Nervous Conditions Book

Identity is a powerful concept. But how does one establish such a thing? Conventionally it develops from childhood due to an association with home and place. But what happens if your home is changing? What happen if you're taken away from that home? Indeed, if you are forced to accept another culture's ways and customs, who is the "you" that is left? What nationality do you become?

These are the question Tambu has to ask herself. She's a young black girl living in a small, rural, improvised village in postcolonial Rhodesia. She initially believes that her ticket to self-improvement is through education. However, the only education available is the white man's education. She learns to speak English, and eventually she looks back on her origins with an air of indifference and woe. Not as much as her brother did, but to a degree that considers them underdeveloped and primitive. Again, this is the white man's education coming through. She has opportunities afforded to few, but is this a good thing if she comes to scorn her origins?

"It's bad enough . . . when a country gets colonized, but when the people do as well! That's the end, really, that's the end."



She, like her cousin Nyasha, becomes a creature of flux, a hybrid, a person that walks between worlds and cultures without a true home. She can no longer fit in with her kin at the village; her intellect has gone beyond that. But, she cannot fit into the white man's world because she is black. She is too white to be black, and to black to be white. Franz Fanon's (Black Skins, White Masks) arguments become thematic here; he argued that to accept the white man's culture is to allow the African heritage to be destroyed. It, in essence, leaves the black man wearing a white mask.

As well as being a black person, Tambu is also a woman in an incredibly misogynistic society. She has to deal with the dominating nature of the patriarchal culture, and the oppression associated with it. So, life for Tambu is rather shit because everyone treats her like shit.

Here's some terrible advice she receives when she is young:

"Can you cook books and feed them to your husband? Stay at home with your mother. Learn to cook and clean. Grow vegetables."



This is such a strong story with such a strong message. In essence it's a response to Achebe's Things Fall Apart which is a response to Conrad's Heart of Darkness. So, that's lots of responses! What the author is trying to portray, in a persuasive and compelling manner, is the voice of the colonised female, the voice of her ancestors and the effects on the everyday life of one living in postcolonial Africa. Achebe's protagonist was incredibly misogynistic; he beats women down. In this, Tambu has a chance to prove her worth in such a male dominated society.

Her awakening does come very late in the novel; it takes her a long time to realise the absurdity of her situation/condition and it does eventually completely change her. The novel is narrated retrospectively, so we do know it's coming, but it's still great to see her find her voice and become an empowered women. By the end she develops the will to speak out and stand up for what she believes in. Tambu comes to hate the men of her family; she comes to hate every aspect of her situation: she becomes hardened and convinced not to conform to the white man's way. She's still got a lot of prejudice to wade through before the world accepts her, but I feel like she will get there.

"You can't go on all the time being whatever's necessary. You've got to have some conviction, and I'm convinced I don't want to be anyone's underdog."

This is a great coming of age story.