Nervous Conditions: Chapter 6

            This chapter confirmed my thoughts about Babamukuru not being as fun and loving as I had thought in the beginning. I could not believe the fight that him and Nyasha had. He basically had a brawl with his own daughter. It said he punched her head and slammed it on the ground. That seems pretty harsh for a dad to do to his daughter. This fight had a big effect on Nyasha and Babamukuru's relationship and how they both acted. Nyasha seemed to be recovering by the end of the chapter, but I don't really know if Babamukuru is going to want to talk to Nyasha for a pretty long time.
            One little thing that I just noticed throughout the course of this book was that there is some weird spelling of 'z' or 'ze.' For example, she will write 'realises' instead of 'realizes.' I don't understand why she is spelling these words this way. Is it because of where she is from?

Nervous Conditions: Chapter 5

            In this chapter, my thoughts about Babamukuru changed a little bit. At first, I thought he was kind of a fun person who would sometimes joke around, but also worked very hard. In this chapter, however, it seemed like he was very serious and strict, especially when he talked to Nyasha. A few times, he said he did not like the way she was turning out and that she needs to behave better. I never realized that Babamukuru was so stern.
            It seems like Tambu is enjoying and doing well in school. She says that she is at the top of her class. It impresses me that she could learn the english language so well to actually excel in school. I found that Tambu and Nyasha's relationship has been improving. When Tambu first got to Babamukuru's house, she didn't really approve of Nyasha. By the end of the chapter it sounded like they had become pretty good friends again.

Nervous Conditions: Chapter 4

            At the start of the chapter, we see Tambu leaving with Babamukuru in his car to go to his house. Tambu feels very excited and thinks about all she will be doing with Babamukuru and his family. However, when she gets there, she starts to feel a little bit uneasy. This does not really surprise me because I think she realizes that the only real reason she is there is because her brother had died.
            It was interesting how Tambu kept pointing out all the big differences between her old home in Rhodesia and in Babamukuru's home. For example, she says how nice the beds were compared to the ones ad her old home. She said that she was excited about having more than one blanket on her bed so she could be warmer.
            Tambu continues to judge people in this chapter. She critiques Nyasha's manners and how she acts as a person a lot. It seems like in Rhodesia they were more strict on manners than in Babamukuru's place.

Research Paper Reflection

1.) I think the most difficult part of the process was planning out how the paper would be organized. This process was made easier by making the detailed outline.I liked how the outline allowed you to organize and plan the paper without actually writing the whole paper yet. However, I didn't end up exactly following my outline when writing my paper. The outline still helped get my ideas on paper and figure things out. The peer editing of the outlines was pretty helpful because I got different views of how my paper looked. The jump from the first draft to the final seemed kind of quick.

2.) The most useful feedback I got was about making my thesis relate to the rest of my paper better. I responded to this feedback by altering my thesis and adding things to the body and conclusion of my paper that would make it all come together in a better way.

3.) My ideas and organization were probably two of the strongest aspects of my paper. My information was presented in a clear way and the information was good. I also think my convention use was good. My voice and word choice probably could have improved and been less casual.

4.) No.

Reading/Work Times

2/17    Nervous Conditions Chapter One    45 min
2/19    Nervous Conditions Chapter Two    45 min
2/21    Nervous Conditions Chapter Three    45 min

Finished up my final research paper draft    60 min

Total Time: 195 min

Nervous Conditions: Chapter 3

            In Chapter 3, everything changes. Nhamo dies when he was on the mission with Babamukuru. This is the event that makes a lot of things happen. The most significant thing that happened because of Nhamo's death is that Tambu is chosen to go back to the mission with Babamukuru. Nhamo's death shocks his parents and makes them extremely sad. The mother of Nhamo, who has always loved and trusted Babamukuru, blames him for Nhamo's death. So Nhamo's death basicaly affected evryone in the family negatively except Tambu.
            It surprised me that Tambu was not sad about her brother dying. I know that they didn't like each other at all and Nhamo was mean to her, he was still her brother. All she cared about was getting his spot in the mission with Babamukuru. I could not imagine having one of my family member die and not completely fall apart. This just shows how much Tambu wanted to get educated and how much she disliked her brother.

Nervous Conditions: Chapter 2

            There was a strange jump back in time from the end of Chapter One to the beginning of Chapter Two. Chapter Two basically started where Chapter One had started: talking about her brother, Nhamo, and how he went to school. However, the difference that I found between Chapter One and Chapter Two was the detail. Chapter Two definitely went into more detail of specific events that happened and the thoughts of the narrator. An examples of these details would be how it told that the narrator really wanted to go to school when she was little and tried to earn the money for it herself by growing her own maize and trying to sell it.
            After reading this chapter, I found out more about the narrator than in Chapter One. One thing I found is that she does not get much support from her parents or siblings. The only person that seemed to support her or even respect her was Mr. Matimba when he tried to help the narrator sell her maize so she could get some money for school fees. Her parents just laughed at her when she told them that she wanted to try to earn her own money for school. It seems to me that the narrator was living a pretty tough life at this time.    

Nervous Conditions: Chapter 1

           In Chapter One, I felt that I got familiar with the narrator and what kind of person she was. She seems like a confident person who will stand up for herself if she needs to. This chapter also told about her family and how her life was. She was living in poverty and her family grew crops to make money.
            Although I learned a lot in reading this chapter, I got confused sometimes while reading it. There were a lot of strange names to learn and remember. I think the purpose of this chapter was to give little bits of background information and set the stage of the story for the reader. It gave an overview of what was going on in the narrators life.

Reading Times

2/10:
Point Blank    pp. 102-156    70 min 

2/15:
Point Blank    pp. 156-181    30 min

2/17/13:
Nervous Conditions    pp. 1-34    65 min

Total: 165 min

Research Details

1/29    Detailed Outline    90 min
1/30    Worked on Notecards   30 min
1/31    Looked over Outline and revised thesis statement    30 min