Tsitsi Dangarembga - Nervous Conditions

What puzzled me about the book is the writer - why this story and for whom was it written? Although set in Rhodesia, at a different time and place, most of it reminds me of Kenya.  I would wager that any African reading the book would find something or other that they could relate to. I reckon one would need to be an African to understand this book & appreciate the story line.

It would be simplistic to conclude that the book is feminist.   In my opinion, the book is principally about bad government. The pressure on Nyasha & Chido's father (both as first born and the one fortunate enough to have been educated) is unimaginable. He  has the burden to provide not only for his wife & children, but having prospered, to equally provide for his greater family and village mates. Given the absence of safety nets in many developing nations, the burden falls upon those who have 'made it' to provide for the rest who have not...sometimes to the detriment of one's family, happiness and well being. The safety net is not only about school fees, medical fees and jobs but also ensuring good holidays, providing counselling services and ideas. This burden is enough to make one go crazy. So, even as countries like mine, grapple with ideas on how to tax their citizens more, they must, like the more developed and emerging economies, take over the mantle of availing  the requisite safety nets for all its citizens. As economists advice Ministers of Finance and Economic Planning on how to bring more people into the tax net, they might also be advised to remind those Ministers that good government is not only about taxing already burdened people but also about providing basic services (like schools, hospitals, security, roads and shelter) for their populace.

Nyasha impresses me most .  Her father concludes - rather unfortunately - that she is rebellious because she often calls into question the status quo in her family, traditions, school, religious beliefs and life more generally.  Despite an education in England, Nyasha's father does not have the luxury to entertain a different point of view from the one he was brought up in.  Nyasha believes that the 'fights' she has with her father are healthier than her mother's simple acquiescence of things. Unfortunately, Nyasha eventually suffers from anorexia or some nervous condition which serves as a warning that it is not always helpful to pursue a different line of thought or agenda - to go against the flow - because more often than not, the contrary person loses.  So perhaps we are better served by accepting our lot - whatever it may be.  Amazingly, a white doctor opines about Nyasha's condition, that Africans do not suffer from whatever is ailing her which reminds me of a Sudanese girl suffering from depression in the USA and the Doctor's response was for her to 'snap out of it'. How could she, a Sudanese, have the luxury of being depressed? I guess, Africans do not have the luxury to bear the white man's burdens...we have enough other burdens.

I 'love' Lucia (Tambu's maternal aunt) who "says anything that comes to her head". Although illiterate, unmarried and with the odds stacked up against her, she opines that one must at least try (albeit not always in the conventional sense) in order to lift oneself from the circumstances that one finds oneself in.   She takes up with Takesure, decides that her pregnancy is Tambu's father's - instead of Takesure's - because Tambu's father might be better able to provide for her - even though he is her sister's husband. She has the guts to break with tradition and scolds her sister's family for not providing her with a fair hearing (discussing her situation as she is relagated to the kitchen with the women).  Tambu mentions that Aunt Lucia has managed to keep herself plump despite her tribulations. Only an African can understand the weight (no pun intended) of this sentence. Despite being left unceremoniously at the homestead, she arrives at the mission hospital just in time to ululate her sister 's birth to a son.  She eventually pushes Nyasha's dad to  find her a job (if he does not want her in a sinful & bigamous relationship ) and enrolls for grade 1 at 18 years.  When Tambu's mum gets into a depression it is Aunt Lucia who is called upon to manage the situation and she is able to nurse Tambu's mother out of that depression by force.

Nyasha's mother strikes me as a sad and pathetic character. She hasn't taken advantage of her degrees and exposure in South Africa and England to emancipate herself.  Had she Lucia's character she might have been a happier woman which reminds me that our freedom lies within ourselves.  Her yoke & burden is heavier because her expectations might have previously been higher given her level of education. She muses that she has no earnings even though she is employed since her salary is her husband's, the decisions are her husband's, her family is her husband's and she unfortunately has nothing much to show for herself nor for the education & exposure she has received.  Even her family house at the homestead is unilaterally given to Tambu's parents as a belated wedding present without her consent.  Without her family house, she has no status - until her husband starts building a new one for her. There is no mention of her relatives except the one time she unsuccessfully runs away to her brother before being returned. It is no wonder that people were always wary of educating women if they cannot do anything with the education they receive!!!  In many ways,  her lot is no better or different from Tambu's mum who is illiterate, poor and who unfortunately has to live under the vicissitudes on a culture that seeks to entrap her further.  However when all is said and done, she is a good mother, aunt, in-law and wife.

As for Tambu's mum, one can only feel sorry for her. Married at 15 to a good for nothing husband the result of an unplanned pregnancy which limits the bride price to her parents. She is not one to be admired and brings shame upon her family.   To add insult to injury, the child who causes  her to leave her people for this marriage dies five month's after birth. Her other son,  Nhamo, and apple of her eye, dies when at the mission school. In a culture where sons are wealth, she subsequently only gives birth to daughters. A dangerous scenario because she becomes vulnerable to the fact that her husband may be tempted to marry her sister in order to sire sons.  She thinks someone has bewitched her and falls into a depression.  Thanks to Lucia, she eventually snaps out of it.  Life is unfair but there is always light at the end of tunnel, even for those who do not make any effort to reach that end.  She inherits a house, gives birth to the much needed son and her daughter Tambu gets the scholarship to Sacred Heart school. So her lot isn't too bad after all as, like Hannah in the Book of Samuel, God has heard her cry...even though she did not necessarily cry to him.

I have often wondered why people feel that they have been bewitched when one misfortune or other befalls them (or with the advent of faith based churches, that some cleansing of the home is required).  Tambu's mum feels strongly that Nyasha's mum has bewitched her and is taking her children away from her...First Nhamo - who dies prematurely in his prime and then Tambu.  However, I like the pragmatic summary after the family kamukunji which concludes that everyone seems to have some problem or other. Aunt Gladys' misfortune is having two unwed but pregnant daughters and a wife beating son;  Uncle Thomas'  last child appears  autistic; Tambu's parents' live in perpetual poverty and Nyasha's father, who although rich, has unadjusted children.  In the same vein, people would be much advised to count their blessings and name them one by one.

Reading this book, I could weave similar tales from the stories my mother regales me with each holiday.  Didn't an uncle's wife feel strongly that 'someone' in the home was 'doing her in'?  How could one explain why it was only her branch of the family that did not seem to be doing well.  Another uncle's wife brought a pastor to cleanse her homestead because her children did not seem to be thriving in their jobs. The interesting thing, I might add, is that it is always the women married into the home, who are wont to conclude that something is amiss and someone is to blame. More often than not, the culprit would be the one who appears to be prospering or a co-wife. (I must digress to explain that, in my culture, a co-wife might mean that the women are married to brothers or married to the same husband.) 

I guess the book also seeks to demonstrate that the burden on women is doubly great - irrespective of the level of education, status or wealth.  More often than not women married into many a family have no particular status and their opinion is usually irrelevant despite the advent of religion and education. Recently when commenting on female judges in Kenya, it was concluded that the Judiciary still remains very much a man's world.  No matter how much pundits may wax lyrical about the progress made towards achieving gender parity -  the statistics in boardrooms and politics, even in developed countries -  are skewed to the  boys' clubs.   The context might be different in this day & age, much might have been achieved with technological & educational advancements but it goes without saying that the path to gender equality & parity is still relatively untrodden.

I would conclude that 'Nervous Conditions' is just as relevant today in Kenya as it is in Zimbabwe and for that reason, the book is really a good read.