The Other Family

Some concepts might be difficult to explain and people often find different ways to illustrate their ideas. Himani Bannerji, the writer of the short story “The Other Family” has found her way of sharing her thoughts, symbolism. In “The Other Family” Himani Bannerji uses symbolism to highlight racial injustices in the Canadian society.

To begin with, it is important to understand that the drawing is a symbol for systemic racism, which is the main point of the short story “The Other Family”. After school, a little girl is proud to show her mother what she did at school. She drew her family, the students had to base their drawing off books, except “all [of their] books have the same picture of the family” (par. 21). As a result, all the drawings look the same, but all families do not look alike, this shows how society chooses to ignore the differences between people. We learn quickly in the story that the mother is upset, she says: “[y]ou said you drew our family. This is not it, is it?”, as she first sees the drawing (par. 19). The drawing is not representative of their family, it depicts only what the majority should look like, not what the diverse Canadian society really is. That is how the drawing is a symbol of systemic racism.

Furthermore, the little girl’s teacher impersonates authority on a deeper level. Although the teacher is already in a position of authority towards the little girl, she represents it further in this short story. The girl uses the word “they” to refer to her teacher and the school system. As the mother realizes: “[t]he simple pronoun “they” definitely stood for authority, for that uncontrollable yet organized world immediately outside, of which the school was the ultimate expression” (par. 25), which shows the power the teacher and the school system holds over the little girl. Even if it is not her intention, the teacher uses her authority and influence in the wrong way. She has influence over her students and she makes them believe they should all look the same and ignore their differences. She treats her students equally although she should treat them fairly, according to their differences. At the end of the story, when the girl shows her teacher, her new drawing and the teacher asks: “who are they” and as it is highlighted in the story, it is the teacher’s responsibility to know who they are (par. 40). As an authority figure, it is her duty to inform herself of her students’ differences and cultures and help them thrive. By not doing so, she enforces the systemic racism that is already crawling all over Canadian school systems. Which is how she represents the power authorities hold over young minds.

Finally, the time of day in which the events unfold reflects the events themselves. The negativity in the discovery of the drawing is reflected by “the winter twilight [that] had transformed the sheer blue sky of the day into the colour of steel, on which were etched a few stars” (par. 1). The darkness outside represents the negative emotions that prevail that evening. It is also important to notice “the few stars” in the sky (par.1), which acts as a reminder that even though the night is mostly negative, there are a few moments of happiness, whether it is the love between mother and daughter or the moment of laughter they share talking about their cat. Furthermore, there is also an ellipsis, letting the reader know that it is the next day. The sentence: “it was snowing again, and little elves with bright coloured coats and snow in their boots had reappeared in the classroom” is setting a more cheerful mood (par. 29). The snowy morning and the bright colors are reflecting the positive events that happen then. The little girl is proud of her family, her culture, and is not reluctant to showcase her true self. That is how the moment of the day in which the different events unfold reflects the positive or negative mood of the story.

To conclude, symbolism is widely used in Himani Bannerji’s “The Other Family” to illustrate systemic racism, to show the teacher’s influence over her students, and to set the mood of the story. Through this story, Bannerji underscores racial injustice in the Canadian society, which many immigrants suffer from.

Works Cited

Bannerji, Himani. “The Other Family.” Other Solitudes: Canadian Multicultural Fictions, edited by L. Hutcheon & M. Richmond, Oxford University Press, 1990.