Review of Nervous Conditions

Nervous Conditions by Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga is a novel that depicts the society of colonial Rhodesia of the 1960s as told from the perspective of a 13-year-old girl named Tambudzai. Tambu, as she is fondly called, was given the opportunity to go to the missionary school of her uncle Babamukuru when her brother Nhamo died due to mumps. It was during her schooling at her uncle's school that Tambu met her cousin Nashya, who was having conflicts with her father and with the general conditions, traditions and culture of Rhodesia.

The lead character that I would be describing in this novel is Nyasha. Nyasha is the daughter of Babamukuru who had her childhood years in England when her parents were continuing their education there. Nyasha grew up without the knowledge of Zimbabwean culture and traditions and were not exposed to the differences of the treatment of men and women and of races of Rhodesia. Nyasha went back to Rhodesia with her father and was shocked about the differences on how men and women and in general her people was being treated by the English white settlers of the country.

The nervousness in Nyasha is the fact that grew up in England and she has been exposed to a different environment there than in Rhodesia. In England, Nyasha was becoming to be a self-assured, intelligent and sexually free young woman until she was forced to go back to Rhodesia with her parents. In Rhodesia, Nyasha is being forced to follow the traditions and culture by becoming a subordinate, obedient, well-behaved and inferior young black woman.
The nervousness in this novel comes from the years of colonization and the discrimination between the settlers and the natives of Rhodesia. Rhodesian natives who are the blacks are considered and treated to be inferior to the white English colonizers/settlers. Black men and women are being treated as slaves or inferiors and are expected to behave that way even if they have high education.

The colonial mentalities of Nyasha's parents are the reasons why they are forcing Nyasha to act as an inferior when she got back to Rhodesia. Nyasha is torn between being a confident young intelligent woman because she grew up in England and becoming like her parents who have the subordinate attitude towards the English settlers. Nyasha's nervousness also comes from the knowledge that she knows that she might get killed if she continues to act like a confident young women because the society does not allow blacks to become as equals of the white English settlers.

The author of the novel has pointed to a solution to solve the nervousness of Nyasha. While Nyasha is very angry with her parents and accuses them of oppressing her, Nyasha however is not too vocal about her objections since she only whispers her oppression to her cousin Tambu whom she knows could not do anything about the whole situation. One solution that the author is pointing out is to become very vocal about the oppression that Nyasha is experiencing from her father and letting the world know about how she feels about the situation and letting others join her plight in changing the ways that she (African women and men) should be treated.

Also the refusal of Nyasha to grovel to her father shows that there is hope for women of Africa to become strong towards the oppression they experience from African males and in a wider perspective, this shows hope for African people in general to become strong towards the suppression of the English colonizers/settlers.

The relationship between Nyasha and her parents is a representation of how the African black people are being oppressed by the white English settlers of the country. Nyasha is being controlled by her father in different ways, such as controlling what she reads, when and what to eat, and how to behave around a boy and in society. Nyasha's being oppressed by her father in becoming a confident and intelligent young woman is a representation of how Africa in general is being oppressed by the English colonizers during colonial times. Nyasha's breakdown and deterioration of health due to Bulimia because of how she handles her father's oppression is representing how Zimbabwe has suffered economically and culturally due to the oppression coming from its colonizers.

Even after post-colonization of Zimbabwe, African males and females who had experienced being colonized are still afraid of changing their behaviors and are still under the cloud or umbrella of colonization.

In my own experience, my nervousness also comes every time my parents would tell me or expect me to act or behave the way that they behaved or to dress up the way that they want me to dress up. Although most of the times this is not as harsh as the relationship of Nyasha and her father, this is still the form of oppression and nervousness that I experience. This oppression or nervousness of mine however comes from the difference in the generation between my parents and me.

WORKS CITED:
Dangarembga, Tsitsi. Nervous Conditions. Seattle: Seal Press, 1998.