Nervous Conditions is a novel by Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga, first published in the United Kingdom in 1988. The semi-autobiographical novel focuses on the story of a Rhodesian family in post-colonial Rhodesia during the 1960s. It attempts to illustrate the dynamic themes of race, class, gender, and cultural change during the post-colonial conditions of present-day Zimbabwe. The title is taken from the introduction by Jean-Paul Sartre to Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth.
Plot summary
Tambu is the main character of the novel. She is a young bright girl that is eager to go to school. The novel opens up with the news that Tambu’s older brother, Nhamo, had just died. Tambu is not upset about this because Nhamo studied at a
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Another cultural significance which was represented in the book were the gender relations.This is also evident in the beginning of the book when Tambu claims to be a better student than her brother ever was, but that he was chosen to get the "better" English schooling simply because he was a man and she was a girl. This is representative of the country and obviously most of the world at this time since women movements in Africa were not prominent at the time. The Africans had to worry about their general independence first instead of the rights of women, which is the main reason why there weren't as many women movements towards rights until after independence. This makes sense since it would be unethical to have African men and women treated equally while still under the negative influence of the English.This explains why women movements in Zimbabwe were formed in the years after independence and still are in effect to this day.
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
The players of a high school football team were traveling home from their football game in Fernandina Beach, Florida. It had been a tough night. It was August and still hot. The game had lasted three hours, and the players had to play offense, defense, and special teams because there
Families are a strange phenomenon it can be a source of mutual and beloving kinship or a deep pool of antagonism that can potentially destroy connections between one another. In the story Tita is bounded by her mother's command with her freedoms handicapped to take care of her mother given her role as the youngest daughter in the family. ...Esquivel's novel is about the hardships and tribulations of a family, as it shows many characteristics and traits about the acts of undying loyalty to an authority, which plays into the abusive power of cruelty, as this leads to isolation and suffering, thus creating a victim.
Elena is a strict and ridged woman who takes total control of her girls’ lives particularly her youngest daughter Tita. Tita is the protagonist in the story, she is in love with a young man named Pedro however, according to family tradition, and she has to take care of her mother and cannot marry. Instead, Mama Elena sets up a marriage between Pedro and Tita sister Rosaura. Pedro marries Rosaura to be close to his true love. Rosaura, has always been jealous of Tita because she is a good cook and a nurturer. She jumps at the chance to marry Pedro knowing it will hurt her sister. The middle sister is Getrudis, She is the rebel of the family that runs away and works in a brothel. Later she becomes a general in an
Kambili, the narrator of the story, symbolizes the bridge that connects Aunty Ifeoma and Mama. The one similarity that the two maternal figures hold is how they have affected Kambili even with their unalike personas. In the beginning of the novel and Kambili’s journey, she represents Mama and her restrictive house as she is also
The nervous system is a chain of interconnected nerve fibers which is constructed by the central nervous system and Peripheral nervous system. The job of the nervous system is to send messages from the brain and spinal cord to different parts of the body.
The relationship between mothers and daughters influence the conflicts that each character experiences throughout the novel. Consequently, conflicts such as oppression and identity crisis play a key role in developing the female characters in the novel. Throughout the novel, Tan discusses these themes in several different ways. These themes are evident in the ways that the mothers, daughters, spouses are seen and how each character is characterized by their roles in their relationships throughout the novel. In addition, the environments and social setting of each relationship that is depicted in the novel plays a significant role in defining and determining the fate of the relationship. Tan focuses mainly on mother daughter relationships, and how conflicts such as oppression and overcoming adversity arise when mothers and daughters are placed in unfamiliar
Overall, this book was very thoughtfully and thoroughly put together. It displayed various emotions within each chapter and always made sure the reader was involved. In this novel, the reader gets to meet Tita De La Garza. Tita is the youngest daughter of her family, resulting in her being forbidden by her dictatorial mother to marry her lover, Pedro Muzquiz.
Nervous conditions by Tsisti Dangarembga is about the life of Tambu, a young girls experiences as a female living in Africa. Tambu lives 20 miles west of Umtali with her two youngest sisters Netsai and Rambanai and Jeremiah and Ma’ Shingayi. Tambus uncle, Babamurkur is the provider for her family because of his high education. He is married to Mairguru and his children are Nyasha, his daughter and Chido his oldest son. Babamurkuru is helping Tambus brother Nhamo , achieve education to provide for his family. The importance of education between genders is that education allows males to provide for the family, without education living standards aren’t comfortable and can lead to being dependent on the educated for support.
African literature matters because in the United States, when we think about Africa, we think about is slavery; however, Africa is culturally and technologically more diverse and advanced than people know. This can be seen in many different novels. Chinua Achebe describes the African, Igbo culture throughout his novel presented Africa in a better light. Furthermore, this can be seen in Ryan Coogler’s latest movie, Black Panther, where the people of Wakanda hide their country's true identity in order to keep themselves safe from colonizers. This is significant because both of these texts illustrate Africa as a culturally diverse and powerful continent, compared to the primitive idea of Africans being slaves.
Within the human anatomy, an intricate and complex network of specialised nerve fibres and neurons works in collaboration with the central nervous system and peripheral system, designed to carry out the various actions humans perform every day. The nervous system is also known as the master control unit of the human body, as it operates other major functions such as the circulatory and respiratory systems (Jakab, 2006). It is composed of the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The neurons established within the various sections of the nervous system, is structured with three main parts: a dendrite which is a cluster of branches that operates by receiving information from the
"Nervous Conditions" is a semi-autobiographical story about Tambu, a young girl growing up in rural Rhodesia in the 1960's, and her search for a way out - for both herself and her family - of the tremendous poverty of homestead life in a colonized African country. Narrated through the eyes of young Tambu, the story is told with child-like simplicity about her and her family fighting to survive in a complex world of Imperialism, racism, and class and gender inequality. In hindsight, Dangarembga allows the protagonist's narrative to slowly unravel the meaning of her and her family's struggle with their assimilation into the strange and powerful culture of their rulers.
In the story, Nervous Conditions, Babamukuru is Tambu, the main character’s, uncle. He is an essential character because his reactions dictate how all the other character’s act and behave. He is the father of two of the characters and the husband to another character, but always asserts himself in everyone’s life, because of his duty to the immediate and extended family. He is the disciplinarian and parental figure to many of the characters. He is tough and not loveable to his kids, he especially makes known his disappointment in his daughter. He acts more as if he is running a business than raising his families’ status and overcome severe poverty.
The organs of our body are controlled by many systems in order to function correctly and efficiently in order to survive within the environment we live in. These include the heart, stomach and intestines and other vital organs and body systems. All of the systems in our body are regulated by a part of the nervous system called the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS is part of the peripheral nervous system and it controls many organs and muscles within the body. Rather bizarrely we are unable to determine or feel its presence in our bodies as it is working involuntary, as a reflexive manner. A common example of this involuntary action is best understood when
The resentment within the young girl’s family is essential to the novel because one can understand the young girl better as she makes her decision.
However, Ngugi does not seem to criticize this attitude of Mumbi; her attitude as a weakness, the author transforms this into a strength by the characters. This argument is reinforced b y Mumbi;s mother, Wanjiku,