Abstract
This article explores the theoretical work in articulating the motivations and conditions for account-giving in isiXhosa in relation to image restoration. The account-making process, according to Warren (1989), is like a life in motion in which individual characters are portrayed as moving through their experiences, dealing with some conflict or problem in their lives and at the same time searching for a solution. The narrator discovers at the age of twelve that the person she is referring to as her mother is not her real mother and that her real mother died while giving birth to her. The situation at home deteriorates after the death of her father. Her desperation is further fuelled when her stepmother marries a taxi-driver who sexually abuses her. The narrator then resorts to alcohol and drug abuse to cope with her growing sense of not belonging. The opportunity for changing her life and opening up endless avenues for progress and advancement comes when the narrator passes matric and, through her father’s will, pursues her studies at a tertiary institution. She graduates as a top student and now practices as a medical doctor. This quest to understand the major stresses in each individual’s mind is at the core of this article.
Highlights
The importance of stories in our lives and the extent to which they serve as vehicles for rendering ourselves intelligible can never be underestimated
In the conclusion we find the result of the fulfillment
In the light of the above discussion, the narrator has shown that she is committed to restore her image despite her upbringing or the problems she encountered as a child
Summary
The importance of stories in our lives and the extent to which they serve as vehicles for rendering ourselves intelligible can never be underestimated. Hardy (1968:5) has written that “we dream in narrative, daydream in narrative, remember, anticipate, hope, despair, believe, doubt, plan, revise, criticize, construct, gossip, learn, hate and love by narrative”. Elaborating on this view, MacIntrye (1984) proposes that enacted narratives form the basis of moral character. Narrative accounts are embedded within social action. In this article we shall explore the nature of stories, both as they are told and as they are lived in social life. We shall consider the manner in which narratives of the self are constructed within social life and the uses to which they are put. All the examples that are quoted in the analysis refer to the account which is written in the appendix
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