responsible citizen of the floating world

note: this is the correct essay. apparently i copied pasted the wrong blog on the last one.

            We live in a floating world that is forever being reshaped and rewritten. Each of us has our own eyes to see our own floating world. It will be up to us to make decide if we are a citizen of “that” floating world. To be a citizen, to be precise, a responsible citizen, we have to consider what we are. I, myself, am from a refugee camp in Thailand. Made my way to America in 1992 and am right now a Chico State Student. What I am referring to is our frame of reference. At birth, I have already receive my culture, gender, language, and a lot of as my original frame. With the mix up of America, I am able to use my original frame and develop to be the person I am now. Can I say that I am a responsible cititzen? Lets examine that with Ishiguro and Bessie, who are the two main author we invest our time in this semester.

            Ishiguro is the author of “An Artist of the Floating World” with the main character: Ono. Ono got himself involve in World War II. He is an artist and he consider himself to be a hero. His political opinion became him during the war and his original artist way change. His art style start to sway through propaganda. What he considers to be so proud of has disguised the people closest to him. This create a guilt, denial and redemption for Ono who see himself as an insider and outsider.

            Ono is an example of how to be a citizen of the floating world. Firstly, “to be a citizen of the floating world is to recognize and acknowledge the narratives that constitute our identity” (Burton 131). Ono is the one person who struggles through this the most. Throughout the novel, he is constantly fighting to make other see who he wants them to see him as. But in reality, everyone has already developed a sense of Ono’s responsibility to the world. He “believe that the choices we make in life can afford us a sense of dignity and honor” (Burton 131). That is what Ono believe. His struggles is all himself to others. The thing that Ono left out is the community that he reside. After Ono learn that he is finally out for the world to see, only then, that he “come to realize the extent to which our choices are comprised both by values and consciously or unconsciously adopted by ourselves and by the communities to which we belong” (Burton 131).

            Head is the author of “A Question of Power” with the main character: Elizabeth. Elizabeth has a hard childhood. At a young age, she learn of what her frame of reference is but is not accepted by it. This is probably the source of her mental illness.  But she does not call that by such negative description. Her frameless life creates an unstable, restricting her ability to act as a normal citizen.

            Elizabeth is also an example of a responsible citizen of the floating world. Burton stats that “to be a citizen of the floating world is to make ethical choices when framing our understanding of the world, to be aware that while a frame can afford an important structuring device for understand in the world”. There were times when Elizabeth has given up but due to her new frame (friends and family), she is able to grasp onto reality and escape the existential world. From that, she gains new understanding of the world. She see thing in a new light as her close one help her. She positions herself to see the world differently, to interact with it (Burton 131). Even thought “it cannot be fixed, static, enclosed or singular; but always moving, doubling back, self-reflexive” (Burton 131).

            As I mention above, we all see our own world but there is only one floating world. The responsibility of a person is not just local but global. I am a perfect example of this. I live in both parts of the world for lengthy part of my life. I gain a sense of responsibility. Just like the two character mention above, my experience allow me to hold up to my own standard while still live the ethical way that we live here. No one could put it better than Burton: “it has examined ways of being at home in the world and of bringing the world back home”.