ENG2603-Summary-Nervous-Conditions

Plot Summary Set in white-dominated Rhodesia of the 1960's, Tambu begins her story by talking about her brother's trip to and from mission school each day. She says that he complains about the trip - especially the two-mile walk from the bus station to their home - and that she could talk endlessly about all there was to do during that walk and how much she loved it. Children, including Tambu, were seldom restricted and were allowed to swim in the pools. Tambu is the oldest daughter and the second oldest child of Ma'Shingayi and Babamukuru. Her uncle, known to Tambu as Babamukuru, is the patriarch of the family and is an important benefactor, providing money, food and education for Tambu's immediate family. The family is obliged to show earnest gratitude for the gifts, and Tambu believes her uncle to be as near an angel as an earthly person can be. As a young child, Tambu works hard for her family, taking on chores before she's told in an effort to lighten her mother's load. Her brother, Nhamo, attends school, first a walking distance away and later at a mission school where Babamukuru is headmaster. Tambu's own education at one point is put on hold because there is no money to pay school fees. When this happens, she clears a field, plants maize and sells the ears to finance her education. Upon Nhamo's death, Tambu is sent to school. The purpose of education is not for education's sake but so that the educated member of the family will help support the rest of the family. As Tambu is considering her role in adulthood, she imagines being able to buy pretty clothes for her younger sisters and provide adequate food so her mother will grow strong and healthy. Tambu studies hard and wins a place at Sacred Heart, a school run by nuns for further education. Along the way, Tambu all but severs her relationship with her mother admitting there is nothing at the homestead for her any longer, but Tambu grows a bond with her cousin, Nyasha. Others through Nyasha’s constant movement that Tambu learns to question things in her life and to test the boundaries set it up for her. She learns that her aunt, Maiguru, has as much education as her Babamukuru and that she doesn't keep any of her earnings for herself, nor is Maiguru's education ever touted as is Babamukuru's. Tambu doesn't seem to question the reason but later admits that everything she saw as a child has been a seed, planted and waiting for the right time to grow. Tambu's story is one of how to grow and learn, though her most significant step in the coming of age process happens at the conclusion of the book. She comes to realize many things about her family, her world and herself. Chapters One and Two Summary Tambu's brother complains about the trip to and from missionary school, but she loves the walk. Children were seldom restricted and were allowed to swim in the pools. Men have a specific place for bathing and women bathe in a place ideal for washing clothes. Tambu doesn't want to become a woman who'll have to do laundry rather than play in the "interesting" pools. When the area around the swimming holes gets an increase in traffic, the bathing spots are forced further upriver, but Tambu sometimes does swim in the deeper holes. Tambu's brother, Nhamo, excels at school. By 1968, everyone except Tambu's father begins to worry about Nhamo, who has refused to return home during the brief breaks, staying to study. On the November day Nhamo was expected home, Tambu arrives from her work in the fields to discover that Nhamo has not yet come. Tambu was to have prepared a rooster for the family's meal in honor of her brother's arrival. She has much less work to do because he isn't at home. She decides to prepare the family meal so that when her mother comes home from working hard in the garden, she can rest. Netsai, her sister, has carried water from the river earlier. Netsai is a "good worker," and Tambu is touched by her sister's concern for the family. Babamukuru urges Tambu's father to send the children to school at the relatively young age of seven, and says the are "malleable". The year Tambu is to have started school, there was a poor harvest and no money left over for school fees. Nhamo has excelled at school up to this point and he cries when he's told that he can't attend. Tambu's mother boils eggs and takes them to the bus terminal to sell to travelers. She extends her garden and sells the extra produce as well, scraping up enough money to put Nhamo back in school but not enough for Tambu to return. She is a good student and is sad, but her father tells her she's better off staying at home and learning things a wife should know - how to cook, clean and tend a garden. She points out that Babamukuru's wife, Maiguru, is educated and is a good wife as well. Tambu's mother says that Maiguru also knows how to cook, clean and garden. She tells Tambu that the skill most needed for a woman is the ability to carry her burdens. Tambu wants to be like Maiguru - well educated, living in a fine mansion and has a driver - and knows that an education is the way to achieve that goal. If her parents will give her the seeds, she will clear a field of her own and grow maize to earn the fees. Her father is angry, but her mother says to give the girl the seeds so that she can see some things just can't be done. Babamukuru himself is well educated, having gone to England to study for his bachelor's degree. Tambu was only five when he left and later learns that he had been given a scholarship but hadn't really wanted to go. He felt a responsibility to his mother and had a family of his own, including his wife, Maiguru. In December, Tambu begins her field of maize, thankful to her grandmother who taught Tambu how to garden. Tambu's grandmother taught her work ethic by praising her efforts; she also taught Tambu the history of her family. As the crop nears harvest time, Tambu is pleased with the results, but cautions herself not to become optimistic. Then, just before harvesting, the ears - called "mealies" - begin to disappear. That Sunday, Tambu decides to go to church, having missed the fun and laughter. There she learns that Nhamo has been handing out mealies for roasting as an after-school treat - he's been stealing her crop. She attacks him, but is stopped by a teacher, Mr. Matimba, who chastises Nhamo, saying that it's a brother's duty to look out for his sister. She tells Mr. Matimba of her plans to return to school by earning the necessary fees. He offers to take her into town the next time he goes to do errands, saying that she could sell the mealies for more to the white people. Tambu's father is angry, accusing Mr. Matimba of interfering and trying to take over parental duties. Ma'Shingayi says that Tambu has the right to try and says that if he refuses that, Tambu will hate him. As Tambu leaves with Mr. Matimba, she notes that she's scored a major victory even if she doesn't sell any maize. The trip is exciting because Tambu has never been in a vehicle before. She sells several ears to a woman named 1 Doris, who admires Tambu's drive and calls her a "plucky pickanin." The ten-pound note the woman gave Tambu for the corn is used to pay her school fees for the coming years. The first year back, Tambu has to repeat a level but she excels, finishing at the top of her class and holding that position the following year. Nhamo is fourth in his class, and he constantly points out to Tambu that she's only at the top of the class because she repeated a level. When Babamukuru and his family are due to return from Europe, Tambu's father throws a party. Tambu suspects that he begged for the money. Nhamo is going with Tambu's father to pick up Babamukuru and the family. The journey took careful planning because the buses were erratic and often full. Tambu's mother argues that the two should leave early on the morning of Babamukuru's expected arrival rather than spending a night with an aunt. She hopes that by arguing in favor of staying at home, the two would go. They decide they will leave the night before but that Tambu is to meet them the following morning with food for the remainder of the journey. Tambu says that her mother got the peace and quiet of a night without the two, but that she's faced with the task of finding food for them. Chapters One and Two Analysis The family farms and Tambu says that much of the work is difficult manual labor. They have a plow that can be pulled by an oxen, but it takes a strong man for that task. If there's no one available, it's up to the women and children to dig and plant by hand. Once the maize has begun to grow, there's a constant battle against the weeds which are either pulled by hand or chopped by a hoe. At harvest time, the maize leaves the harvesters so itchy that everyone rushes to the river to "wash the itch away" at the end of the day. Tambu says that she doesn't wonder why Nhamo doesn't want to return home to help with the chores. Tambu's aunt sometimes sends a small gift of tea or sugar to Tambu's mother, but Nhamo usually keeps it for himself. Often, their mother finds Nhamo sipping sweet tea and reading, prompting her to scold him into some chore, but she later laughs saying that Nhamo will be a good teacher some day. On the days Mukoma arrives in shorts, he takes up a hoe and helps with the work. On the days he is not wearing shorts, he and Tambu's father return to the house. Tambu says that when the men leave, her mother becomes ferocious and that she and her younger sister work diligently so as not to provoke their mother's wrath. Tambu says that her father and uncle would talk of the crop, of how far behind they were, of the neighbor's livestock escaping into their fields, of the fact that Mukoma would purchase barbed wire for fencing. It seems that Mukoma helps the family in many ways, though it's never really explained why he does so. Tambu doesn't like Nhamo's ways. She says that her home felt "healthier" when he was away and that she was relieved to have him gone so much of the time. As she is thinking about this, Netsai asks if there's something wrong. Tambu fells guilty over her thoughts and says that she was just thinking how good it would be to have Nhamo home. Once, Tambu had objected to Nhamo's demand that Netsai go fetch his luggage. Nhamo had beaten Netsai for not going. Tambu says that she is almost as big as Nhamo; therefore, he didn't threaten her with bodily harm, but that he was a bully. As she prepares dinner on the November evening when Nhamo failed to return home, she thinks that Nhamo will likely arrive the following day and she will be forced to catch, kill, pluck and cook a chicken for the family meal. She says that she hates lunging for the birds and the smell of blood after the slaughter. She decides that she will have Nhamo catch and kill the chicken, and she will pluck and cook it - that the division of labor seems fair. She also notes that Nhamo has no interest in fairness and that he won't help. It's interesting that Nhamo refuses to carry his own suitcase from the bus stop but plans to take on the duty of educating his sisters and caring for them in adulthood. Tambu notes that this is what Babamukuru has done and that Nhamo seems to be prepared to take on that duty as well. However, Nhamo has made these pledges as a young boy not yet in the position of responsibility to have to carry through on those promises. Considering his attitudes, it seems unlikely that he would have done this duty. Tambu is behind in her studies because she doesn't often attend school, spending much time in the fields helping her family instead. She says that the needs of the women in her family had never been a priority. Her attitude about Nhamo reflects that she blames him for at least some of her situation, though she admits that blame doesn't come in a neat package and that it might be unfair to blame Nhamo when he isn't around to defend himself. She has actually come to the point at which the injustice has caused her to "hate everybody." Babamukuru was reluctant to leave Africa to study but had no choice. Had he refused, the missionaries would have taken some other young African under their wing to teach, pushing Babamukuru out completely. Tambu's grandmother wants Babamukuru's children - Chido and Nyasha - to remain on the homestead, but Babmukuru remembers the hard work required so takes his children with him so he can oversee their education during the five years of his own study. The stories told by her grandmother teach Tambu many things, including the details of her ancestry. More importantly, Tambu learns from her grandmother that if a person works hard, is diligent and willing to endure and obey, that person will succeed. Tambu says that the success sought should be within reason. The bond she describes between herself and her grandmother is common of families of that era and earlier and seems to be an important factor in the kind of person Tambu grows up to be. Tambu works on her own garden plot of maize with the intention of selling the harvest to pay for her school fees, but her parents believe she will fail. She says that she grew sturdier than was useful for any eight-year-old and that she craved support. She eventually begins to ignore her mother's predictions. She hopes to find an ally in Nhamo, but he is malicious and tells her that she should know he is the one who must go to school. He then says outright that she shouldn't be concerned with learning because she is a girl. Before that statement, Tambu was concerned about Nhamo. He has many chores and often misses school to help in the fields. She wonders how he has time to study and is on the verge of intervening on her brother's behalf by taking on the milking as her own chore. She says that self-preservation overcomes her concern for her brother and once he makes the comment about her gender, her concern "dies an unobtrusive death." When Mr. Matimba asks Tambu what she plans to do with the ten pounds given to her by the woman named Doris, Tambu says that she'll keep it to pay her school fees for the coming years. Mr. Matimba, probably realizing that Tambu's father would never allow her to keep that much money, suggests that she give it to the headmaster who will deduct her school fees each year until the money is gone. Tambu agrees, but when she gets home, Nhamo doesn't believe her story. Tambu admits that she wanted to be part of the planning and to make the trip to meet her uncle, though it's not so that she can be with her father. It's simply that the trip is an exciting adventure. She says that her father tells her to curb her natural impulses because she will remain at home to help prepare the homecoming. Tambu says that she has come to believe that there is no way to please her father, and so it becomes natural to simply please herself. She says that her father threatens to pull her out of school, but she knows that he really can't. She does admit that her father is torn. He sees her education as an investment because she will someday be ready for a good job because of the education. However, if she grows up to be a wife, some man's family will pay for her in cattle