Nervous Conditions and Research Horrors

In the past week, I haven't found a lot of time to put into research, because I've been so preoccupied with a lot of other things. I wanted to get a thorough, rough draft done by last Thursday, but it didn't happen, and I wound up starting/completing it tonight. The reason I put it behind so far is because I really didn't know where to begin with organizing. I had it all planned out in my outline, but I think my sources were stretched too far to create a relatable paper. All of this overwhelmed me, and I couldn't get my head together to write a decent essay. I said, "okay, I should probably gather more sources that relate to my thesis." This process was done in the midst of writing my paper, which may not be very organized, but I was productive in finding sources that gave strong support! I also definitely considered revising my thesis, since it focused on so many topics, and I was scared that I couldn't relate them all. Eventually, although I had a lot of trouble with putting my ideas together, I created a final-looking paper that I could be confident with. I've come a long way with this paper (although it doesn't seem like it), and I can't wait to see the finished product.

Meanwhile, our English class began reading Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga, who is an African author, and currently writes these folklore tales as a hobby and as a living. I was honestly excited to read this book: the cover looked enticing enough, and I could tell it would be a tale about African hardships. I didn't expect that the narrator would start the book with a broad sentence: "I was not sorry when my brother died." I'm sure many were shocked my this statement, since there is no provided introduction to work with, like in Lord of the Flies, and since she (the author) never went into depth of what the main picture is about. I found the beginning to be confusing, and it's because it was slow and detailed, explaining much of the setting. There were some sentences where I could visualize the African homestead, and others where I had to retrace words. Another aspect that throws me off is Dangarembga's style as a writer, because the sentence structures are sometimes hard to follow. Now, I have made it halfway through Chapter Two, and I can definitely see the plot intensifying as the narrator's resent toward her brother grows. I can make prediction based on that, and I hope to see them happen in the story.