In Wing Young Huie's David and Lou (published in South Minneapolis, MN, 2012), included in his "We are the Other" collection, two men of different ethnic backgrounds are presented on a porch with a white column dividing them. The man on the left is white, dressed in gym shorts and a tank top, and is smoking a cigarette. In contrast, the man on the right is black, wears a button up shirt, and has an earring on his left ear. Despite these differences, the two men seem remarkably similar. They both wear glasses, have a square-shaped beard, and are sitting in almost the exact same position. After reading the text below the photograph, new discoveries can be made about the men that are not apparent on the surface. The two have been friends for seven years and consider themselves to be "two bosses" and "entrepreneurs." Both men live their lives by a shared moral code of values: serving to strengthen their relationship and understanding of each other.
Both Wing Young Huie and Margaret Atwood use color to present the concept of "othering" in their work: the process by which people or things are portrayed as fundamentally different. In Huie's David and Lou, the difference in color between the two men's skin immediately suggests to the audience that they come from two different backgrounds. Furthermore, sitting on the front porch of a house in such attire is stereotypical of poor, Southern communities, which have a long history of racial conflict between blacks and whites. As a result, the audience is generally surprised when they discover that the two men are actually close friends and share common interests. Similarly, Atwood uses color in The Handmaid's Tale to underscore the difference between classes in the society of the Republic of Gilead: the Handmaids wear red, the Marthas wear green, and the Wives wear blue. Although color does divide the women, the Marthas and Handmaids demonstrate some degree of association and shared understanding in that they are both subservient to the Wives. Color in both scenarios, therefore, lets Huie and Atwood alienate people in the physical sense while still allowing them to be bound together in the mental sense. "Othering," then, can be misleading at times; while a person or group may be presented as fundamentally different, some striking similarities may exist between them below the surface.
