Nervious conditions

¶ … Nervous Conditions' the author, Tsitsi Dangarembga, offers a unique perspective on the place of women in African society and the effect of colonization. The story is told through a female narrator looking back on her life and her coming of age. Through the narrator, the reader is engaged into the story, with the story having meaning and relevance to all people that can relate to coming of age. The interested reader, through the themes and the events presented then learns something about African culture and the struggle of African people coming to terms with their culture. It is the combination of these qualities that makes 'Nervous Conditions' an informative and entertaining story with an important message about the effect of culture, the link between identity and culture and the impact on a person when this identity is questioned.

The Importance of the Narrator

Tambudzia or Tambu is the narrator and the main character in the novel. In her narration, she tells the story, not just of herself but also of the other African women, including her mother and another main character Nyasha.

Tambu is critical as the narrator for two important reasons, that she gives meaning to the story and that she is able to accurately tell the struggles of the other women.

With any story, the meaning within the story does not have impact unless we care about the character. Tambu is the main character that we care about in the novel. She engages the reader into the story because we want to know about her, we want to know about her struggle and we want to know why that struggle has occurred. The only way to learn of that struggle, is to learn about the culture and so the reader, while reading the novel, attempts to understand the culture. As well as this, Tambu puts a human face on the struggle, Tambu essentially represents the problems of this culture, by identifying with her the reader is sympathetic to her struggle. If the story had of been told from a male point-of-view, we would still have seen how women were degraded by the culture, but this would not have had the emotional impact that Tambu gives it.

The second way that Tambu is important as the narrator is that she is able to accurately tell the struggles of the other women. Including the stories of other women is important, as it shows that Tambu's struggle is not just her own but also the struggle of all women. By showing the various women we also see the range of implications. Tambu as the narrator allows the stories of the other women to be told with compassion and honesty, Tambu is able to relate the emotions of these women to the reader. Since Tambu is a female African, credibility is given to the stories of the other women.

The Themes of the Novel

The main themes of the novel are the place of women in the society and the effect of colonization. These themes are expressed through Tambu's own struggle and through the struggles of the other women. By representing the themes in this way, the themes are given relevance as all. We see them not just as isolated events in a foreign culture, but as events that can be related to our own culture. In this way, real meaning and relevance is given to the themes. The reader is able to understand the meaning while comparing it to their own place in the world.

One of the most noticeable occurrences of the theme is in the title of the work, 'Nervous Conditions.' The culture is one where women of the society are oppressed, because of their culture and their sex. The relevance of the title is that it represents the state of women in the culture as a disease. This accurately portrays Dangarembga's message, namely that the women of the society have had things forced on them that they cannot escape from.

A disease is the same, in that it is contracted and then the person must deal with the effects, seeking a cure for the disease. A person does not contract a disease of their own will, they must simply deal with its effects. In the story, we see that women suffer from the disease of society. The title 'Nervous conditions' also reflects the state of mind of the women, that they are always on edge and never quite at home in this society they live in.

The Story Line

The story line is essentially the tale of Tambu's struggle to fit into society. She travels from her village to a new town where she is able to be educated. Her struggle then continues as she attempts to find her place in this new environment and put in perspective her culture and the village she has come from. The story is one of finding out who you are and the problems of rejecting your past to do this. Nyasha describes this where she says "it would be a marvelous opportunity, she said sarcastically, to forget. To forget who you were, what you were and why you were that. The process, she said, was called assimilation, and that was what was intended for the precocious few who might prove a nuisance if left to themselves" (178).

In telling this story, Nyasha becomes an important character. While Tambu struggles to accept schooling, Nyasha is the opposite. Nyasha essentially forgets her heritage and accepts English culture.

At the same time though, Nyasha becomes anorexic. This is an important symbol. We have already seen the importance of the title 'Nervous Conditions.' This title is an accurate description of Tambu, her 'nervous condition' comes from her attempting to define herself and her culture. In contrast, Nyasha does not struggle with her culture or her identity, instead she neglects her true identity and accepts another. Her becoming anorexic can be seen as a symbol of the dangers of ignoring who we are. It is also relevant that anorexia is a disease associated with body image. The message appears to be that by neglecting to face our identity struggles, we invite identity crises. While, Tambu does suffer from a 'nervous condition' due to her struggle, it is not as concerning as anorexia. We also see the link with identity and culture in the lines "the problem is the Englishness, so you just be careful!'.... Be careful, she had said, and I thought about Nyasha and Chido and Nhamo, who had all succumbed, and of my own creeping feelings of doom. Was I being careful enough? I wondered. For I was beginning to have a suspicion, no more than a seed of a suspicion, that I had been too eager to leave the homestead and embrace the "Englishness" of the Mission" (20).