What Frame do you live in?

We all live in some sort of frame that defines who we are and how we live. According to George Lakoff in "Artists of the Floating World" by Rob Burton, "Frames are mental structures that shape the way we see the world. As a result, they shape the goals we seek, the plans we make, the way we act. They are part of out cognitive unconscious. We don't actually see them and we don't recognize that we are using them." (pg. 61-62)

So frames can be anything from our local community, our culture,  to lessons we learn from our parents about life and how to behave. All these, plus more, have an influence on how we live our lives. They shape our thinking and language at multiple levels, which include the level of moral values, the level of political principles, and many more. Although  everybody has a frame of reference they unconsciously follow in their life, we must also look at  the other side of the spectrum, which is that some individuals do not follow any frames in their life at all.

Bessie Head is one author who claims to have lived a "frameless" life. This is apparent in her quote in the book "Artists of the Floating World", by Rob Burton which is: "I just don't fit in and belong anywhere and I tend to pride myself on not fitting or belonging." (pg.63). Bessie was born out of wedlock (in a metal hospital  in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, in 1937), the result of a then-illicit union between the daughter of a landowning family of Scottish descent and a black stable hand, she was not recognized as an enfranchised individual by the South African state she was born into (pg. 63). Sexual union between whites and non-whites had been prohibited and against law. As a result, she had been denied access to her natural mother and was placed in foster care. She later left South Africa on an one-way exit permit and went into exile in a neighboring Botswana, where she lived as a stateless refugee until she gained citizenship 13 later. So as you can see, she has no real hometown or enthic roots on which she can hold onto. There is no returning to "home sweet home" in her sense of belonging.

As for family for Bessie, we can look at this quote in Burton's book:

"I have not a single known relative on earth, no long and ancient family tree to refer to, no links with heredity or a sense of having inherited a temperament, a certain emotional instability or the shape of a fingernail from a grandmother or great grandmother. I have always been just me, with no frame of reference to anything beyond myself." (pg. 64)

Looking at this statement by Bessie, we can recognize that she has no family reference or frame by which she can relate to or refer to. This supports the idea that she lives in a "frameless" world.

Even Bessie's work has no frame by which it follows. Reading "A Question of Power" is very hard just because it seems as though there is no format, which represents Bessie really well. There is a sense of choas in her book when reading it. Imaginery characters and characters with similar names in this book somehow gives us a sense of Bessie's life and what she went through. It further reinforces the idea that she lives a "frameless" life.

After reading some of Bessie's work and reading about her life, it is apparent that we can all reflect and compare our live to Bessie's. I personally feel, after these readings, that I live a "framed" life due to the my status in my hometown community, relationships I have with friends and acquaintences, values that I was taught by my parents growing up, my surrounding environment, my views and thoughts on politics, my enthic background, and my religious background. All these factors define who I am and my beliefs. I often look at these when making important decisions, which show guidelines or "frames" by which I live by. These seem to be absent in Bessie's life. As you can see, frames exist and they do matter. Our fundamental moral frame, our worldview, determine how we experience and think about every aspect of our lives.