Nervous Conditions, a novel about buildings by Tsitsi Dangarembga, focuses on the life and upbringing of Tambu, a young girl, living in Rhodesia. After her brother's death, Tambu moves from her farm to a mission with her uncle and his wealthy, educated family. As colonialism spreads across Rhodesia, Tambu's gender roles constantly change. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay This article will use the history, literary criticism, and textual evidence of Nervous Condition to examine the early effects of colonialism on Tambu's gender roles and oppression. The historical account, titled “Patriarchy, Capitalism, and the Colonial State in Zimbabwe,” by Elizabeth Schmidt, published by the University of Chicago, discusses the ways in which colonialism and patriarchy were used to control women in Zimbabwe. The article focuses on women's views and how capitalism has helped shape gender roles. “A Dialectic of Autonomy and Community: Tistsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions” by Lindsay Pentolfe Aegerter, of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, is a literary criticism that explains how Nervous Conditions provides a history for a group that has been “silenced , elided and ignored in the colonial equation” (Pentolfe Aegerter 232). The article discusses Tambu's need for independence and what she learns by seeking it. By examining two specific experiences before Tambu begins her life on a mission, one can see how colonialism and oppression permeate her life. While he lives on the farm, colonialism affects his education and independence. Within a day of living with Baamukuru's family, colonialism has already changed Tambu's path to education. How does colonialism influence Tambu's gender roles and the oppression she experiences before being completely submerged in her new life? According to Schmidt's article, “the family, as well as the international economy, has been a fundamental site of gender stratification, and therefore of oppression of African women” (Schmidt 733-4). This is seen when Tambu's father comments on her passion for reading: “Can you cook books and give them to your husband? Stay home with your mother. Learn to cook and clean. Growing vegetables” (Dangarembga 15). His father has a traditional view of women. Believing that women are best suited to work for the family, he dismisses his daughter's desire to learn while his son is still alive. African women were “better” controlled when they depended on their husbands' access to land and income (Schmidt 738). They were seen as “good mothers” when they stayed at home with their children without being able to earn money (Schmidt 739). This colonial view resonates in the text: My mother said that being black was a burden because it made you poor, but Baamukuru was not poor. My mother said that being a woman was a burden because you had to have children and take care of them and your husband. But I didn't think this was true…I decided it was better to be like Maiguru, who wasn't poor and hadn't been crushed by the weight of femininity. Dangarembga 16Tambu's ability to see the changes taking place within his family is evident. She does not believe that she should stay at home to be “crushed by the weight of femininity” (Dangarembga 16). Tambu's desire to learn leads her to distance herself from native gender roles. She sees the example of her aunt and uncle who are both rich, educated and black and realizes that she can achieve what they also have if she works alone, which gives her the idea ofgrow corn. Tambu, in her quest for education, asks her parents for seeds so that she can "clear [her] field and grow [her] corn... just enough for [school] fees" (Dangarembga 17) . Imitating what she had learned from her grandmother, who was “a relentless tiller of the earth, sower of seeds and reaper of rich harvests… until the last moment,” Tambu worked in her grandmother's garden and tended her corn (Dangarembga 17). In Rhodesia, “women's labor generated food crops and ensured continued access to the lineage's lands” (Schmidt 735). While Tambu's grandmother and mother were tied to growing crops for the family, Tambu found her own way to change the normal gender role and avoid oppression. He worked in the family fields for his own benefit. As she went to sell the corn, Tambu questions everything she doesn't understand and “it became apparent to her that [she] had no alternative but to sell [her] corn and go back. at school” (Dangarembga 27). Tambu did not work for anyone's gain but his own; he got around the fact that his family didn't have enough money for his education. Tambu was no longer “dependent” on her father's “access to land and cash income” (Schmidt 738). He separated to earn his own money to support himself and momentarily overcome his father's patriarchal oppression. Pentolfe Aegerter discusses the change that occurs because of Tambu's choices: Although [Tambu] strives for the autonomy that her father's family denies her, an exclusive focus on her individuality denies the communal ethos of her family and her culture and risks embracing Western customs that privilege the individual. about his community.Pentolfe Aegerter 235Tambu seems to become more independent, but this changes his relationship with his family and community. He moves away from the traditional role of valuing the community over oneself and works on his own for individual gain instead of working for the benefit of his family. domination in Southern Rhodesia,” was not the only way women were subordinated (Schmidt 734). By mixing indigenous and European patriarchal structures of control, new structures of domination were created (Schmidt 734). This “new structure of domination” is seen when Baamukuru speaks to Tambu on the night of his arrival (Schmidt 734). After Tambu's brother dies, she “becomes the equivalent of the firstborn male, [inheriting] his privileges as a way to escape sexism” and goes to live with Babamukuru (Pentolfe Aegerter 235). Babamukuru calls Tambu to talk to him and she is sure not to sit "so disrespectfully close to her uncle" (Dangarembga 87). He follows the traditional rules of the patriarchy so as not to disrespect his uncle. Babamukuru sees himself as Tambu's “father” and “takes some time off from [his] work to talk to [Tambu] as a father should talk to a child” (Dangarembga 88). Filled with gratitude, Tambu realizes the “amount of sacrifice” Babamukuru made to pick her up from the farm because “the work he had missed… was the work that paid the school money and bought the food that [her] he had to eat at his house” (Dangarembga 88). Babamukuru makes sure that Tambu understands what she has been through so that she can benefit from it. In a new form of oppression, Babamukuru makes Tambu feel indebted to him. This forces Tambu to feel that she must do well in school and be a good person to repay Baamukuru for his generosity. Babamukuru explains to Tambu the many benefits of his munificence:…Babamukuru had summoned me to ensure that I knew how fortunate I was to have had this opportunity for mental and, ultimately, through it, material emancipation. He emphasized that theblessing that I had received was not an individual blessing but extended to all the members of my less fortunate family, who could count on me in the future as they now depended on him... on a mission. Not only would I go to school, but I would learn ways and habits that they would make my parents proud of me. I was an intelligent girl but I also had to become a good woman, she said...Dangarembga 89Babamukuru exerts his patriarchal control over Tambu through his customary argument. He tells Tambu that her actions will help set her free through the knowledge and wealth education he will provide her through his generosity. Although Baamukuru states that Tambu is a “smart girl,” his support will transform her into a “good woman” (Dangarembga 89). The traditional idea of ​​“good woman” changes; while women were once expected to stay at home to raise a family, Baamukuru's idea of ​​a “good woman” is influenced by colonialism. He is helping to turn Tambu into a "good woman" by providing her with a good education that will make her rich while allowing her to support her poorer family members. Before moving in with Baamukuru, "Tambu [is] determined to escape her family's sexism. father and the poverty that is the lingering legacy of colonization to rural Africans...", but while living with Babamukuru, she learns that "escaping from her father's sexism… is not an escape at all” (Pentolfe Aegerter 234). gratitude for the help and to help her family in the future. She is no longer seeking education for herself; she is seeking knowledge to help and repay her family and her gender roles. Tambu believes that the self she "expected to find on the mission would take time to appear," but Tambu begins to change before she has spent a week living with her uncle (Dangarembga 86). Colonialism began to change Tambu's gender roles when she grew and sold her corn to pay for her education. While her father's patriarchal and monetary control was still intact, Tambu found ways to work for her individual advantage. Once she moved in with Babamukuru's family, Tambu became a victim of new patriarchal power and gender expectations. Expected to succeed in school out of gratitude for her uncle's sacrifices, Tambu's education is necessary to help her family in the future. Colonialism forces Tambu's independent nature to change; her education is no longer just for herself. Tambu is forced to mix new and old ideas about gender roles. She draws from old traditions, such as respecting her male elders, and allows the availability of colonial education to create her new gender role. He taps into a desire to work for the community and his family while seeking an education to help support them in the future. Because “African women's autonomy is based on and is inseparable from their place within the community,” Tambu will always be tied to her Rhodesian culture even as she is raised as she embraces colonialism and seeks independence (Pentolfe Aegerter 233). Works Cited Pentolfe Aegerter, Lindsay. “A Dialectic of Autonomy and Community: The Nervous Conditions of Tsitsi Dangarembga.” Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 15.2 (1996): 231-238.http://www.jstor.org/stable/464133This article was published in the journal Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature. The author, Lindsay Pentolfe Aegerter, works at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. This literary criticism comes.