Final Thoughts - the frameless and the subaltern

            As humans, we are naturally prone to make sense of every aspect of our world. We must know how everything works, and if there is no explanation? Well, that is out of the question. Everything has its place and everyone plays their role. Our daily schedule, meals, work and social events are all organized and put into their own little box in our weekly planners. We frame and label our world and surroundings so often that it is often forgotten that there is life outside of our own world and experiences.
            Bessie Head treads the dangerous path of examining a frameless world in her book A Question of Power. Bessie Head delivers the story of Elizabeth, a woman battling mental illness in Motabeng, Africa. When we are constantly driven to make sense of our world, what happens when things start to unravel? This is the dilemma that Elizabeth faces as she is thrown into the depths of insanity and can only account for her own thoughts as the entirety of her world view. Her mental stability started to jumble when “the dividing line between dream perceptions and waking reality became confused.” (22, Head) Elizabeth’s reality became her dreams, she did not rely on what society dictated as her guide to living life. When her delusions bled into her reality, they tainted her perspective and left her blind to the frames she once lived by. “She lived such an absent-minded life and had such a blind spot in matters of public or social awareness.” (26, Head) Elizabeth has absolutely no social norms to conform to, because nothing was off limits. She had no strategy or plan for interpreting her life, her existence moved at a moment by moment basis. This perception drastically contradicts the values we are exposed to our entire lives. From an early age we are told not to color outside the lines, and as we grow we learn the values of time management, the importance of social conformity and the trait to unnecessarily plan every insignificant, minor event in our lives. The frameless reality Bessie Head demonstrates exhibit’s a form of social deconstruction that allows one to see beyond their self-made compartmentalized lifestyle.
            Throughout the novel, Elizabeth experiences a situation in which the impossible wipes out whatever reality she has previously constructed. This demolition of social and personal values left the reader vulnerable in experiencing a perspective of the insane. By stripping away the frames of reality, this book went against very important instincts we all possess that encourage us to compartmentalize and label everything. It gave everyone a chance to experience the theory of living in a “floating” existence, a limbo between two ideas. Much like those who belong to two cultures, or countries, Elizabeth was attempting to understand her surroundings in Motabeng and while being consumed and directed by her thoughts.
            Another complex issue of a dual nature in society is the “othering” theory. Bharati Mukherjee’s novel Jasmine explores the life of a woman who crosses over borders of identity and location while struggling with her ideal persona she wishes to portray. Similar to Elizabeth struggling between the outside world and her own thoughts, Jasmine “shuttles between identities” throughout her journey.
            Jasmine interprets those around her in America as viewing her as the subaltern, or other. She states that “Plain Jane is all I want to be. Plain Jane is a role, like any other. My genuine foreignness frightens him. It frightens me too.” (26, Mukherjee) Jasmine desperately tries to immerse herself in American ideals and culture in order to erase her differences from herself, and those around her. If Jasmine preserved her culture and customs from the Indian village she grew up in, she would have drifted farther into the grey area of what is classified as a subaltern.
            Jasmine continually expresses her dislike of being labeled “foreign.” She states that “dullness is a kind of luxury.” Jasmine strives for what is dull, or boring, because the boring is familiar, something Jasmine is not. Her “alien knowledge” translates into intelligence and therefore is frightening to those around her. Jasmine fights being put into the category of “foreign” or “alien” throughout her life in America. Does this make her voice heard compared to others who do not fully assimilate into the “American” way of life?
Mukherjee promotes the idea that subalterns, or those out of favor in the dominant power structure, are not so different as we may believe. We are introduced to Jasmine as a child named Jyoti, in her native village in India. Her experiences are anything from boring, yet there is a relatable quality about her. Her long journey to America and her assimilation shows how truly difficult it is to exist at the lower spectrum of social hierarchy. Mukherjee brings us a subaltern voice, that to me, is heard.
            I believe the issue of whether or not subalterns are heard is of a personal nature. Jasmine is a strong person who is open to new possibilities and is constantly adapting. In theory, I believe this is why she is heard. She is an adapter who transforms as she travels from place to place. Jasmine views the world as thought “nothing is rooted anymore, everything is set in motion.” Her progressive ideals make her voice an accessible example among subalterns. Jasmine murdered her previous identity in order to reshape herself into what she dreamed she could be. Those not willing to fight, or make sacrifices, may be unseen or ignored in such a turbulent world.
            Throughout our study of the “floating world,” many issues of identity, reality and belonging were questioned. Most of our characters are caught in-between themselves. Between two cultures, locations, realities, or the past and present. The struggle of living in a world where you are torn between your own realities is a place all too familiar to many. Effective citizens of the floating world know the beauty of simple, yet powerful actions. It is important to realize that it is not what you do, but how you do it that truly matters. Something that the world regards as insignificant could, in turn, make an considerable difference to the consciousness on the planet.