Neverous conditions 1-9

Tsistsi Dangarembga, author of Nervous Conditions, tells the story of an impoverished young African girls, who pulled out of poverty into a better society. This novel through its extraordinary cast of characters brings out many different struggles and consequences of everyday life in a colonized world. The narrator Tambu, though impoverished, is strong willed and determined to get her education. Tambu moves in with her uncle's family with the honor of furthering her education. Nyasha, Tambu's rebellious cousin fights against the restraints placed upon from the patriarchal colonized society. Maiguru, a highly educated woman, struggles with her "duty" to womanly family operations and to have self actualization.  Ma' Shangaiyi, Tambu's mother, has lived in poverty all her life and is trapped in a never ending circle of low value and poor living. Lucia, Tambu's proud aunt, is unmarred and pregnant wanting to find a way out of her oppressive lifestyle.
All of these women battle with the limitations that colonialism and a patriarchal society place on them, as many real women in Africa do.
Dangarembga stresses the use of education through Tambu, Nyasha, and Maiguru, to break through the chains of oppression. Yet, while breaking though their barriers, the women loose pieces of themselves, further plummeting into appeasement, denial, and rebellion.   Dangarembga also places emphasizes around the usage of language and how using or not using your native tongue can destroy your mindset. Nyasha battles with this parallel, causing outer turmoil with her father. With the loss of language comes the loss of tradition. When Nyasha returned from her stay in England, she had forgotten she native language and culture, creating a gap between her, Tambu and the rest of the family. Nyasha is submerged in a world that pulls apart all her ideologies and morals and chooses to fight for the morals that she hold dear.
I too have fought a similar battle in my teenage years.  When I was 16 my mother was remarried to a man I knew very little about. I packed up my things and moved across town with her to a world very separate form my own. I constantly fought with my mother, about my stepfather. I felt I must battle with him for her love. In being an only child this feeling completely ripped my world apart. I began to rebel. I stayed out with my boyfriend all the time, cuss out and physically fight with my mother and disassociated myself from reality. I valued my mother’s love and wanted it without compromise, just as Nyasha wants her womanly worth.

Dangarembga points out not just the out struggles of the colonized world, but the inner and more tainted side of colonization. The women of this story note only physically suffer in some way; they also fight inner pressure of human nature.