Nervous Conditions - Major Themes

Major Themes

Gender

This novel was progressed by the issue of gender because Africa was heavily set in their patriarchal ways. Babamukuru educated Nyasha only so his image of an educated man would reflect on his family. This is also why he allowed Maiguru to get her Master’s degree after they were already married. This is why it was especially important for Nhamo to get an education, and without his death, Tambu likely wouldn’t have been given the education she received.

Examples:

1. Before Nhamo died, Tambu was trying to earn an education through her maize. Despite her high marks, her father laughed off her desires for an education, “My father was greatly tickled by this... ’Just enough for the fees! Can you see her there?’” (17). Jeremiah does not recognize Tambu’s idea as valid or even commend her desire to earn the fees on her own. This comes from the blatantly sexist thinking that a girl cannot possibly have entrepreneur characteristics or have a future which uses an education.
2. Tambu was often in awe of Nyasha’s knowledge, desire to learn, the opinions she had because of her education, and natural smarts, but people like Babamukuru couldn’t appreciate the gift she had. “I was impressed by her mental agility, but Babamukuru was irritated by it”(102). Parents are supposed to be proud of their children, especially if they are excelling in school. They also encourage children to think outside of the box, but Nyasha’s education was only seen by Babamukuru as fuel for Nyasha’s feminist ways which undermined his authority.
3. While Maiguru and Tambu are conversing about her Master’s Degree and its benefits, Maiguru explains her role in her marriage to Babamukuru, “Your uncle wouldn’t be able to do half the things he does if I didn’t work as well! ...Where do you think I would get the car from? ...Do you think I can afford to buy one?”(103-104). These two questions are very important because Maiguru just emphasized how integral of a part she plays in Babamukuru’s success by earning her own money, yet she can’t afford to buy a car. This displays what her typical African marriage is like. They appear to be an equal partnership because they both have jobs, but in actuality Maiguru has sacrificed a lot for her family. She hasn’t truly been able to use her Master’s degree, not in the way an unmarried Maiguru would have, and the money she earns goes straight into Babamukuru’s pocket. God forbid Maiguru actually spent her own money. Babamukuru probably believed she would use it frivolously. In actuality, it would be for transportation, a freedom she deserves to have but does not. Tambu recognizes the pain Maiguru went through and continues to go though in order to be the house wife Babamukuru wants and expects. “I felt sorry for Maiguru because she could not use the money she earned for her own purposes and had been prevented by marriage from doing the things she wanted to do” (103). This realization surely affects Tambu’s decision to get an education and fuels her goal to not allow marriage and traditional gender roles to get in the way of her future.
4. After Nyasha, Chido, and Tambu come back from a school dance Babamukuru is upset by their late arrival and chastises Nyasha for speaking to a boy outside and alone. “You children are up to no good...out so late at night! ...”No decent girl would stay out alone, with a boy, at that time of the night”(114-115). During a long break, Chido was allowed to stay with a friend who had a sister, yet Babamukuru yells and eventually hits Nyasha for only talking to a boy where her father could see. This shows clear gender discrimination from Babamukuru.

Additional related quotes:

• “Babamukuru condemning Nyasha to whoredom, making her a victim of her femaleness, just as I had felt victimised at home in the days when Nhamo went to school and I grew my maize. The victimisation, I saw, was universal.... Men took it with them everywhere”(118).

• “If there had been sons earlier, they would have helped the old man on the land. The family would have been better off than they are now. Besides...a man can’t be sure about daughters!”(127).

• “Well Babamukuru... maybe when you marry a woman, she is obliged to obey you. But some of us aren’t married, so we don’t know how to do it. That is why I have been able to tell you frankly what is in my heart. It is better that way so that tomorrow I don’t go behind your back and say the first thing that comes into my head.”(174)

Race and Colonialism:

Race and colonialism go hand in hand in the novel. Rhodesia was a society that was not only colonized, but double colonized as well. Although Dangarembga likely knew that readers would have certain racial stereotypes, she puts a scene in the beginning where a white woman makes the judgement that Tambu must be selling food because she’s being forced to. Race also comes up with Babamukuru’s character. In his efforts to be as “white” as possible, several instances in the book display Babamakuru trying to sculpt his family more modern and Western. His attempts, however, proved to have failed. One example is in his marriage to Maiguru. This novel took place in the 1960s when the second wave of Feminism was already going on in America. The gender inequality in his marriage represented the marriage and gender roles that were in Africa. Comparing Jeremiah and Ma’Shingayi, and Maiguru and Babamukuru, their marriages have very similar dynamics. Dangarembga also explores what happens to youth who are put in a Western environment. She alludes to it with Nhamo’s character dying, but Nyasha is the best representation of that exploration. In her struggle with an eating disorder, we see the conflict between tradition and progress alongside colonialism. Comparing Tambu and Nyasha, the conclusion can be made that Tambu had enough time in Africa to ground her values and establish a clear goal in which she needed an education. Nyasha was young enough when she left Zimbabwe, causing her to forget how to speak Shona and thus appear to be more Western than African. As noted by Janice Hill, “Dangarembga's novel illustrates how the acquisition of education and the adoption of Western ways can have painful consequences for modern African women.” This is especially possible because Babamukuru was self-loathing and trying to force some Western ways upon her, while also telling her she couldn’t be Western. Examples of this are when she was not allowed to read a Western book, or whenever Babamukuru belittled her accomplishments and opinions because she was female.

Examples:

1. While Tambu tries to earn the fees for her education, a white woman, Doris, immediately makes an assumption based on her skin color, “‘I’d be shocking myself if I walked by and didn’t say anything.... Is she your little girl?' Without waiting for an answer she gave him a piece of her mind. ‘Child labour. Slavery! That’s what it is’” (28-29). If Tambu had been a white child, Doris probably would have thought it was for school or her parents were trying to teach her the value of money. Although she tries to stand up for Tambu, it’s unfounded that she would be there for a different reason than a white child.
2. Tambu explains the changes in her brother after being at the mission, “Nhamo came home at the end of his first year...insignificant matters” (52-53). Although some of these changes, like Nhamo’s inability to speak Shona, were fabricated on his part to appear Western, he had started to change, but was doing so by dropping his African identity.
3. After asking to go to a different school, Babamukuru contemplates Tambu’s request by talking about Nyasha. “I have observed from my own daughter’s behaviour that it is not a good thing for a young girl to associate too much these white people, to have too much freedom. I have seen that girls who do that do not develop into decent women”(183). Although Babamukuru didn’t know about Nyasha’s eating disorder at this point, he was correct in saying that Western society affected Nyasha. Perhaps, it affected her in a positive way because it helped her form her feminist opinions. Despite comments in the beginning of the book about the way Tambu’s African body looked, Nyasha’s eating disorder appeared to stem from her excessive studying and desire to do well in school. This desire began from Babamukuru’s overbearing expectation to succeed in learning. Additionally, what Babamukuru is judging Nyasha for has to do with his personal discrimination against women, not Western’s society’s pressures on Nyasha.