A Frameless Understanding

    It is not often enough that we take the time to remove the “blinders” from our perceived narrative and take into account the frames that have molded and shaped our life. Throughout this semester full of readings and in depth discussions, we have pried into what it means to be a citizen of the floating world, and with that, the possibilities of viewing the world between binaries have crept into each and every one of our consciousnesses. When one can see through binaries such as “good vs. evil” and “black vs. white,” a whole new universe is opened up consisting of all things in between that were previously ignored. From Kazuo Ishiguro and Bessie head, to Bharati Mukherjee and Salman Rushdie, we have explored how each individual personally had experiences with being caught between worlds or cultures and how each of them have contributed to the floating world by expressing what it means to redefine your narrative and recognize the frames which shape us. Although each of the above artists contributed meaningfully to my perception of what it means to be in the floating world, I will be talking about Kazuo Ono and Bessie Head because the characters in their books are opposite in the sense that one was shaped by his frames while the other acknowledged from early on she had no frames.

    Kazuo Ishiguro, like his main character Masuji Ono, experienced a transformation when he moved from his homeland into another country, forcing him to view the world in a different perspective. Ono, a brilliant painter-turned war propagandist, had used painting in the first part of his life as an outlet to plug into the floating world. However, throughout “An Artist of the floating World,” we see his character’s picture fall from its frame and digress into a narrow-minded war promoter. Although those around Ono began to question the direction of his life, Ono was caught up in caught up in fierce Japanese patriotism that was fueled by his focus on the extreme end of the “us vs. them” binary.

    Having a set frame of mind influenced Ono into not being capable of seeing outside his narrative. To himself, he was a noble man, almost a hero. He believed that his propaganda was art in itself and that it did not influence all who saw it to act in a certain way. It was not until long after the war, when he had time to contemplate his life, that a glimmer of remorse found its way into Ono’s consciousness. “I am not too proud to see that I too was a man of some influence, who used that influence towards a disastrous end” (Ishiguro 192). The parallel between “the Hirayama boy” and Ono is one that serves an interesting purpose. On one end he is the polar opposite of Ono because unlike the boy, who is stuck singing patriotic anthems in the post-war Japan, Ono had the ability to change with the times. Even though opposite, they are similar in the fact that they had both fallen into a narrative that praised devotion to a country. Getting caught up in a propagandist movement caused Ono to stop believing in the floating world, leaving him to cross the bridge of hesitation without any hesitation at all. Without being held accountable for the way his art had an influence on his country, he could make any decision without moral debate, leaving him without a “bridge” to cross.

    Unlike Ono’s inability to escape the frame that was his country, Bessie Head’s main character Elizabeth was free to explore life without frames. In “A Question of Power” Head chronicles the journey of a women who was of no tribe or race, did not know either of her parents and did not know where she was from. Living “without bearings or a compass” enables one to have a completely holistic journey on the earth, enabling you to explore life's most meaningful questions without having a starting point to remind you of where your origins are. This sort of journey allows you to view life not through a personal frame, but through the natural frame of the universe. Although different voices taunt her unstable mind throughout the story, she survives by using them in the quest of building her own frame.  

    In an essay written later in her life, Head states, “I have always been just me, with no frame of reference to anything beyond myself.” It takes a strong mind to live without a frame of reference because not having anything to identify with leaves one stranded within a world full of people who have a stable frame of identity. Throughout Head’s brilliant autobiographical reconstruction of Elizabeth, we saw a rare outcome in which the character was able to overcome her suffering and use her frameless life as a building block. During this semester we have looked at artists such as Syd Barrett and Van Gough and saw how their inability to come to peace with a frame of reference led to their demise. Perhaps the reason why Bessie Head succeeded was the fact that she was not bound to the earthly frames that so many of us are. By balancing her frames between the earth and the cosmos, she was able to understand that since so little of her belonged to this earth, their was no need to be bound to the frames which generally shape us and she could develop frames that included her soul in relation to something, that to her, was not of this earth. By making peace with her soul’s temporary visit on this planet, she was able to make “a gesture of beginning” in Africa.
   

    As Dr. Rob Burton says in his book “Artists of the Floating World,” the first responsibility in being an artist of the floating world is to recognize and acknowledge the narratives that constitute our identity. This means that before making a decision that will affect yourself as well as others, you must first take into consideration the narrative that has lead you into thinking one way or the other about that particular choice. One with frames of reference will most defiantly think differently than someone who has constructed their own identity. I think that one of the main points of this class was to take the differences between the two extremes and try to understand the differences, because it is in doing that that you are able to see what is in the middle, the floating. Secondly, we must make ethical choices when framing our understanding of the world. We must learn to live with both “roots and wings.” By allowing yourself to have wings means that you are always moving and fluid, this allows you to have the ability to take in and explore new ideas, perceptions, and worldviews with an open mind while your “roots” give you a balancing point for it all. Third, we need to be attentive to the voices of the subaltern. With the media being the dominating factor in whom gets heard, we must recognize that everyone has their story, and that everyone’s story is worth hearing, no matter how worthy or not the media tells you it is. Finally, we need to follow the lesson given to us by Salman Rushdie. We need to understand that words are carriers of cultural meaning. Our words are most important way to express ourselves so one has to be extremely careful in what they say and has to be patient and understanding while listening to others. If you truly listen to what others say you might a glimpse of something in your own life that has been long ignored. An example would be listening to and observing feral children. By humbly doing this, a portal could be opened up and we could see frameless lives shaped by nature and the wild. If we put their pieces into the human puzzle, we might be more adequately qualified in understanding what it means to be alive.