Othering!?

This photograph is from Wing Young Huie's Homelessness collection and doesn't have a date or location. At first glance the man appear to be holding out a basin for people to place money in it. He is well dressed and does not appear to be unclean. Also, he looks happy unlike the general stereotype of a homeless person. Due to his decent physical state the basin he is holding may not be for begging for money. Instead it could be for cooking or another purpose. 

By looking deeper into this photo one begins to question if this man and women are actually homeless. It is quite possible that they are actually helping homeless people. The basin could have carried supplies or food for homeless people and he was giving them away. This deeper look at the picture forces the audience to question their analysis of stereotypes. A well dressed man is stereotyped to be well off in our society; however a man sitting on the side of a road is most often poor. 

Stereotypes in this picture characterize the man as either homeless or someone who is wealthy enough to assist the homeless. In Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, stereotypes are also used to identify the individual. The society in the book aids the stereotypes by forcing women to wear uniform clothes. The uniformity of women perpetuates there stereotypes and reinforces their role in society. Women are supposed to feel as though they are onlookers from the true influential powers of society. Their uniforms force them to feel and act this way. Their image is much like the mans image in the picture. The way he is dressed, or his image, portrays him as wealthy, therefore breaking the stereotype of being poor.