Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

This week we began reading Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga. This novel was very entertaining, but complicated all at the same time. As the reader you follow the life of the main character Tambudzai through her accounts of each potentially life changing moment. Though it is nice to hear this “first-hand experience”, we must remember that as a narrator this at times makes her unreliable. We only see events from her perspective and sometimes she tends to daze off and become more interested in her own thoughts. As we follow Tambudzai from the homestead to the mission and finally to Sacred Heart, she introduces us to a number of complicated traditions, lifestyles, and thinking patterns. It is left to the reader to interpret these as they may.

Of the many complicated issues within the book, the most prominent seems to be gender bias and education. Tambudzai shows us three women (aside from herself) that reflect very different paths that women can choose. By doing so we are able to see some of the complicated results from those choices. While showing Tambudzai what she can become, it also shows her the struggles and repercussions for each path. There is also the issue of education. Coupled with the gender bias, it is obvious that as a girl she is very fortunate to be receiving an education in the manner that she is. However, this too comes with a price. As her mother and others state clearly, they do not want her to forget her home. In order to receive this top education she must go away for school. Just as it had done to Nhamo, it is doing to her. She is being exposed to many new “white ways” and speaking more English. This makes it more difficult for her to remember Shona and the ways and traditions of home.

This novel had a large impact on the way that I view things. It is not that I have never heard of some of these issues before, but I don’t think I could ever apply them to anyone. Given a character and seeing them experience these issues made them that much harder to swallow. Education is regarded as such a good thing, but in the end the educated women aren’t held any higher. To top it all off, they are avoided by their older family and regarded as trouble makers because of how they have changed.  When I read that Tambudzai’s aunt never saw her own pay check and did not even have a car, I was speechless. She puts in all of the hard work, only to never see her full earning potential. I don’t think I could be as strong and fearless as some of these women. It showed me such great courage, and also the mental anguish these women deal with regularly. Overall I really enjoyed this book and I think I would be interested in reading similar eye opening texts.