Essays on Nervous Conditions

“Everyone wants a strong woman until she actually stands up, flexes her muscles, projects her voice. Suddenly, she’s too much. She’s forgotten her place…” Throughout the novel, Nervous Conditions, by Tsitsi Dangarembga, gender inequality is a large theme. Dangarembga depicts the complex and difficult trials…

The extract provided for this essay is revelatory of how heaven fell down upon earth for Tambu as she was making the transition from village life to a mission school. Climbing onto Babamukuru’s car with the knowledge that she was parting with the routine of…

The struggle to balance two things is presented in Tsitsi Dangarembga Nervous conditions. Maiguru, Bamukuru’s wife is one of the characters presented struggling to balance these things. She is educated with a master’s degree which she obtained in UK, at the same time she struggles…

Gender Expectations of Women The gender expectations of the Shona culture represented in Nervous Conditions create gender inequalities for Tambu, Nyasha and Miaguru. Shona women are expected to be “servants” and accommodate the men. These expectations signify the limited opportunities and choices that Shona women…

Dangarembga’s novel “Nervous Conditions” subscribes to the common tropes of the “coming of age” story in her book that takes place in Rhodesia. This book also challenges the ideas of the normality of patriarchal tendencies. Simon Hay and Elizabeth Jackson both cover these tendencies both…

Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions Postcolonialism and the Politics of Representation When considering what I want to explore with secondary research, the reading that comes to mind is Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions. There is, with this reading, no singular question that intrigues me more than others….