Nervous Conditions
Tsitsi Dangarembga
Contributed by Zonia Jines
Discussion Questions
  1. How does Maiguru embody the struggle of her gender, even as an educated woman?
  2. How does Englishness divide mothers from daughters in Nervous Conditions?
  3. In what ways does the repression of women manifest itself to Tambu as a child?
  4. How does Tambu perceive race throughout the novel?
  5. Describe how education is viewed by the Shona people of Tambu’s homestead.
  6. Which characters become self-conscious of their poverty? When and how?
  7. Throughout the novel, Tambu’s nervous condition develops. Describe how this happens.
  8. Nyasha has financial stability because of her parents’ education, but she develops a nervous condition because of a feeling that she is out of control of her own life. How does that occur over the course of the novel?
  9. How is the Shona idea of male superiority embedded in Tambu’s mind?
  10. Ma’Shingayi, Tambu’s mother, is the most disadvantaged female character in the novel. She suffers from racial, gender, and financial repression. How does she deal with this situation?
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