Bessie Head: Framed

“I have always been just me, with no frames of reference to anything beyond myself.” (Artists of the Floating World, pg. 64)  This was true for Bessie Head, the author of A Question of Power; she illustrates some examples of her framelessness in this book through the main character Elizabeth.  Elizabeth, like Head, was born in a mental institution, of an interracial marriage, from a mother of questionable mental stability. Elizabeth, again like Head, was then entered into a missionary school at the age of thirteen. Here she was exposed to the truth of her mad mother and then due to her background tormented by both the students and faculty of the institution.  We find Elizabeth in Botswana, where she, like Head, migrated to later in their lives.  This is where we see the frameless state in which Head may have been referring to in Artists of the Floating World. 

Berkeley University professor George Lakoff describes “frames” as “metal 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.” (Don’t Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate, pg. xv) Elizabeth’s framelessness is best attributed to her lack of family and friends.  She belongs to nothing and has very few friends, if any at all, at this point in the book I am unable to determine whether some of the characters she interacts with are real or figments of her imagination. 

When examining the lack of fulfillment in the life of Elizabeth I quickly stop to think about my own life and how content I am with where I come from.  Elizabeth has been cursed with a troubling background, her mother a head case and her father gone, it must have been difficult for her to come to grips with the reality of her kin.  When comparing my family to the family of Elizabeth/Head I realize how lucky I am.  I may not be the son of a famous actor or a powerful king, but my family does well enough and I am proud to be associated with them and what they stand for.  Elizabeth never even knew her family and has only heard bad things of what they made of their lives.  While being teased at the missionary school one can assume that Elizabeth was in fact ashamed of her parents.  It is hard for me to think of the pressures Elizabeth endured while growing up, considering everything that I have obtained in my life I owe, in one way or another, to my family.  Without them the frames of my life would be much different.  I find myself feeling sorry for both Elizabeth and Bessie Head because of the numerous struggles they were faced with because of who their parents were, how could something completely out of someone’s control affect their lives in such negative ways. 

Although the beginning of this book was difficult to fallow, it is obvious to me that Elizabeth is a very damaged woman, and at this point I believe that you can attribute a large part of her current condition to the fact that she grew up with no sense of being.  Elizabeth grew up without a frame because she has no sense of belonging, and no sense of where she has come from, no self-pride.  I believe that a lot of a person’s self respect is built by the support their family offers them; I believe that self-confidence can best be built within a strong family environment.  I am not saying that one must be a part of a great big happy family in order to have high self esteem, I am just suggesting that self gratification may be easier obtained within this type of environment.  This being said, I feel blessed to have grown up within the family environment that I did, and I feel that Elizabeth’s lack of family support has greatly affected her in a negative manner.