Nervous conditions chapter 1-5 PDF

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Chapter 1 Summary Fourteen-year-old Tambu opens the novel with the arresting line, "I was not sorry when my brother died." Tambu recollects the events surrounding Nhamo's death. He had been expected home from school at the end of the term—the school where their uncle, Babamukuru, was headmaster. Since going to the fancy boarding school, Nhamo had become conceited. He especially hated having to ride the public bus home and wished his uncle would drive him home in the automobile. Tambu describes the beautiful walk from the bus station to the village, wondering how Nhamo could despise it. Babamukuru often forced Nhamo to take the bus out of concern that he was becoming too proud. It had been Babamukuru's idea for Nhamo to attend the boarding school, hoping it would boost the family's earning potential because Nhamo had been performing well at the local school. Tambu and Nhamo's father, Jeremiah, had been delighted at the prospect, saying, "If I had your brains ... I would have been a teacher by now. Or maybe even a doctor!" When Nhamo stopped coming home during school holidays, the family was sad but told themselves he was concentrating on his studies. He was forced to return home once a year, in April, to help harvest the maize. While he did the work—especially when Babamukuru was watching—he rarely spoke, and it became clear to Tambu that "all this poverty began to offend him." Regardless of whether Nhamo felt willing to work the fields, the crops still needed to be harvested, which often meant Tambu, along with her little sisters and their mother, worked long hours in the field. On the November evening when the family expected Nhamo to return home from school, Tambu came home from the fields expecting her younger sister, Netsai, to have already gone to fetch Nhamo's luggage because he hated to carry it home himself. In preparation for Nhamo's return, Tambu had decided to start helping her mother prepare a feast because Mother had been working the fields all day. At the end of her narration, Tambu admits to the reader that while Nhamo's behaviour was nasty, it was expected: "the needs and sensibilities of the women in my family were not considered a priority." Analysis Chapter 1 summarizes many of the events that will be described in greater detail in the following chapters. It also broadly introduces many of the novel's main themes, although they are not yet fully understood. Tambu narrates the novel as an adult looking back on her life, occasionally inserting adult commentary on the lessons learned since first experiencing the events described. It is important to note that this adult version of Tambu has been privately educated in British schools, so her commentary reflects a dual culture: her native Shona culture and her adopted British culture. This duality creates unique opportunities for Tambu but at a cost. To embrace British culture, Tambu must abandon the Shona culture, essentially allowing herself to be culturally colonized. Adult Tambu does not explore this theme in relation to herself, but hints at how Nhamo changed while at the mission school. Upon returning home, the poverty of his childhood "embarrassed" Nhamo, and he would have preferred to stay at school than return home. As a child, Tambu cannot

imagine a life in which she would want to disown her culture, and she criticizes Nhamo for the change. For example, she describes at length the glorious walk to the watering hole where her family washes. The adult version of Tambu looks back at that description and notes, "This is how I remember it in my earliest memories, but it did not stay like that." After being exposed to the same "white" culture, Tambu will surprise herself by resenting the poverty into which she was born, although the child version of herself doesn't know that yet. Tambu's relationship with Nhamo reveals the strong patriarchy that dominates the Shona culture. In Tambu's upbringing, males are viewed as superior beings and are treated as such. The patriarchy is so ingrained in Shona tradition that acting otherwise would have been unusual. For example, had Nhamo cared about his sister's dreams or treated her with respect, she likely wouldn't have known how to respond. She learns early that "the needs and sensibilities of the women in [her] family were not considered a priority, or even legitimate." Because Nhamo dies, and because Tambu narrates the novel from her own perspective, the reader gets little insight into Nhamo's character. However, Nhamo clearly acts as a bully. Perhaps because he came from so little, Nhamo is eager to assert power over those socially below him (females). The luggage Nhamo brought home from school was never too cumbersome for him to carry; he simply preferred being waited on by his sisters, whom he viewed as beneath him. It's unsurprising that, under these circumstances, Tambu should not feel sorry when Nhamo dies, but the line also offers insight into her adult character. As an educated woman, adult Tambu has emancipated herself from the patriarchy of Shona culture that would require her to mourn her bully's death. In reality, Nhamo's death opened the door for Tambu to pursue an education that would have otherwise been impossible. Tambu feels grateful for Nhamo's death and refuses to subjugate herself to guilt. Chapter 2 Summary The government decides, "African children [are] sufficiently developed cognitively" to understand numbers and letters, so Nhamo begins attending local school at age six. Most parents, however, can't afford the tuition fees, so their children continue working the fields. Babamukuru has recently accepted a position at a mission school in England, which he accepts despite not wanting to leave his aging mother. The family discusses if Babamukuru's children should stay in the village or risk losing their culture while abroad. Because Babamukuru makes all the family's financial decisions, trades, and purchases, the extended family will lose their patriarchal head during his five-year position. Babamukuru will also have less money to send home, which means less money for school fees. Nevertheless, Tambu's family scrambles to raise money to keep Nhamo in school. Mother raises money by selling boiled eggs at the bus stop to tourists, and Babamukuru sends home what he can. Eventually, the family has no choice but to pull Tambu from school due to lack of money. Devastated, Tambu begs her parents to reconsider, but her father snaps, "Can you cookbooks and feed them to your husband?" Tambu's mother responds more sympathetically but has the same message: "When there are sacrifices to be made, [women have] to make them." Despite her parents' wishes, Tambu desperately craves an education, recognizing, even at her young age, that it offers her only chance of escape from village life. She decides to raise tuition fees on her own by growing maize on her own small lot and selling the cobs to tourists. Outraged at

Tambu's disrespect, her father forbids it, but Tambu's mother persuades him, saying, "Let her see for herself that some things cannot be done." Tambu works tirelessly on her plot, waking early to tend to her fields before returning home at sunrise to perform household chores, then working with the rest of her family in the afternoon. While she works, her grandmother tells stories of their family history, generations back, in which all white men were wizards. By February, Tambu's maize plants have flourished. Her family sees her pride and tries to knock her back to reality. Her mother prepares her for discouragement by criticizing her: "Do you think you are so different, so much better than the rest of us?" Nhamo cruelly teases her by suggesting her hard work will be for naught: "Why do you bother ... You are a girl." Soon after, Tambu discovers that Nhamo has been stealing the mealies (small corn cobs) from her maize plants and giving them to friends at Sunday school. In a rage, Tambu attacks. A teacher, Mr. Matimba, breaks up the fight, and upon learning why Tambu had been growing maize in the first place, offers to take her to town to sell the rest of her mealies to white tourists. Again, Father feels disrespected by Mr. Matimba's interest in private family matters, but Mother insists Tambu must be allowed to fail so she won't hold it against them forever. Mr. Matimba drives Tambu into town in his automobile, which breeds jealousy in the rest of the schoolchildren. Tambu has never ridden in a car before and asks many questions, proving she is an inquisitive student. When they arrive at the main terminus, Tambu tries to sell her mealies but tourists react indignantly. One white woman, Doris, demands to know why Mr. Matimba would allow such a young child to work the streets. Mr. Matimba tells her a sad sob story, casting Tambu as the youngest orphan in a family of 12 who needs money for school fees. Doris hands Mr. Matimba 10 pounds for Tambu's education, more money than Tambu's family had ever dreamed, which covers her fees for the next few years. When she returns home, Father demands the money be handed over to him, but Mr. Matimba insists the money belongs to Tambu to do with as she pleases. Two years later, Babamukuru returns home from England. The family prepares a grand celebration to welcome him as a prince. Father and Nhamo plan an elaborate journey to meet Babamukuru at the airport, which Tambu wishes she could join. Analysis As patriarch of the family, Babamukuru makes financial decisions for the entire extended family. He makes enough money to support everyone on the homestead— three branches of the family—who would struggle to survive without him. Babamukuru offers a chance for the family to rise on the social ladder and support themselves independently. As a financial success, Babamukuru is treated like a prince on the homestead, which is why Father and Nhamo invest so much energy preparing for his return. The descriptions of Babamukuru's success provide insight into Rhodesia's social relations during the 1960s. Having grown up on the same homestead as Tambu, Babamukuru determinedly endeared himself to white Christian missionaries by working hard in their fields. They rewarded him with a scholarship to their school, where he also excelled. Interestingly, Babamukuru had no interest in leaving his family for five years to undergo further training in England, particularly because his aging mother was ill, but to decline the missionaries offer would have been social suicide. Although Babamukuru earned his spot at the school and excelled because of his intelligence,

"the missionaries would have been annoyed by his ingratitude" had he declined their training. Although Babamukuru's successes are his own, society demands he remain grateful and indebted to the white men who offered him the opportunity. Had he not, "they would have taken under their wings another promising young African in his place." Babamukuru's position reflects the message of grandmother's "romantic" story of Babamukuru being taken under the missionaries' wings: "endure and obey, for there is no other way." With Babamukuru's move to England, Tambu's parents are forced to provide for their children for the first time. Notably, Mother concocts a plan to sell eggs at the bus stop to raise money, thus allowing Nhamo to stay in school, yet Father gets the credit. Many of the details in Chapter 2 highlight gender expectations and the powerful patriarchy that forces women into subservient roles. Interestingly, in a poor village like Tambu's, food has a higher value than education. When Tambu begs to also attend school, her father chides, "Can you cook books and feed them to your husband?" Father has no interest in investing in education because once Tambu marries, her money will benefit her husband's family. At least now, if she learns to grow vegetables and cook, she can provide food for her parents and siblings. Mother's response to Tambu's request echoes her husband's, yet she wants Tambu to learn the depressing truth of gender expectations the hard way, by having her spirit crushed. She convinces Father to let Tambu grow mealies and sell them in town, not because she thinks Tambu will succeed but because she wants Tambu to learn that her future will be full of disappointment: "You have to start learning them [lessons] early ... The earlier the better." Tambu subverts her mother's lesson, using this impending suffering to further motivate her escape. She compares herself to Maiguru, Babamukuru's wife, who must still suffer as a woman, but does so regally because she has an education. Tambu never doubts that she will be crippled by the burdens of womanhood but believes education will at least make that suffering endurable. Finally, this chapter gives insight into race relations in Rhodesia during the segregated 1960s, in which the novel is set. In the opening lines, Tambu notes that Nhamo attended school once the government declared that "African children were sufficiently developed cognitively" to understand reading and writing. This one sentence encompasses what white people thought of black Africans. Viewed as "lesser beings," black Africans were treated as second-class citizens, yet white people enjoyed their role as benefactors or "white heroes"—the missionaries with Babamukuru, for example, or Doris with Tambu—because doing so perpetuated their feeling of superiority. Later in the novel, it is suggested that white benefactors act generously to assuage their guilt over oppressing black culture. Chapter 3 Summary Babamukuru arrives home with his wife Maiguru and their children, Chido and Nyasha, in a motorcade of cars. The whole village comes out to welcome him. They chant, dance, sing, and play music in vibrant tradition, with dozens of people clamoring to touch and welcome him. Father seems more delighted than anyone, shouting, "If you want to see an educated man, look at my brother, big brother to us all!" Tambu's aunt, Gladys, falls to her knees in praise, "He has returned. Our prince has returned!" Tambu gazes at her cousin Nyasha's Western clothes with

disapproval and feels angry that Nhamo seems determined to engage the cousins in conversation. Unfortunately, Nhamo's English skills are rudimentary, and, to Tambu's shock, the cousins have forgotten their native language. Watching the arrival, Tambu feels overwhelmed with frustration, which she tries to channel into preparatory work in the kitchen. Her family compliments her cooking skills, and she enjoys helping prepare the meal, but she can't shake the feeling that she deserves better. She, too, wants an education and warm welcome upon returning home. At the feast, Tambu carries the water to wash her relatives' hands, but she gets confused about the hierarchical order in which each person should wash. Her aunts dish out the food following the hierarchy, leaving no meat for the women and children who must eat in the kitchen. After the feast, music and dancing continues. Nyasha watches the dancing longingly but doesn't join in. Meanwhile, Babamukuru speaks to the men in his family, including Father, about how they can contribute to the family's social rise. Father suggests all his children could get an education, which Babamukuru shoots down as a pipe dream. Babamukuru decides Nhamo should join him at the mission school for further education. The entire family regards this suggestion as supremely generous. Nhamo wastes no time bullying Tambu over being selected. Tambu tries to fight back, to convince Nhamo that he isn't as special as he claims, but her arguments fail. To cope, Tambu stops speaking to Nhamo entirely. The silence bothers Mother, pregnant again after having lost four babies. Rumours have been swirling around the village that someone—likely Mother's sister, Lucia—has cursed her so Father will take in another child-bearing wife. Nhamo leaves for mission school with Babamukuru. Tambu uses his absence to try to befriend her cousin Nyasha, but Nyasha isn't interested. She ignores Tambu and refuses to even try to speak their native language, which she forgot while at boarding school. Similarly, when Nhamo returns home after the first school term, he make-believes he has lost the ability to speak Shona (unless he really needs to speak to someone, in which case the native language miraculously returns to him). This uppity, phony Nhamo is exactly who Tambu expects to see return home in November 1968, but after a long day of waiting, they see only Babamukuru's car approaching. Immediately, Mother and Father sense bad news. Before Babamukuru can even open his mouth, Mother wails and beats him on the chest, blaming Babamukuru for bewitching her son and killing him. Babamukuru confirms Nhamo's death, saying he contracted mumps and died in the hospital. They had tried to get word back to the village, but the message obviously hadn't arrived. Mother and Father mourn bitterly, but Babamukuru already makes plans for Tambu to join him at the mission to take over Nhamo's education. Mother fights ferociously, swearing she will never let another child march off to die, but no one listens to her. In quiet excitement, Tambu prepares to leave. Analysis Babamukuru's return from England gives the reader great insight into Shona traditions, as well as the strength of the patriarchy. When Babamukuru arrives home, cultural tradition dictates that he be welcomed with a feast. In his particular case, the entire extended family returns jubilantly for the event, not only because their brother has been gone for five years but also because their financial benefactor returns. Women fall to their knees in joy, calling him "a prince." Father, joyous to have a

steady stream of money again, heralds his brother's education, saying, "If you want to see an educated man, look at my brother, big brother to us all!" Babamukuru greets his family in order of the patriarchy, starting with "grandfathers, uncles, and brothers" before moving on to paternal aunts and younger men. "Lesser women" and children, like Tambu, are forced to observe Babamukuru from a distance because the Shona culture prevents them from approaching or touching him. They follow the same hierarchy before the meal when Tambu brings a basin of water for each family member to wash, leaving the dirty water for single women and children. Initially, Tambu excitedly watches the arrival party, but gradually grows frustrated. She would have loved to greet Babamukuru and his family, but as a girl she must wait from them to acknowledge her, which in the fuss, never happens. This, coupled with the abrupt end to her education, leaves Tambu feeling unsettled: "I did not want my life to be predicted by such improper relations." Already, Tambu resolves not to be a victim of the rules of patriarchy. She needs only a little education to realize the type of life she deserves—one in which she is visible. This chapter provides the first clear image of culture clash. Although Tambu had been close to her cousins before they moved to England, she barely recognizes them upon their return. Dressed in inappropriate Western clothes, Tambu immediately judges their lack of modesty, suggesting Nyasha might be "loose" now that she wears short dresses. Although a flippant comment likely made out of jealousy, Tambu's assessment of her cousin's morality underscores the strict gender expectations in Shona culture, particularly for young girls who are expected to remain chaste until their wedding day. Nyasha's short dress suggests a dismissal of traditional behavioural codes, codes that still affect Tambu's behaviour—such as when she stops dancing in the way she likes because "there were bad implications in the way [she] enjoyed the rhythm." Very quickly, it becomes clear that the cousins don't remember cultural dances, and more shockingly, have forgotten their native language. Western culture has completely taken over, erasing their native identities. Clearly the children no longer fit into Shona culture, and later it will be revealed that as Africans, they failed to fit into British culture. Throughout the chapter, references are made to witches and witchcraft. All white people are referred to as wizards. Those who do good, like offering Babamukuru an education, are considered "good wizards," while those who exploit the land, and its people are "bad wizards." To une...