FRAME BIZARRENESS AS A CONCEPTUAL BASIS OF OLGA TOKARCHUK’S STORY “GREEN CHILDREN”

Abstract

The article is devoted to the modeling of the bizarreness frame, which is the conceptual basis of the story of the Polish writer Olga Tokarchuk “Green Children”. The method of frame analysis is appropriate to use to study the perceptual situation. The frame has a hierarchical structure: the upper slots contain general features that are valid in any typical situation, and the lower levels – terminals – are filled in specific conditions, which may depend on the culture of the people, mentality, individual traits, tastes, profession. In the bizarre frame, you can select the upper slots with the following information: subject, action, motive, result, tool, object, evaluation, time, space. The prototype subject is a person who behaves differently than everyone else due to a changed state of mind, mental disabilities or advantages, and so on. However, the narrator of the story under study found the Poles strange because of their appearance and clothes, and the green children surprised everyone with the color of their skin. Action and motive slots are key ones in the structure of the studied frame. If in the Russian picture of the world the eccentric tries to attract attention, impress, stand out, in English – just enjoys what he does, despite others, the actions of green children were seen as strange because they behaved in accordance with incomprehensible traditions of Poles of his people. The result of strange behavior is often the desire to force others to behave traditionally, sometimes the eccentricity is punished by people or fate. The slot tool does not often receive significant filling, because the tools do not play a key role, the action itself attracts attention. Bizarre behavior is usually not intended to harm other objects of communication, sometimes it can be helpful. Observers evaluate strange actions in different ways – from surprise to condemnation. Often atypical behavior is surprising, that in the Russian and Ukrainian mentality is combined with fear, and the action deserves condemnation, while the British consider oddities just funny. The heroes of the story were also frightened by the actions of the green children, which could not be logically explained. Time can surprise only with the accumulation of events, such as the war on four fronts. The place seems strange if it differs from what is accepted in one’s own culture.