Nervous Conditions - Characters

Characters

• Tambu: Jeremiah and Mainini's daughter. Tambu is the novel's main character and narrator of the story. Her desire for an education and to improve herself seem strong enough to overcome just about anything. She is very hard on herself, and always strives to do her best and make the correct decisions. Unlike many other characters in the book, she respects the societal roles in place regardless of her desire not to be held back by her gender. Despite the drastic changes in her life, Tambu manages to stay mostly resilient throughout the novel.

• Babamukuru: Tambu's uncle and Nyasha's father. Babamukuru is well educated and is the dean of the mission school. He feels that it is his responsibility to help the rest of his extended family because they are not as fortunate as him. This causes him to be very authoritative in character, demonstrated by his attempts to control his family. These actions stem from his subservience to anyone that offered him assistance in getting his education. He is often seen as an uninterested father, and shows his disapproval of his daughter's actions. He also keeps out of any intimate relationships by being preoccupied with work all the time. Throughout the novel, he proves to be a very complex character, and it is nearly impossible to tell the true intentions of his seemingly kind and generous actions.

• Maiguru: Babamukuru's wife and Tambu's aunt. Maiguru is a well educated woman who can provide for herself by working at the mission. Her time in England has led her to become jealous of the life she could have potentially lived had she stayed in England. Even with this desire for independence, she realizes that in order to keep Babamukuru satisfied and to keep her marriage alive, she must accept a passive role in her household. At one point she leaves her husband because she is tired of being viewed as a second class citizen, but she returns soon afterwards because she realizes it is for the best to stay in her passive role.

• Nyasha: Babamukuru and Maiguru's daughter. While she is subservient to her father, it is not by choice, but rather she realizes that she has nowhere else to go. She makes no attempt to be social with any girls at the mission, and has very few friends. Her desire to be independent gets her into a lot of trouble, including numerous arguments with her father. Her time in England showed her a different life, and she is having trouble assimilating back into Rhodesian society.

• Chido: Babamukuru and Maiguru's son. Because Chido is Babamukuru's son, he received a good education, but he succumbed to the customs of the white colonists. He does not get very involved with the family or the mission school, and ultimately dates a white girlfriend to the dislike of all his family members.

• Jeremiah: Babamukuru's brother and Tambu's father. Jeremiah received very little education and is barely able to provide for his family. He acts grateful to Babamukuru for the education he provided his children with, but truly has no interest in them leaving to go to the mission.

• Lucia: Ma'Shingayi's sister. Lucia stays relatively unknown during the course of the novel. She is believed to have had many affairs with wealthy men. She is a very independent woman, and is determined to educate herself and not fall into the normal roles of women in her society.

• Mainini: Tambu's mother. During the beginning of the novel when Nhamo was sent off to school, Mainini had no issues with the extra work that she had to do when Nhamo was gone. After his death however, when Tambu goes to the mission, she becomes very resentful of Babamukuru for taking another one of her children to his school. During Tambu's trips home, Mainini makes no attempt to hide her displeasure with Babamukuru's actions.

• Netsai: Tambu's sister. Netsai is a very kind person who helps out around the house not only because she is required to, but because she actually desires to help her family.

• Nhamo: Tambu's brother. As the eldest son in the family, Nhamo is chosen to go to the mission school. He taunts Tambu with his access to an education because she did not have one. After being at the school, he feels he is superior to the rest of his family, and takes no part in their daily tasks. Eventually, he starts going home from the mission less and less until his death.

• Takesure: Babamukuru and Jeremiah's cousin. Takesure is quite apathetic as a father throughout the novel and he overuses the societal power given to him because he is a man. He is involved with numerous women regardless of his financial inability to care for any of them. After Nhamo dies, he is brought to the homestead to help Jeremiah.