Identity In Nervous Conditions

Nervous Conditions (1988), novel by Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembwa is her first novel which is set in the post-colonial Rhodesia during its pre-independent era. The novel traces the gradual development of a young Shona girl, Tamburadzai Sigauke, from her early childhood, through adolescence to young adulthood in her native uncle’s home. Right from the start, Tambu, main protagonist of the novel, is shown to have strong sense of identity and a clear vision of what she wants to be in life- a western education which she firmly believes to be her key to success and happiness. The whole novel is a study of how these particular desires for higher aspirations, in the long run pave way for her total disillusionment and ultimate awakening of the

One can the find the foremost victim of this societal dogma is Tambu’s mother who is always trapped in the mesh of ‘poverty of blackness on one side and the weight of women hood on the other’. With no clue about her own identity in family, she couldn’t conceive an identity for her daughter as well outside the marriage.

However Dangarembwa’s novel Nervous Conditions shows one character which had always defied these societal restrictions thar are meted out on the women in shone family. Only in Lucia, the harsh and outspoken maternal aunt of Tambu, we find the glimpse of a possibility of an alternative route to emancipation. Lucia stays unknown relatively throughout the novel. She is believed to be having affairs with many men who is against the rules of the society. She is very independent in nature and wants to educate herself and not fall to the prey to the male domination as other women in the

With the shocking revelation of the Nyasha’s condition, there developed an ever growing mutual affection and understanding between Nyasha and Tambu which in return ensures Tambu’s awakening. With Nyasha’s example serving as a warning to Tambu of her own vulnerability she , ultimately embarks on a painful journey of acquiring the wisdom which will help her in recuing herself from the clutches of multiple oppressions which are trying to diminish and impoverish her. This awakening of hers helps her to defy the odds of societal constraints and she stands upright against the gender inequality. That Tambu’s newly found identity as independent women defying all the odds of the society is crucial to the novel. Her journey is one of a passage through the turbulent period of Oppression to Liberation. In that she provides herself as a role model for many other women whose example can inspire many others who can also save themselves. Her tantalizing comment on the end of the novel shows her solidarity and hope for better future as she says that there is enough material “to fill up another volume” (p204). Tambu though with her new found identity is always on her toes as she is cautious of her daily situations and nervousness of the conditions that surround