Frames, Check.

             “So what are you?” “Excuse me?” “What’s your ethnicity?” “Oh!” In the getting to know someone process I will invariably, sooner or later ask this question. It is often out of place, and I have a tendency to make an ass of myself, but I am fascinated by other cultures and cannot resist the temptation to find out about other people’s roots. I myself am a quarter Portuguese, almost a quarter Scottish, and the rest of me is a mixture of European descent. Basically, the typical European mutt. . Because I lack any close ties to any culture other than American culture, I have often felt frameless.   But this feeling is

clearly my own ignorance because I have been proven entirely wrong.  The plight of author Bessie Head, has shown me, how framed I really am.

             Bessie Head, author of the novel A Question of Power, incorporates details of her own life in order to illustrate the emotional break down of a woman without frames. Bessie has no family, no concrete religion, a blurred sense of ethnicity, and no obvious sense of personal principals. George Lakoff, Berkeley Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics, states that “frames are mental structures that shape the way we see our world.” As a result they shape the goals we seek, the plans we make, the way we act (Burton 61).”  Where Bessie largely lacks these frames, I do not.

            Yes, I still often feel cultureless, but I do have a culture to call my own, and that is American culture. Not only that but culture is only one of many sorts of frames. Religion is a frame, nationality is a frame, ethnicity is a frame, and family.  I have more frames than I thought I did, which as Lakoff points out, is an important characteristic of frames. “They are part of our cognitive unconscious. We don’t actually see them, and we don’t necessarily know that we are using them. (Burton 61).”

            Although religion in some occasions religion can be considered a voluntary and conscious frame But if you’ve ever grown up with religion you know that after growing up with it, whether you chose to believe in it or not, it is still a frame of your life. It often influences your thinking and your principals whether you believe in the theology or not. So religion, check. I grew up in a very religious home, and at the very least religion has influenced my personal principals, and has given me the belief that everyone in their own way has a set of principals or ethics that guide them in their life. Whether I understand those personal principals or agree with them everyone in their own right has a subjective sense of right and wrong, and a set of convictions of their own. Or so I thought.  I’m not entirely sure Bessie has identified principals she can call her own.

            Nationality check, but we’ll have to leave the ethnicity box open for now. I am an American. No getting around it. Born and raised my entire life right here in the good old U.S. of A. Nationality is a frame whether I realize it or not. It influences my culture, and many of my beliefs, not to mention its laws dictate how I go about my everyday life. It also gives me a sense of belonging to a certain place, and I’ll always have at least one team I know I should root for in the world cup. Ethnicity, like I said a European mutt. But that in itself is a frame.  Basically I’m white.  And that sadly still has a bearing on some things. Many of my experiences are different from others primarily because I am white.

            Family is my most obvious frame that Bessie sadly lacks. Their beliefs and principals have been passed down to me and their opinions still influence my life. I can’t make a major life decision (like moving to Chico), without feeling anxious about what their response is going to be when I tell them.  I can’t go out on a Tuesday night without thinking about what my father would think of it, and without wanting to call my sister to rub it in. Family is undoubtedly my most influential frame.  Family, check.

            Bessie Heads frameless life has helped me understand and recognize the frames of my own life. The frames that influence me and the frames that help define me. The frames that give me a sense of belonging and the frames that shape the way I see the world. There are many frames in my life that sadly Bessie does not possess. She does not have a family, nationality, religion (principals), or a defined ethnicity. Bessie for her own sanity must create her own frames. Bessies circumstances have made me realize, that I am lucky to have a “pre-framed” life. Now when I rudely probe for information about people’s ethnicities and cultures, I am aware I will not only discover their Scottish, German, Mexican, Samoan, Indian and so on, and so forth,  descents, I will discover some of the frames that shape their lives.