The Handmaid's Tale

Author: Wing Young Huie
Photo Taken: 2007-2010
Place of Publication: http://photos.wingyounghuie.com/p929219206/h6cc35901#h6cc35901

At first glance, I can see a girl, who looks like a teenager, siting and holding a baby. The girl is dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and what looks like an oversized jacket. To the left of her are multiple bags, one of which is Nike, and to the right of her is a trash can. She is holding up a hand-written sign that says , "Never let your fears determine your decision."

Now, looking deeper into the picture, I imply that this girl is a teen mom because of the way she is holding the baby and her facial expression. She has a look of subtle determination on her face. Also, the baby looks like he or she is comfortable in the girl's arms, which further confirms my assumption that she is his or her mother. It also seems to me that the two are sitting in some type of center, maybe an abortion clinic or a planned parenthood center. My interpretation of the sign she is holding is that her fear was that having a baby at her age would ruin her life but she did not let that fear influence her to get an abortion or to give it up for adoption. I think the photographer's message here is that we should not assume that when a person of a young age has a baby that their life and all of their dreams are automatically over and we should not try to force them to believe that . Moreover, if the assumptions that I made about location of this picture are true, then the photographer may have also wanted to point out that conquering your fears is extremely important.

Both Atwood and the photographer use "othering" in contrasting ways. Atwood makes it clear that once the women in Gilead become handmaids, their former life and all of their happiness and freedom are taken away and they now belong to the Commanders they are assigned to. Contrastingly, the photographer uses this photo to say that on the surface, it appears that the girl's life is over because of the baby she has, however, the deeper message is that it is actually her decision whether to make her current situation define the rest of her life. Atwood poses the clear message that the handmaids do not get a say in how their life is defined going forward.