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ENG2603 Nervous Conditions Exam Prep
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- University Of South Africa (Unisa)
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- Nervous Conditions
Nervous Conditions - Summary and Essay Questions Prep
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Nervous Conditions Essay Questions How does Maiguru embody the struggle of her gender, even as an educated woman?
Maiguru stands out among the women in her family because she is educated. In fact,
she is as educated as her husband, holding a Master's Degree from England. When
Tambu demonstrates surprise to learn this fact, Maiguru becomes bitter and says,
"When I was in England I glimpsed for a little while the things I could have been, the
things I could have done if - if - if things were - different - But there was Babawa
Chido and the children and the family. And does anyone realise, does anyone
appreciate, what sacrifices were made? As for me, no one even thinks about the
things I gave up."
Finally, Maiguru is inspired by Lucia and stands up for herself against Babamukuru.
She thinks that Tambu is being punished too harshly for not attending her parents'
wedding, as Lucia has pointed out, and when her husband disagrees with her, she
continues the fight. Eventually, she tells him she is unhappy; when he reacts by telling
her to go somewhere where she will be happy, then, she does. Her leaving is a
demonstration of her independence; she has seen Lucia stand up for herself and
decides to do the same.
When she returns five days later, she is refreshed having discovered that she could
leave. She no longer dotes on Babamukuru and her smiles have become more
frequent and "less mechanical." Nyasha is disappointed that her mother has not
become "what she might have been with the right kind of exposure!" She sees her
mother as having lost most of her opportunities because of her loyalty to
Babamukuru.
Babamukuru is shocked when Maiguru decides to speak up for why Tambu should go
to the convent school when she is offered a scholarship. Maiguru points out that
when she herself was being educated in South Africa, "People were prejudiced against
educated women. Prejudiced. That's why they said we weren't decent. That was in
the fifties. Now we are into the seventies. I am disappointed that people still believe
the same things." This motion to speak up for Tambu's education demonstrates a
change in Maiguru's character after she comes back from her time away. Now she
feels compelled to stand up to Babamukuru in a way she never could before.
, How does Englishness divide mothers from daughters in Nervous Conditions?
Maiguru acknowledges the Englishness of her children when she sees Tambu's
negative reaction to the way Nyasha speaks to her mother. She explains, "They're too
Anglicised... they picked up all these disrespectful ways in England, and it's taking
them time to learn how to behave at home again." Nyasha's attitude toward her
parents is at odds with Tambu's own respect for her aunt and uncle.
Ma'Shingayi's anxiety concerning the idea of Englishness is revealed when she asks
her daughter, "What will I, your mother say to you when you come home a stranger
full of white ways and ideas? It will be English, English all the time." In the last
interaction in the novel, she blames Nyasha's bulimia on "Englishness," warning Tambu
that, "The problem is the Englishness, so you just be careful!" This opinion is not
necessarily untrue, since there is a certain tension evident between the Shona culture
and the white missionaries' culture and expectations. But Ma'Shingayi's
determination to stave off Englishness, as she sees it, is an untenable solution.
In what ways does the repression of women manifest itself to Tambu as a child?
After her brother's death, Tambu is suddenly able to receive a Western education.
While Nhamo is going to school, he makes his female relatives carry his luggage when
he returns home. Tambu knows that "he did not need help, that he only wanted to
demonstrate to us and himself that he had the power, the authority to make us do
things for him." From the first chapter of the book, Tambu states that "the needs
and sensibilities of the women in my family were not considered a priority, or even
legitimate."
The issue of gender is constantly at the forefront for Tambu. Before the welcome
dinner, she must carry a water dish for her relatives to wash their hands in. The
water is cleanest at the beginning, of course, so the elder men begin. This type of
ritual demonstrates on a daily basis the ways in which the men have power over the
women. The women must eat in the kitchen, after preparing the meal for the men;
they have to eat what is left over after the men take what they want.
Tambu's association of menstruation with dirtiness alludes to the disdain for her own
gender that has been drilled into her her whole life. The absence of dirt in Maiguru's
living room makes her think about menstruation as a type of dirt: "I knew that the
fact of menstruation was a shamefully unclean secret that should not be allowed to
contaminate immaculate male ears by indiscreet reference to this type of dirt in
their presence." This characterization of menstruation as inherently dirty and
, offensive reveals a deep misogyny in the Shona culture. In contrast, Nyasha uses
tampons without shame and shows Tambu how.
The stigma of women behaving unchastely is clear in Babamukuru's reprimanding of
Nyasha for staying out too late talking to Andy. He yells at her for being indecent,
and scolds Chido because "you let your sister behave like a whore without saying
anything." He hits his daughter to "teach her a lesson," but she is obstinate and hits
him right back in the eye, saying, "I told you not to hit me." Tambu thinks "how
dreadfully familiar" the fight is, with Babamukuru "condemning Nyasha to whoredom,
making her a victim of her femaleness."
How does Tambu perceive race throughout the novel?
The central moral issue of the novel is the question of how black families can
negotiate a postcolonial education and "freedom" with Shona traditions and
oppressions.
Nyasha is disliked by her classmates because "she thinks she is white." The racial
tension works both ways; whites seem to look down on blacks, or at least feel bad for
them in a disparaging way, while blacks at the mission school disdain those who act in
a way they think of as "white."
The difference Tambu perceives between black and white people is evident in the very
beginning of Chapter 6. Now that she lives at the mission, she sees many more white
people than ever before. Sarcasm is evident in the tone of the narration as she looks
back on the way she and the other black people viewed the white missionaries: "We
treated them like minor deities. With the self-satisfied dignity that came naturally
to white people in those days, they accepted this improving disguise."
The problem of race is clear in Chapter 10 when Tambu arrives at the convent to find
that her sleeping quarters are cramped in with "the African" students. The nuns at
Sacred Heart are not immune to this type of segregation. Likewise, there are no
black psychiatrists for Nyasha to see in Salisbury concerning her eating disorder. The
first white psychiatrist they bring her to suggests that because she is black, she
cannot possibly suffer from what they describe. He suggests that she is merely
acting out, and that she needs to be disciplined. This understanding that whites and
blacks suffer from different mental ailments is evidence of a racial divide in the
culture.
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