Nervous Conditions By Tsitisi Dangarembga

In Deadly Unna?, Phillip Gwynne explores the themes of belonging and power within this racially segregated society. The story is written from

Resilience is a factor that drives her survival and ability to persevere as a result of being a victim of circumstances. It is through her knowledge that acquires over time that enables her to fight back and put herself into a role of power within an environment promoting her oppression. Her mother, Georgia, Fanta and Aminata’s strong wills shows how women can take control of their lives and that they are more than just housewife’s, that they can change the world by standing up for themselves and showing other women the impossible, thus creating a movement resulting in how Aminata tells her story to the Abolitionists and how she destroys the stereotypical gender roles. Thus concluding to The Book of Negroes as an example that portrays female women to be strong and brave. It is through her knowledge she acquires over time that enables her to fight back and put herself into a role of power within a harsh

| Relevant Biographical Information About the Author: * White * Born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa in 1903 * Father was Scottish and mother was South African of English heritage * Worked at a reformatory with black youths

Firstly, oppression is evident through various types of abuse through the main characters, Aminata and Celie. Both have faced several forms of abuse such as physical, emotional, mental and sexual abuse that have stripped away their identity and dignity. For instance, Aminata fights for her freedom throughout her entire life, only to suffer from physical abuse almost everyday on the slave ship and to suffer from sexual abuse on the plantations. Moreover, Aminata

From the start the novel is laden with the pressures that the main characters are exposed to due to their social inequality, unlikeness in their heredity, dissimilarity in their most distinctive character traits, differences in their aspirations and inequality in their endowments, let alone the increasingly fierce opposition that the characters are facing from modern post-war bourgeois society.

Nadine Gordimer’s “What were you dreaming?” is known to be a very sensitive, open account of her private and social relationship in South Africa. Gordimer witnessed the difference between the white minority, and their continuous efforts to weaken the rights of the black population. Gordimer made it her duty to promote the consequences of the apartheid, the problems that oppression inflicts on both the colonized (settled) and the colonizers (immigrants), its effect on daily life, and the division it caused between the black and white races. As a result, she wrote the short story, “What were you dreaming?” to show the readers her view, not explain it.

Heart of Darkness is set in the late 1800’s, a time in which slavery was still considered a reasonable practice, whereas Brave New World is set in the dystopian future, which signifies that greed for power is a universal and long-standing concept that will most likely not be broken in the near future. One of the most memorable moments in which this idea is expressed is in Brave New World, when Fanny sighs, “after all, everyone belongs to everyone else” (Huxley 48). This idea is a key concept in depicting the other side of the theme, which assesses the mental state of those who are being degraded. Similar to John, who felt his life was meaningless, Fanny has come to the conclusion that no one in their society truly belongs to themselves. The natives in Heart of Darkness most likely feel the same, however their oppression is so extreme, they would fear for their lives, should they express how they feel.

Jacobs autobiography which is known by the name of ‘Incidents in a Life of a Slave Girl’ gave a true account of the treatment that black women faced during that time and also throwing some light on a perception which has been kept in shadows from the society. While writing the story of her life, Jacobs though focused on her defeat due to obstacles like race and gender, gave voice to something which was hidden from society regardless of the presence of patriarchal society of the nineteenth century.

In the Novel “Cry the Beloved Country” by Alan Paton, two fathers are trying to put the pieces of there families back together while also keeping themselves together. They each go through a variety of struggles, with one learning his sister is a prostitute and his son is a murder while the other deals with his sons death and tries to move passed it. Throughout the novel, racial tension is a theme frequently seen from the beginning of the book til the very end. Paton uses the setting of South Africa to underscore racial tension associated with the apartheid movement to illustrate these themes. The concept of racism is prevalent during the story as it is used by the government to caused both blacks and whites to fear each other which eventually tears apart Kumalo’s family.

This section demonstrates how the fear manifested itself among the whites. The Afrikaners’ power is not in numbers, as “they were few” but instead in political authority. They exploit this and impose harsh laws on the black to try to control and restrict them. However, they have bound themselves in their fear of the natives, a force that is perhaps more confining than their rules. Instead of trying to understand their fear and show their compassion towards these other human beings, they instead choose to hide it so that they will not appear weak. Additionally, the solution of love that Paton suggests presents a conundrum. In order end the fear, they must love, but to love they must stop being afraid. This demonstrates the almost impossible nature of true equality occurring between the natives and the Afrikaners.

The aim of this essay is to address the problem of inequality and oppression through three separate texts, The Second Sex, The Death of the Profane and Killing Rage. The Second Sex focuses on the woman and her role compared to man. The Death of the Profane and Killing Rage are both texts that describe experiences about the constant racism felt by blacks. To thoroughly examine these texts and how they are related to oppression and inequality it is important to first define what each mean. Oppression and inequality each have different definitions but they go hand in hand. Oppression is the state of being subject to prolonged unjust treatment. While inequality is defined as lacking equality, equality is the state of being equal especially in status,

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.

Nervous Conditions draws much focus on the lives of women living the impacts of colonialism in a traditional African society in Zimbabwe. These women struggle to assert themselves in a patriarchal society while at the same time it speaks about the history of a country that has been under colonialization. The female characters in the stories struggle in their lives to find ways to deal with their own situation; however, this essay emphasizes African women’s situation in both the colonized and/or patriarchal societies as exemplified by the female characters: Tambu and Nyasha. Tambu leaves her country because of its inequality and male biases so she can seek freedom and gain liberation. Nyasha resisters and defies patriarchy, as manifested by

Ever since the beginning of time, fear has been haunting the lives of human beings. The passage “Once upon a time”, by Nadine Gordimer, the characters within this text shows how fear is seen and what actions are done to stop “threats”. In this text, there was a family in a quartered area , mom, dad, and a little boy. only trusted maids and etc. were allowed into the area. In front of the family house is a warning sign that says one could be an invader even though the homeowners are covered by security systems. Towards the end of the passage the homeowners house was broken into. In “once upon a time” Gordimer uses imagery and symbolism to justify that apartheid was a fearful time to live in.

During the 1960’s disproportionate gender roles characterized post-colonial Rhodesia. The African patriarchy described in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s acclaimed novel, Nervous Conditions, promotes feminist theory through the portrayal of marginalized women in Zimbabwe. Regardless of class or social prowess, women were not permitted the same liberties and regarded with the same respect as their male counterparts. Women found themselves relegated to the positions of household servants, and excluded from the labor markets by the societies males. (Mbatha 23) Female characters of the novel consistently struggle with “nervous conditions” around males, stemming from years of oppression under the Shona power system. Throughout her novel, Nervous Conditions, Dangarembga exemplifies the various forms of oppression faced by Shona women as well as methods they utilized to resist the oppressive male patriarchy.