Themes In Nervous Conditions

In Nervous Conditions, the main character Tambu is a young African girl. She is driven and refuses to live a life other than her own. Living in a very traditional, patriarchal society is does not stop her from pursuing her dreams. At a young age she decided she wanted to get an education. An education that isn 't learning how to cook and clean from her mother. A real education from a real school. The school she ends up attending is a very eurocentric school; there she receives a western style education. A western education does a great deal more than just educating you about mathematics and literature. In her case it stripps Tambu of her African roots, as well as her other family members who are also receive a Western education. This makes

Right off the bat Tambu and her family notice there is something off about him. Nhamo’s hardly speaks in his native tongue, he speak primarily English now. Tambu says “ Shona was our language. What did people mean when they forget it? Standing there, trying to digest these thoughts, I remembered speaking to my cousins freely and fluently before they went away, eating wild with them, making clay pots and swimming in Nyamira. Now they had turned into strangers. I stopped being offended and was sad instead” (42-43). While Tambu reminisces about how things used to be on the homestead with her family, she realizes that she is mourning the loss of people she once knew, uncolonized people. Later on after Tambu has started attending school her brother dies suddenly of mumps. After the death of her brother, her uncle takes Tambu to live with him; basically replacing Nhamo. Tambu was excited for this opportunity, but she was hesitant about living with her cousins. This is the start to her journey of colonization. Tambu now attends a higher ranked school and lives on the