Nervous Conditions Summary and Analysis Chapter 1 and 2
Nervous Conditions Summary and Analysis by Tsitsi Dangarembga
Chapters 1 and 2
Summary
The narrator, Tambudzai, Tambu for short, begins this story at the end: "I was not sorry when my brother died." That happened in the year 1968, and the first chapter sets the context for that event. Nhamo, Tambu's brother, is introduced as proud; he is too proud to walk home from school, although Tambu sees the walk as holding endless possibilities for inspiration. Thus, their contrasting outlooks on life are introduced.
In anecdotal style, Tambu looks back at the year 1965, when her father decided that Nhamo would go to the mission school and live with Babamukuru, Tambu's uncle. She remembers how her father was always grateful for the generosity of his brother, who had educated himself and thus found financial success. After living with his uncle for a few years, Nhamo became embarrassed by "all this poverty, in a way that it had not done before."
Chapter 2 continues Tambu's memories of how her brother became educated in place of her; he began school when he turned seven. She also remembers when Babamukuru went to England, when she was only five years old. He and his wife, Maiguru, moved there with their children, Nyasha and Chido for five years. Without Babamukuru's generosity, the narrator's family struggled and her mother was forced to sell boil eggs to passengers at the bus terminus. Tambu did not understand why they were only concerned with raising enough money to send her brother to school, not her as well. When she complains to her mother that her father does not prioritize her education, her mother answers, "This business of womanhood is a heavy burden."
Tambu remembers her grandmother, with whom she used to work in the fields until the day her grandmother died. The values of her grandmother's generation are clear: "life could be lived with a modicum of dignity in any circumstances if you worked hard enough and obeyed the rules." Tambu learned from her
Chapters 1 and 2
Summary
The narrator, Tambudzai, Tambu for short, begins this story at the end: "I was not sorry when my brother died." That happened in the year 1968, and the first chapter sets the context for that event. Nhamo, Tambu's brother, is introduced as proud; he is too proud to walk home from school, although Tambu sees the walk as holding endless possibilities for inspiration. Thus, their contrasting outlooks on life are introduced.
In anecdotal style, Tambu looks back at the year 1965, when her father decided that Nhamo would go to the mission school and live with Babamukuru, Tambu's uncle. She remembers how her father was always grateful for the generosity of his brother, who had educated himself and thus found financial success. After living with his uncle for a few years, Nhamo became embarrassed by "all this poverty, in a way that it had not done before."
Chapter 2 continues Tambu's memories of how her brother became educated in place of her; he began school when he turned seven. She also remembers when Babamukuru went to England, when she was only five years old. He and his wife, Maiguru, moved there with their children, Nyasha and Chido for five years. Without Babamukuru's generosity, the narrator's family struggled and her mother was forced to sell boil eggs to passengers at the bus terminus. Tambu did not understand why they were only concerned with raising enough money to send her brother to school, not her as well. When she complains to her mother that her father does not prioritize her education, her mother answers, "This business of womanhood is a heavy burden."
Tambu remembers her grandmother, with whom she used to work in the fields until the day her grandmother died. The values of her grandmother's generation are clear: "life could be lived with a modicum of dignity in any circumstances if you worked hard enough and obeyed the rules." Tambu learned from her