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Hattie Johnson
The old white man, who is never named, steps out of the rocket to tell the Martians why the Earth people have come to Mars: a nuclear war has rendered Earth uninhabitable, and there are only five hundred thousand survivors on the entire planet. He humbly asks the Martians to allow the Earth people to come to Mars, asserting they will work for the Martians and endure whatever treatment the Martians see fit. Although many Martians initially planned to attack the white man and reinstate segregation and prejudice, the white man’s humility and stories about how everything on Earth has been destroyed (and, with it, all physical traces of racism and slavery) change their minds. The Martians accept the white man’s request for help and assert that all people—regardless of race—are now “on the same level.”
The White Man Quotes in The Other Foot
The The Other Foot quotes below are all either spoken by The White Man or refer to The White Man. 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:
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The Other Foot Quotes
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.
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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?”
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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?
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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.”
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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
Willie plunged out of the house. “You children come inside, I’m locking you up. You ain’t seeing no white man, you ain’t talking about them, you ain’t doing nothing.”
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While getting his guns from his house to prepare for the white man’s arrival, Willie decides to also lock his sons away. Up until this point, the three boys had been playing in the yard and talking excitedly about the white man, trying to imagine what white skin looks like—comparing it to milk, chalk, and flowers. Their musings revealed their innocence and the fact that they didn’t seem to have any concept of racial tension or to be aware of Earth’s history of racism and slavery. When Willie “plunge[s]” out of the house and furiously commands his children not to 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. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus 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.
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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
The people were so close together it looked like one dark body with a thousand arms reaching out to take the weapons.
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Upon reaching the landing port for the white man’s rocket, Willie begins passing out guns to the growing crowd, the sheer size of which underscores how monumental the white man’s visit is; it seems that everyone in the Martian community is present. More importantly, by describing the crowd as “one dark body” Bradbury suggests it is no longer made up of individual people with independent thoughts; rather, it has adopted a mob mentality and bends to Willie’s will. In this passage, no one stops to consider if violence is the right way to deal with the white man’s arrival. Instead, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet do
“We’ve been stupid. Before God we admit our stupidity and our evilness. All the Chinese and the Indians and the Russians and the British and the Americans. We’re asking to be taken in […] We deserve anything you want to do to us, but don’t shut us out.”
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After landing on Mars, the white man tells the crowd of Martians about World War III and the extent of Earth’s destruction. After asking for the Martian’s help in getting survivors to Mars, the white man then apologizes for the way the Martians—that is, black people—were treated on Earth. He humbles himself completely, declaring that he—and the rest of the Earth people—are unworthy of forgiveness for their “stupidity” and “evilness.” When the white man says, “We deserve anything you want to do to us,” he anticipates the Martians’ desire to initiate reverse Jim Crow laws discriminating against white people. This 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 volupt
“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.”
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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
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The White Man Character Timeline in The Other Foot
The timeline below shows where the character The White Man appears in The Other Foot. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Other Foot
...tells his mother, “They say a rocket’s coming, first one in twenty years, with a white man in it!” The other boy asks what a white man is, claiming he has never...
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...like something might. The boys say they just want to see the spaceship and see the white man . They ask again what the white man is like, and Hattie answers, “I don’t...
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...car. The Brown children greet Hattie and eagerly tell her that they’re going to see the white man . Mr. Brown adds that his children “never saw one, and I almost forgot.” Cautiously,...
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...the kids. Willie glares at the Browns and asks them if they’re going to see the white man “like a bunch of fools.” Mr. Brown smiles and affirms that they are planning to...
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In the yard, Hattie’s boys chatter about the white man , saying that he is white like milk, chalk, and flowers. Willie “shove[s]” his children...
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...to Mars, the crowd gasps. Suddenly, the rocket’s large door slides open, and a tired-looking old white man steps out. The crowd begins to murmur, “A white man, a white man, a white...
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The white man is tall and frail. His eyes are “colorless, almost white and sightless with things he...
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Addressing the crowd, the old man says that he will not offer his name, as it doesn’t really matter who he...
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The old man continues, saying that the cotton fields have all burned, the cotton mills have been bombed,...
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The white man tells the crowd that “we destroyed everything and ruined everything, like the fools that we...
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Willie tenses and his fingers tighten around his rope. The old man repeats, “We’ve been fools.” He says that none of the cities can be saved, as...
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The old man says that Earth people have been “stupid,” and they admit their evilness “before God.” On...
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...maybe everyone’s hatred will fall away, too. Stepping forward from the silent crowd, Hattie asks the old man about Knockwood Hill in Greenwater, Alabama. Someone in the rocket ship hands the old man...
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With her heart pounding, Hattie asks the old man if Dr. Phillips and his son are still alive. A machine clicks within the rocket,...
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Willie asks about Mr. Burton and his house, and the old man says that no people or homes are left in Greenwater. Willie then asks about his...
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Willie loosens his fingers, and the rope drops to the ground. He tells the white man that Earth people won’t have to work for Martians. With these words, the Martians run...
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...to all of us. The time for being fools is over.” He explains that when the white man was addressing the crowd, Willie realized that white people have now experienced the loneliness and...
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...out of the house. The children run out to their father asking if he saw the white man , and Willie responds, “Yes sir […] Seems like for the first time today I...
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