Tradition And Modernity In Tsitsi Dangarembga's 'Nervous Conditions'

This theme is self-evident in the plot development of this novel. From the development of the theme of western cultural arrogance numerous other themes can also be drawn. In this novel western cultural arrogance can be described as the arrogance of the western countries with respect to the cultures of the Congolese. This theme is portrayed throughout the novel with the characters actions towards the Congolese. Nathan Price, the dad, is the main example of the theme of western cultural arrogance with his actions and how he views the Africans religious beliefs.

The way that you develop and discover yourself and your personal attributes is largely impacted by the environment you grow up in, as shown in The Poisonwood Bible. Each member of the Price family reacts differently to their being thrown into a completely new location, culture, and livelihood; the maturation path of each child varies drastically from the others, and their exposure to the Congo impacts each of them in a different way, which we observe through each character’s language and behavior in the book. The stylistic formatting, tone, and figurative language used in Leah Price’s narratives in The Poisonwood Bible change as she grows, and the maturation of her physical structure and overall mentality correlate to her development in language throughout the story. Leah enters the Congo as a religious, rule-following adolescent from the suburbs of Bethlehem, Georgia, but as time passes and she becomes accustomed to the land, Leah begins to develop in ways that were once unforeseen by her and her family.

Cultural relativism embraces the idea that one particular cultural idea varies from one society to another; therefore, ethical and moral standards are relative to what a particular culture believes to be right or wrong. Surroundings affect the way a character is shaped because of the influences they are exposed to and the opportunities available. In Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, The Poisonwood Bible, the Price family departs from the United States to go on a twelve-month evangelical mission to the Congo; however, the family ends up staying there for a longer period because of the independence movement, political and military chaos. The characters end up fully engaged with their African experience and Adah is one of the characters affected by her surroundings and the new culture she is exposed to. Through her change of personality and final outlook we are able to understand how culture clashes and surroundings have an impact on individuals.

Rayona is in a way lost and can’t seem to find her place in the world. She thinks about herself in the way that she thinks others think of her. She is fifteen years old at the time and does not have a lot of sense of her self. Rayona is half African American and Native American, which makes her think she’s different from others and makes her have a low self esteem. She struggles with her identity and physical appearance. Another thing that makes it difficult for her to find her true self is that she lacks information about her heritage. Her dream is to have a “normal” life, meaning to have a functional happy family and to be able to fit in. Rayona feels like a real family is the opposite of what she has. She goes through a series of events and learns a little about her self in each of them. Rayona is

As one reads Octavia Butler’s “Wild Seed,” often the reader will find themselves quickly getting wrapped up in the conflict and surface story between Doro and Anyanwu. It is apparent there was a struggle of power between these two immortal beings that went far beyond simple gender identity and equality, and delved deeply into the cultural schemata of the master-slave paradigm. This motif is what carries the story throughout the novel, over centuries and changing landscapes; and yet although the people’s names change within the context of Anyanwu and Doro’s world this paradigm stays consistent.

The novel The Book of Negroes, written by Lawrence Hill portrays the life of a young African girl and the hardship she faces while having to endure slavery. The protagonist, Aminata Diallo, is able to succeed when confronted with difficulties due to her ability to see the optimistic approach in every situation. Throughout her journey from a youth to an adult Aminata has encountered many obstacles that have scarred her with shattering memories. She has travelled over the harsh sea numerous times throughout her life and was able to sustain herself through her optimistic approach at life, which drives her desire to survive. Aminata’s journey over the ocean is a major symbolism of her optimism. Aminata uses optimism to cope with difficult events

Rigoberta starts questioning her perspective on ladinos, wondering if they are really all bad. She befriends Indians who have worked with poor ladinos who suffer from the same problems as her community does. The poor, from ladino to Indian, are exploited just the same yet they are so conditioned to dislike one another it’s hard for them to unite and really consider their circumstances the same. This troubles Rigoberta greatly for she knows that the heart of her distress aches from abuse from the rich landowners and if the poor ladinos are abused the same, they ache as well. Rigoberta dares to live in a state of confusion when wondering why there is such an enormous barrier between ladino and Indian. This confused state of mind is progressive for her time because her culture has long equated change and confusion with chaos and

The novel “The Old Chief Mshlanga” is a story about a 14-year-old girl who is growing up on her family’s African plain, who has quickly conformed to her parent’s racial behaviors. In her childhood, she only felt connected to England and never could really relate to the African landscape she has been growing

Anderson starts out the book by introducing the reader to her interest in African culture,and relates how she sent essays to an anthropological board so she could go to Africa to do her graduate study. She soon realised that she would be unable to do so because

In Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing, discovering and exploring, the obvious and hidden, traumas and their subsequent effects on each generation is one of the most compelling parts of her highly acclaimed first novel. Set on Ghana’s Gold Coast in the 1700s, two sisters, who have never met, create generations of descendants who experience traumas continuously. Some generations experience the first hand the effects of slavery and the African slave trade, while others deal with the repercussions of belonging to a tribe of Africans that sold humans into slavery. Because the experience of trauma is continuous, the descendants of both sister, Esi and Effia, are never fully able to heal. Instead, the consequences of war, rape, kidnapping, violence and death are explored in the three hundred years since birth of the sisters. Past and current traumas shape the identities of each generation. Gysai’s narrative tells and retells the violent histories of both families in an attempt to help heal trauma that still remains imbedded in many Africans, and African Americas.

The oppression of female is a regular feature of novels throughout history .The roles of women were repressive and constricted in multiple ways because society had placed high prominence and many expectations on behaviour at home as well as in public. The women were supposed to fulfil certain roles, such as the caring mother, a diligent homemaker, and an obedient wife. Written at different times, Walker’s “The Color Purple” is set in the deep American south during the war and Hosseini’s “A Thousand Splendid Suns” takes place during Afghanistan from the early 1960s to the early 2000s. In the epistolary novel; “The Color Purple” Walker reveals Celie, a surpassed and illiterate black woman who writes letter to god as a means of companionship because she is lonely. Through Celie’s revelations, the novel examines the spiritual and psychological damage that results from the physical and emotional oppression. “A Thousand Splendid Suns” depicts the lives of two particular women; Laila and Mariam who live under the control of a persecuting husband and the notorious rule of the Taliban. Under Taliban rule women must be stripped of their visibility, voice, and mobility. Friedan believes that “life without purpose makes women lose the sense of who they are, as it is purpose in life that gives all human beings a reason to exist”. Walker and Hosseini present female oppression through violence, the denial of freedom in an attempt at controlling the influences of solidarity and the lack

"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.

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

Elisabeth says then there will never be any solution to the problem of novel in Africa if the Africans wanted a ‘living voice’. The main problem faced by them was because the African writers unlike the French and the English were not acting as writers but were actually behaving like interpreters of their exotic cultures and that the root of their problem was ‘ Having to perform your Africanness at the same time as you write.’

After colliding her experience with an outsider, she undergoes an identity crisis. Not only is her belief in the inequality between the white and the black challenged by her granddaughter’s action of beating up a white girl to defend herself, but also her brittle belief in the greatness of nature shaken by the height of the Empire Building. Looking like an exquisite and intricate “Benin mask”, she breaks away from the values imposed by colonialism and reveals her ancient African heritage (481). Different from snakes, which revitalize after sloughing off its old skin, Da-duh does not display the same vividness after reconstructing her identity; her figures appear to be “drawn and almost distorted by an ancient abstract sorrow” (481). This “sorrow” originates from the incapability to maintain her cultural heritage under the prevalence of colonialism. She refuses to “flee into the canes” like her relatives, but expose herself in the house in front of forbidding English planes (482). However, Da-duh’s choice to preserve her pride as a different ethnic group of unique cultures leads to her