Nervous Conditions

Nyasha is the daughter of Babamukuru and Maiguru. She has an older brother, Chido, and she is Tambu’s cousin. Nyasha spent five years living in England and attending school, and she struggles to repatriate when she returns to Africa. While she has the privileges of wealth and education, she faces many significant barriers, including repeated shifts in culture and distant, authoritarian parenting. She is ostracized by her peers, who judge her as feeling superior because she lived in England and because she outperforms the male students. Her father verbally and physically abuses her, and her mother often sides with Babamukuru rather than Nyasha. Nyasha finds solace with Tambu, so when Tambu leaves, it has a detrimental impact on her. She experiences a worsening of her eating disorder, which is ultimately followed by a significant mental health crisis.

Nyasha is a deuteragonist, or a second protagonist. In a brief interview following the main text, the author explains that she did not place Nyasha as the primary protagonist and narrator because her psychological conditions would impact the narration and because she “wanted more Zimbabwean and African women to be able to identify with the narrator,” and Nyasha had been “Anglicized” during her time in England (209). Nyasha demonstrates The Enduring Impacts of Colonization by living between cultures, and her internal conflict is driven by Coming of Age During Cultural Transitions. She experiences an eating disorder, which she appears to use to express autonomy in her oppressive conditions, and she later experiences other symptoms of mental illness, although no exact diagnosis is provided in the text. Nyasha’s character demonstrates the importance of sisterhood in overcoming the barriers of womanhood; she does this by providing an example of what one might experience if they did not have sisterhood or a support system.

Ma’Shingayi is married to Jeremiah; she is the mother of Nhamo, Tambu, Netsai, Rambanai, and Dambudzo, and she is Lucia’s sister. Ma’Shingayi is characterized as a hard worker and as submissive. She works hard to take care of her family, and she rarely complains, despite her husband’s irresponsible and lazy behavior. When Nhamo dies, Ma’Shingayi becomes more outspoken, and she does not want Tambu to attend school, fearing what will happen to her. However, she is not taken seriously and is expected to submit to the will of her husband and Babamukuru.

Ma’Shingayi is another secondary protagonist. As with Maiguru and Lucia, she has fewer scenes in the book, but she is identified as a protagonist through Tambu’s targeting her as a critical influence: “[M]y story is not after all about death, but about my escape and Lucia’s; about my mother’s and Maiguru’s entrapment; and about Nyasha’s rebellion” (1). Ma’Shingayi is entrapped by her marriage to Jeremiah and the gender roles expected of her. She is the first to introduce Tambu to the concept that womanhood is a burden. The burdens she experiences are exacerbated by her poverty and her lack of education. Ma’Shingayi’s circumstances lead her to experience feelings of hopelessness. The symptoms of depression that Ma’Shingayi experiences overlap with Nyasha’s experiences of mental illness, and both serve to demonstrate the detrimental impacts of culturally engrained sexism.

Lucia is Ma’Shingayi’s sister who comes to the homestead to care for Ma’Shingayi while she is pregnant with Dambudzo. Lucia has a reputation as an “indecent” woman because of rumors that she has slept with multiple men without getting pregnant or getting married. She sleeps with Takesure when he comes to the homestead and gets pregnant; she then sleeps with Jeremiah, hoping that he will take her as a wife instead of Takesure. Lucia refuses to leave the homestead with Takesure because she does not trust Jeremiah to take care of Ma’Shingayi. She declares that she will leave and take Ma’Shingayi, but instead she asks Babamukuru to find her a job, and she enrolls in school.

Lucia is a dynamic supporting protagonist. Early representations of her behavior suggest that she is promiscuous and selfish. However, Lucia later reveals her true intent when she explains that she has not left because Jeremiah is a bad husband and because Ma’Shingayi needs help. The reader can infer that Lucia did not sleep with Jeremiah out of desire but because she wanted to secure a position close to Ma’Shingayi. Along with her consideration for Ma’Shingayi, Lucia also has a strong sex drive, as Tambu narrates, “So Lucia stayed on to look after her sister, and because her body had appetites of which she was not ashamed, she moved back in with Takesure” (155). She elects to sleep with Takesure because, she argues, she can scare him away easily, which demonstrates her strong personality and independent spirit. Her behavior toward Ma’Shingayi supports Sisterhood and the Burden of Womanhood. She ignores or manipulates the male characters, while supporting the welfare of her sister.

Maiguru is Babamukuru’s wife, Nyasha and Chido’s mother, and Tambu’s aunt. Tambu views Maiguru as a role model at first. Maiguru has an education, a job, and a seemingly happy family life. As Tambu gets to know Maiguru better, she discovers that Maiguru is oppressed by The Pressures of Patriarchal Gender Roles. Her salary goes to Babamukuru, and she constantly attempts to appease her husband, who has a hot temper. While Maiguru is oppressed, she has privileges that the other protagonists do not—she has a master’s degree, a career, and wealth. These privileges allow her more autonomy than the other women in the story. Babamukuru relies on the money Maiguru brings in, so he must concede, at least in part, to her demands. Maiguru’s privileges prevent her from experiencing sisterhood with most of the other characters. She is ostracized by Babamukuru’s family members, who assume that Maiguru feels superior.

Maiguru is characterized as doting, intelligent, and submissive. She spends her time on the homestead cooking and caring for Babamukuru’s family, and she appeases and submits to Babamukuru’s whims and demands. Maiguru, as a supporting protagonist, experiences an individual character arc, and she moves from submitting to Babamukuru to standing up for herself. By running away, she threatens to remove not only her homemaking services but also her income from Babamukuru; he is left with little choice but to accede to Maiguru’s will. Maiguru’s character arc thus serves to demonstrate the power of education in overcoming oppression.

Babamukuru, or Mr. Sigauke, is Maiguru’s husband, Nyasha and Chido’s father, and Tambu’s uncle. He is the head of his extended family, whose patriarchal family members include himself, Jeremiah, Thomas, and Gladys. As a child, Babamukuru was sent to school with the intent that he would make enough money to provide for the entire family. He succeeded and was offered a scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in England. Upon his return, he resumed his position as headmaster and academic director at the mission school. Babamukuru is a title that refers to his relationship to Tambu as her father’s older brother. His siblings refer to him as Mukoma—a title meaning he is the oldest brother. The use of such titles to refer to Babamukuru reflects his position as the head of the family, rather than as a regular member of the family.

Babamukuru’s primary traits are his responsibility and his pride. He is a complex character who acts as an antagonist, but the author provides excuses for his authoritarian and prideful behaviors by suggesting that he was conditioned into them: “Luckily, or rather unluckily for him, throughout his life Babamukuru had found himself—as eldest child and son, as provider to many—in positions that enabled him to organise his immediate world and its contents as he wished” (88). His education and subsequent successes drive his assimilation. He acclimatizes to the colonizers’ culture, including their Christian ideals, and he rejects traditional beliefs, such as folk medicine and witch doctors. His assimilation to the white colonizers’ culture demonstrates the impacts of colonization.

Babamukuru’s role as an antagonist is best expressed through his relationship with Nyasha. He took his family to England, exposing them to a significantly different culture during their foundational period of adolescence. Upon returning to Africa, he becomes irate, particularly with Nyasha, who has been impacted by the English culture and her education. Given his position in his family and among the white colonizers, Babamukuru is accustomed to being obeyed and revered, so when Nyasha does not submit to him, he is upset. He uses authoritarian and abusive parenting methods, which worsen Nyasha’s circumstances. He physically abuses her by hitting her, he threatens to kill her, and he refers to her as a “whore.” All of this, combined with the culture shock Nyasha endured as a result of Babamukuru’s moving his family back and forth, result in Nyasha’s mental health crises. He continues to not take his daughter seriously even after she experiences a significant mental crisis and is only convinced to seek a second medical opinion upon his brother-in-law’s advice. His character represents the subtheme of authoritarian parenting, which contributes to the broader theme surrounding the pressures of patriarchal gender roles.

Jeremiah is Ma’Shingayi’s husband, and together they have five children—Nhamo, Tambudzai, Netsai, Rambanai, and Dambudzo. His siblings are Babamukuru, Thomas, and Gladys. Jeremiah lives in poverty, which is intensified by his indolent and irresponsible nature.

Jeremiah is a static antagonist who develops the themes and advances the plot of the text. His irresponsibility is illustrated through his lack of work ethic and in his begging Babamukuru for financial assistance. His antagonistic qualities include deceitfulness, manipulativeness, and selfishness. He does not care if Tambu gets an education because, since she is expected to marry, he will not reap enough of a benefit. As such, he steals the money Babamukuru sends for her to attend school while Babamukuru is in England. He also attempts to claim the money she receives from Doris. Jeremiah sleeps with Lucia, and he wants to take her on as a second wife, although he cannot afford to care for her and despite Ma’Shingayi’s refusal to accept a second wife. He primarily develops the theme of sisterhood and the burden of womanhood by embodying the burdens of womanhood that both Ma’Shingayi and Tambu face.