complexion, the barber is lighter. However, when he is compared to the blankness of the white, he doesn't quite blend in to the background, and more symbolically, the rest of white society.

Huie's image on the surface portrays the "others" differently than Atwood, but they're connected on a much subtler level. Atwood often uses imagery to show how outcasts in The Handmaid's Tale are shunned and marginalized. Huie does something similar within his photograph, specifically choosing reduce the photo's colors to black and white. Within the photo itself, there is a stark contrast between black and white, evidenced by the lack of grey. In The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood uses the society's and the government's harsh rules that are "black and white" to punish the "others." In some cases, the government of Gilead punishes former respected figures, doctors and revolutionaries. The "blacks" in Gilead's case are anti-government firebrands, like Moira or Ofglen, while the whites are simply those who assimilate to the culture, like Offred. The photographer could be represented by all the enforcers of Gilead's laws.  In contrast to the aforementioned,  Huie's photo captures the image of a hardworking barber and a frequent customer. The patient and barber are two different races, which indicates that even thought they come from different cultures, they can still have respect each other. I find that idea to be very powerful, and equally revealing about a person's true nature.