Who needs a name anyway?



Above is my dad holding me at 10 minutes old.
This is me, however, this is most likely not an
Abby Claire Elise, yet.

Every name has a story. Whether it be a name, rich with history, passed down through generations, or a name picked at random from a baby book, no two names have the same origin. Abby Claire Elise Gostling. Thanks for the most basic first name out there Mom, at least you tried to make up for it with two middle names, right? Realistically, I doubt that was her train of thought at the time. The story behind my name is one of indecisiveness.  Honestly I don’t even know what my name was when I was first born, it got changed somewhere between three and five times on the birth certificate, and who knows how many times before it was supposed to be official.  I do know however that before I was Abby Claire Elise, I was just Claire Elise. In fact, I was never supposed to be Abby Claire Elise, instead the final decision from my mom was for it to simply be Abby Elise. However, due to more indecision or tiredness from having a newborn, the final name change didn’t go according to plan. So here I am, Abby Claire Elise Gostling.

But wait, the chaos of it all does not end there. After all the hassle of giving me something to go by rather than “baby” or “it”, my parents didn’t think that it was overly important to tell me that Claire was one of my middle names. So here I am, ten-year old Abby, wondering why my dad always jokingly calls me Claire, until finally my mom decides to let me in on the punch line.

I wouldn’t say it is because of all that craziness, but maybe that is part of the reason that I have never really felt a strong connection to my name. It is on a piece of paper, it’s helpful for communication, and I can sign important documents with it, but that’s about it. How can a name define me when many other people around the world probably have the same name? It’s the stories that count. The things that I feel have defined me since birth are my heritage, coming from an English family, and my parents, their beliefs and values. Sometimes I wish I had a more unique name, not necessarily one with a cool story, but something that felt more mine. It gets a little old hearing, “Abby,” and having to ask, “Which one?” Regardless, I got what I got and that doesn’t change who I am as a person today.

As previously mentioned, family is one of the things that does define who I am. Being a part of a family means you are a unit. This complex idea of being “two,” an individual and a unit, sometimes doesn’t work out too well, but it is a key part of how society works. It is easy to look out for yourself, get your own work done, and do things you want to do. It is not so easy to put what you want aside and take care of someone else’s needs. The most prominent experience of this in my life is through reaching out to my sister. We are polar opposites, Emma and I, me being more outgoing and social, while Emma is more reserved and introverted. However, my parents still pushed for us to do all of the same things. It was at times frustrating and hard to extend “my activities” to include my sister. But when I did, I realized how important it was to do this for her, and how much I actually enjoyed her coming along. It wasn’t supposed to be about me doing my own stuff, it was about me being a sister. This is really when I have felt like “two.” There is me as Abby going out and having and good time, and there is me as Abby a part of the Gostling family for better or for worse.

A members of a complex world. No person is ever just “one.” In fact, I highly doubt that anyone is only just “two” either. We are all “many.” There is an “us” that is unique to each different unit we belong to, family, friends, school, sports, and countless more. An individual is made up of all those different parts, and that is what makes everyone unique, no two people are ever made up of the same parts.

Walter, 38th & Chicago Bus Stop, South Minneapolis, MN, by Wing Young Huie 2012

Denotation:

In this photo the first thing that stands out is a young Latino male sitting at a city bus stop holding a sign that reads “Equality for the undocumented.” The young man is dressed casually in a hoodie, jeans, and converse. There is a long string of cars lined up on the side of the street in the background. A wall and car are directly behind the bench. There is litter under the bench and in the bushes in the background making the area look rundown and uncared for. A simple bench and street sign are the only components of the bus stop in the image.

Connotation:

As you take a deeper look at the image portrayed in this photo, you can make conclusions about the area in which this was taken. The litter surrounding the stop and the simplicity of the bench creates the idea that this bus stop is located in an area of low socioeconomic class where there is not someone working on the upkeep of the community stop. As you can tell from the cars lined along the street in the background, this bus stop is located in a populated urban area of South Minneapolis.

Casual clothing worn by the man at the bus stop indicated that he is not going to work at a high-paying office job, but rather if he is heading to work he is most likely a laborer. The sign he hold protests the inequality of treatment toward undocumented workers signifying that he is probably the victim of unfair treatment and pay because of his status as an undocumented citizen. It is also safe to assume that mistreatment of workers is an issue for many of the people in the community, not just for this man.

Attwood vs. Huie:

In Huie’s image, Walter, he shows an event of “othering” that happens all the time in our society. Hatred and anger towards immigrants for traveling into the US illegally and occupying many labor jobs creates stereotypes towards all Latino Americans. The language we use towards these individuals such as “un-American” and “illegal” creates an atmosphere that condones mistreatment of these individuals in the form of unfair pay and unsafe working conditions.

The man in this image makes a bold statement addressing the fact that these individuals are being abused because of their citizenship status and our society is profiting from it. This situation and image represent how “othering” allows society to commit immoral acts against “other” people.

In The Handmaid’s Tale, Attwood also uses language to create “others.” By categorizing each type of individual into a specific group with a specific name such as, “handmaids,” “Aunts,” or “Commanders.” It alienates a person from anyone in another group. The society in THT destroys the concept of an individual and functions on the idea that everyone is just part of a whole, the wholes being the groups.

This lack of individualism allows for extreme “othering” and condones actions such as torture. Aunts often tortured handmaids that misbehaved and this was okay because the Aunts were superior and the handmaids were “other.”

In both today’s society represented by Huie, and the society in The Handmaid’s Tale represented by Attwood, “othering” is an deed that allows immoral actions to occur. From these two examples it is shown that “othering” is a very negative thing done within societies. It was also clear from these two sources that language and stereotypes are a large factor in how “othering” occurs. By trying to alter the common language used towards groups, we can begin to see them not as “other” but as fellow human beings.