The Meaning of A Name

1. Lane: A Middle English surname that meant someone who owned property on a narrow road or street, most likely in a town. To me this name conjures up images of my family and of the rural parts of North Carolina we come from. I find myself caught in the duality of my last name sometimes, wanting to embrace the Middle English Lane and live in a city, far away from the rural past, yet I have also come to appreciate the simplicity of the roots I come from. In this way my name gives me mixed ideas about where my place in the world is.
2. I fell like I live in a struggle very similar to the position captured in Life in the 30's. I find a portion of myself connects with the roots I come from, yet another side desire to declare myself a complete individual. This struggle comes from the expectations I have been surrounded by from birth. In the family I was raised in traditional ideas of success and wealth are the prominent school of the though and I had this doctrine pushed on me from a young age. However, as I have grown older I have explored the idea of other aspirations and I quickly learned that my plans for my future did not line up with the expectations placed on me. I have noticed how different my attitudes and behavior are when I am around my family, compared to when I am around friends and even strangers. To this extent I exist in duality, partially an individual, partially a member of my family.

We Are The Other...

http://know.wingyounghuie.com/image/20758303616

On Easter Sunday, 2012 this photo, "Easter Sunday, 38th & Chicago Bus Stop" was taken by Wing Young Huie in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jayme, the man shown above, was on his way to the Word of Grace Baptist Church when he was stopped by Wing Young Huie inquired about his life, and then photographed him. In this picture we see the word "salvation" written on a sign. This man was separated from the rest of his family when his mother was sent to a state mental hospital for life following a mental breakdown. After a run of bad luck and mounting gambling debts Jayme was forced into homelessness. At first glance we see a man, sitting on a bench, waiting for a bus however, this man is waiting for much more than a bus. He is waiting for relief from all the hardships of his life. He is literally waiting for salvation. Jayme lives in a Catholic homeless shelter and on Sunday's he leaves that church solely to attend another church. His sign alone speaks to the fact that this man has been waiting on salvation he knows to be coming soon.

Atwood and Wing Young Huie have very different ideas of "othering". Atwood believes that the most efficient method to strip someone of their humanity is to silence their voice. The Handmaids in The Handmaid's Tale have no voice in the society. The only way the communicate is through phrases they were taught such as "Praise be". (Atwood 19). Huie has a slightly different stance. In Jayme's story it is stated that "He told me that people don’t believe him when he says that her face glowed." In Jayme's story we hear about a man who was made an other, not because he has no voice, but because no one hears his voice even when he uses it. While Atwood and Huie may not agree on how to effectively make another person less and human they both agree that the key lies in striping away the voice of the individual, whether it is through silencing that individual or by making their voice have no true meaning.