Story Frames essays

Story Frames essays Since all perception is shaped by the cultural knowledge you bring to it, in-depth understanding almost always involves expanding that knowledge by crossing cultural boundaries. (Maura Shea, 1997) Here is a quote from the book Frame Works that is bigger than life and demands an explanation. Barbara Donofrio (1990/1997) stated that [C]ommon cultural stories are often referred to as story frames, story schemata, or scripts. ( pg. 19) These story frames are told throughout our lives from our families, schools, and communities, and represent a kind of blueprint of what we are and what we can become. In this essay, we will examine the affects that story frames and culture have on us as individuals, how the story frames and cultures of others can affect our lives, and the positive and negative aspects of story frames and culture. While growing up, we were told stories about the exploits of our relatives, both past and present, some of our own childhood experiences, and about life or common cultural stories which became embedded in our personal memories and personalities. These stories developed into our story bank and created the foundation of our individuality. We took those stories and began shaping them to conform to our own sense of self. Silko (1967/1997) said, Just as the stories we grew up with shape us and our perceptions, so do we also build and express our own self by shaping the stories we tell. (p. 36) In other words, the stories we put into memory are used for recall of a situation or occurrence that we change into a version that suits our own individual interests and goals. There are feasibly hundreds of facts or details that we opt to forget or leave out because it doesnt fit our version of how the story should be told. As individuals we have the [a]bility to create general sto ries from specific experiences &nda...