Hattie Johnson Character Analysis in The Other Foot

In contrast to her husband Willie’s thirst for vengeance, Hattie Johnson does not see the white man’s arrival as an opportunity to exact revenge over the cruelty and racism that the Martians experienced on Earth. Empathetic and morally upright, Hattie is horrified to think that her children might have to witness the inhumanity and racism she experienced as a child in Greenwater, Alabama, even if now it is black people abusing white people out of revenge. For most of the story, Hattie is timid and scared of her husband. She fearfully goes along with his cruel plan to reinstate segregation and racism, though she cries silently as she helps. Seeing her husband’s influence over the crowd, Hattie knows that her husband is the “keystone”—if she can just dismantle his hatred, everyone else will follow suit. At the end of the story, Hattie acts with uncharacteristic boldness by being the first Martian to speak to the white man. She uses this conversation to show everyone—especially Willie—that everything on Earth has been destroyed, including physical remnants of racism such as lynching trees and plantation homes.

Hattie Johnson Quotes in The Other Foot

The The Other Foot quotes below are all either spoken by Hattie Johnson or refer to Hattie Johnson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Well, the white people live on Earth, which is where we all come from, twenty years ago. We just up and walked away and came to Mars and set down and built towns and here we are. Now we’re Martians instead of Earth people. And no white men’ve come up here in all that time. That’s the story.

Related Characters: Hattie Johnson (speaker), The White Man, Hattie and Willie’s Children

Page Number and Citation: 41

Explanation and Analysis:

In the beginning of the story, Hattie’s three young sons are excited about the white man’s arrival on Mars since they’ve never seen a white person before. In this passage, Hattie answers her boys’ questions about what white people are like and why they don’t live on Mars. She sums up the entire process of moving from Earth to Mars—which was likely lengthy and complicated—in a highly-simplified sentence. This suggests that Hattie aims to shield her children from the brutality of the racism that their mother escaped by coming to Mars. This moment also reflects the story’s eventual assertion of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolo

“You ain’t going to lynch him?”

“Lynch him?” Everyone laughed. Mr. Brown slapped his knee. “Why, bless you, child, no! We’re going to shake his hand. Ain’t we, everyone?”

Related Characters: Hattie Johnson (speaker), Mr. Brown (speaker), The White Man

Related Symbols: The Rope

Page Number and Citation: 42

Explanation and Analysis:

After telling her sons to stay at home, Hattie runs down the road to the neighboring Browns’ house to see how they are preparing for the white man’s arrival. Hattie’s fear of a potential lynching in this moment gives context for her earlier anxieties while she discussing the white man with her children: she’s worried that the Martians will kill the man as payback for the abuse that the Martians suffered on Earth at the hands of white people. Although Mr. Brown’s hearty laughter suggests he wouldn’t dream of doing anything of the sort, it becomes clear as the story Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. U

I’m not feeling Christian […] I’m just feeling mean. After all them years of doing what they did to our folks—my mom and dad, and your mom and dad—You remember? You remember how they hung my father on Knockwood Hill and shot my mother? You remember? Or you got a memory that’s short like the others?

Related Characters: Willie Johnson (speaker), Hattie Johnson, The White Man

Page Number and Citation: 43

Explanation and Analysis:

While driving away from the Browns’ home, Hattie deems Willie’s desire for vengeance against the visiting white man un-Christian. Willie responds by telling Hattie that his anger stems from the memory of what white people did to his family. Throughout the story, Willie never talks about how white men have abused him but rather focuses on the way that such men treated his parents. When he accuses his wife of having “a memory that’s short like the others,” Willie suggests that many Martians have suppressed their memories of what life was like on Earth. Willie’s tightly-held memories of pain and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantiu

“Well […] the shoe’s on the other foot now. We’ll see who gets laws passed against him, who gets lynched, who rides the back of streetcars, who gets segregated in shows. We’ll just wait and see.”

Related Characters: Willie Johnson (speaker), Hattie Johnson, The White Man

Page Number and Citation: 43

Explanation and Analysis:

Still driving home together from the Browns’, Willie continues to espouse his hatred for white people. He tells his wife that on Mars, white people will be treated the way that black people were treated on Earth. Willie is alluding to the Jim Crow laws that upheld racial segregation in America from 1877 to 1964. “The Open Foot” was published in 1951, over a decade before such laws were abolished. In this passage, Willie explains that he wants to establish such segregationist laws on Mars but twist them so that they discriminate against white people as a means to exact Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae v

All along the road people were looking up in the sky, or climbing in their cars, or riding in cars, and guns were sticking up out of some cars like telescopes sighting all the evils of a world coming to an end.

Related Characters: The White Man, Willie Johnson, Hattie Johnson

Page Number and Citation: 45

Explanation and Analysis:

While accompanying Willie to the white man’s landing spot, Hattie notices that other people have also brought guns. The comparison between these guns and telescopes pointing toward a doomed world could be read as a reflection of the fact that Hattie’s community is safely on Mars while on Earth people are engaged in a massive atomic war. However, the passage could also be read as suggesting that Mars is now succumbing to some of the same evils that destroyed the Earth. Many Martians have been swept up in a wave of hatred and prejudice and given into Willie’s emotionally-charged call Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo mi

She wanted to get at the hate of them all, to pry at it and work at it until she found a little chink, and then pull out a pebble or a stone or a brick and then a part of the wall, and once started, the whole edifice might roar down and be done away with. It was teetering now. But which was the keystone, and how to get at it? How to touch them and get a thing started in all of them to make a ruin of their hate?

Related Characters: Willie Johnson, Hattie Johnson

Page Number and Citation: 53

Explanation and Analysis:

There is a tense silence after the white man finishes his speech, in which Hattie can feel that the crowd is still hateful and wanting revenge for the centuries of cruelty the Martians were subjected to on Earth. Hattie’s thoughts about how to dismantle hatred and racism are based on the premise that neither are natural but rather are manmade constructions, and as such can be toppled like any other structure. She likens the crowd’s anger to an unstable wall that will tumble into a heap of rubble when its load-bearing element (its “keystone”) is removed. Like this wall, the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscip

“The Lord’s let us come through, a few here and a few there. And what happens next is up to all of us. The time for being fools is over. We got to be something else except fools. […] now the white man’s as lonely as we’ve always been. He’s got no home now, just like we didn’t have one for so long. Now everything’s even. We can start all over again, on the same level.”

Related Characters: Willie Johnson (speaker), Hattie Johnson, The White Man

Page Number and Citation: 56

Explanation and Analysis:

In this passage, Willie and Hattie are driving home from meeting the white man. Willie’s attitude about the man (and white men in general) has shifted dramatically, and he no longer is itching for violence and revenge. Willie mirrors the white man’s humility when he says, “The time for being fools is over.” This implies that Willie realizes that the community has been too quick to seek vengeance . He also recognizes his responsibility as an individual, as he affirms, “what happens next is up to all of us.” It seems that Willie understands that he can use his influence Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequu

Hattie Johnson Character Timeline in The Other Foot

The timeline below shows where the character Hattie Johnson appears in The Other Foot. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Hattie Johnson’s children have heard the news as well. Hattie’s “three little Negro boys” jump up... (full context)

The children beg Hattie to tell them stories about white men. Frowning, Hattie says that “it’s been a long... (full context)

Hattie looks up at the “blue clear Martian sky” painted with “thin white Martian clouds.” On... (full context)

Hattie stares at the sky with worry. She tells the boys to go inside, but they... (full context)

Hattie tells her boys that white people live on Earth, which is where “we all come... (full context)

Excitedly, the boys ask why the white men didn’t come up to Mars, too. Hattie answers that right after “we” got to Mars, the people on Earth engaged in a... (full context)

Approaching the Browns’ house, Hattie sees the family piled into the car. The Brown children greet Hattie and eagerly tell... (full context)

Hattie notices her husband Willie driving by and shouts for him. Angrily, he asks why she’s... (full context)

Willie demands that Hattie get in his car and glares at her until she complies. As Willie races down... (full context)

Willie asks Hattie if she remembers “what they did to our folks,” and how white people hung his... (full context)

Hattie tells her husband that he’s “talking trouble,” but Willie dismisses her. He says that for... (full context)

Hattie disapprovingly tells Willie that he doesn’t “sound human,” but he tells her to “get used... (full context)

Eventually, Hattie reluctantly goes into the house as well. Peering up into the dark attic, she can’t... (full context)

In the yard, Hattie’s boys chatter about the white man, saying that he is white like milk, chalk, and... (full context)

Back on the road, Hattie tells Willie to “slow up,” but he refuses, insisting it is time to hurry. The... (full context)

As Willie navigates the throng of cars, Hattie feels anxiety and fear churning through her. People from other cars tote their ropes and... (full context)

...body with a thousand arms reaching out to take the weapons.” Everyone chants Willie’s name. Hattie, however, stands silently next to her husband and cries. Willie commands her to bring him... (full context)

...pressure of a distant storm.” Many people watch Willie, who is still holding the rope. Hattie holds her husband’s arm and waits. She wants to extract the hate from everyone in... (full context)

Suddenly, Hattie realizes that Willie is the “keystone,” and “if he could be pried loose,” then maybe... (full context)

With her heart pounding, Hattie asks the old man if Dr. Phillips and his son are still alive. A machine... (full context)

In the car on the way home, Hattie affirms that this will be “A new start for everyone.” After a while, Willie answers... (full context)

At home, Willie sits in the car while Hattie lets the boys out of the house. The children run out to their father asking... (full context)

Hattie Johnson Character Analysis

Hattie Johnson Quotes in The Other Foot

The Other Foot Quotes

Hattie Johnson Character Timeline in The Other Foot