A young woman on the path to success.
As I was sitting under the Arch, my memories were disturbed by a tall and light lady with her black hair combed straight back; Phakama greets me with a big smile and prepare myself to take a journey with her as she shares her journey with me. Phakama Nyakaza, who was born in a small town in the Eastern Cape, called Mound Fletcher in a rural area where she was raised by her single mother. “I was comfortable there until my mother decided to go back to school, I then moved to Cape Town to live with her friends whom treated me like their own daughter,” she said with a silly smile. Hardships started taking it’s tall on Phakama after her mother’s death in 1999. “My older sister then had to look for work to take care of both myself and my younger brother,” says the 20–year-old, while she plays with her shades. When I asked her about her father I could see that she doesn’t like to talk about the subject as she looked down and took a few minutes to respond, “after disappearing when I was still very young, my father come back in 2006; my sister had to nurture him as he was very sick and she also helped him find a job which he couldn’t keep for long. “My father cannot handle responsibilities, he does not like the fact that we all have to depend on the little money that he earns because he got many jobs but would stop working without a reason,” she continued.
The optimistic BSc student matriculated in a disadvantage school which was situated in the township of Cape Town, “people got robbed inside the school premises, boys did drug dealings and you would find them smoking in the toilets; they was no good education, it was just not a safe environment, and that stopes me from asking questions in lectures and tuts whenever I don’t understand because I know my English is not good,” she adds before almost bursting in tears. Phakama shares her feelings about her one year gap before coming to Rhodes, “after completing my metric I had to stay at home because I did not even have the money for application forms I was so lonely and depressed because all my friends had gone to Universities, but my faith in God helped me as I was tempted to give up school and go look for work, she adds.
When asked about her best and low memories in first year Phakama responded with a silly smile, “mmmm..my best memory would be O-week; we were given a special treat especially the cheese and wine and the chocolate extravaganza”. After thinking long and hard about it Phakama said her low happened during O-week when she went to serenading and had to make tea for this white boy who could not stand her, “I know I’m black and I’m a women but he didn’t have to make it so obvious, I was so crashed,” confesses the young lady. Phakama admits that she gets pressure from people in her res in terms of going out and having boyfriends but stresses that she will never sacrifice her studies for anything; if there is one thing that encourages her to press hard on her studies is her background because she never wants to go back there again.
“I’ve always seen myself succeeding and told myself I’m never gonna die poor,” she said whipping her tears that were steaming down her chicks. As we both prepare to leave, I asked her if there is anything she would like to add. She stands and said, “I would advice people who grew up like me to stop using that as an excuse and manipulation to other people instead it must encourage them to work even harder,” words coming from a vibrant first year who is determined to pass all her subjects.
Posts
6 comments:
In Propp’s theory of narrative, there is always a hero seeking something. In this profile, the heroine is Phakama, a female student who is seeking a better life for herself.. The disruption she faced was the death of her mother. According to Todorov, before a disruption there is a state of equilibrium. The heroine’s sate of equilibrium was when her mother was alive. A further disruption is the reappearance of her father. The heroine had to overcome a lot of challenges, including growing up in an unsafe environment and having to survive on her father’s money, which was insufficient for the family. She also encountered racism in her first week at university. Studying is her attempt to restore the state of equilibrium, for if she does well, she will lead a good life. Propp holds that there is a helper who aids the hero. In this case, it would be the heroine’s faith in God which helps her through the hard times. If she does well in her studies, the state of equilibrium will be restored, albeit in a situation different from the first.This is because though things can be stabilised, they cannot be restored to their exact position.
I thonk the writer here has handled the subject quite well. He or she managed to capture the story of the subject without placing any of the writer’s inferences or personal opinions. In a nutshell, the story sounds authentic. Despite that, I would have loved to get the story of the interview itself, because there seems to be more of the subject’s story and little of the story of the interview. But all in all it is quite a good, insightful and emotion-filled sort of profile.
Zie says:
I couldn’t agree more with what Phakama says about people making excuses for their lives. Phakama is the hero in this story (according to scholars such as Propp and Todorrov) because not only was their a major disturbance in her life (losing her mother at a very young age and being sent to live with other people) but she also found a way to overcome all of her fears and is focused on her education, which is something we all tend to forget. Also her sister is also a hero in her own right as she had to give up “her youthful life” to assume responsibilities of a guardian… much respect. The writer is sympathetic towards the interviewee and really shows us vividly what is going on rather than telling us which shows that it is a good profile.
It’s interesting how the contrasts in the heroine, Phakama, are shown in this profile – from big smiles at the beginning to tears later on. According to Thompson, there will always be a challenge that a hero will have to face and overcome before a new equilibrium is reached. The story starts off with Phakama seeming confident and trouble free and then shows the struggles she has had to overcome. By the end it feels as if an equilibrium has been reached. Phakama has overcome so much that she will surely continue to do so. The piece did a good job of portraying Phakama's character. I feel like the writer dealt with the emotions sensitively, including them in the story but not using them in a sensational way.
Readingrocks,
Your profile blog was touching. It is amazing to see that the hero in a story can take the form of anyone.
We learnt about the Russian folklorist, Vladimir Propp, in narrative and genre this year. After analysing thousands of fairy stories, he formulated a set of characters and character functions that he believed could be found in any story. Today we can even apply these theories to hard news stories and soap operas.
The character whose story you have chosen to tell is in my opinion, the hero. She has been through many hardships, but as you so beautifully described, decided to fight back and has ultimately succeeded. Her story is an inspiration for any one of us who are (in the words of Todorov), trying to restore our equilibrium.
thank you guys, i really appreciate your honesty.
Post a Comment