ENG2603 ASSIGNMENT 1
NAME: JERUSHA NAIDOO
STUDENT NUMBER: 51458144
MODULE: ENG2603
ASSIGNMENT NO: 1
DUE DATE: 17 AUGUST 2015
Theme of gender inequality is explored by many authors in African literature portraying the African patriarchal societies during and after independence; but Dangarembga surpassed all her counterparts in her vivid depiction of this inequality that affected the societies in her master-piece novel Nervous Condition. The setting is placed in colonial Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, in the 1960s and 1970s.. This novel further depicts the inequalities enhanced by imperial government and by the perpetuation of colonialism via gender dominance and class division. The theme of gender inequalities in this novel is unfolded through the unique characterization and more so the author’s personal experience in colonial and postcolonial Zimbabwe.
Dangarembga presents a cliché of women who stand up against the internal societal struggles to break the yoke of patriarchal dominance that perpetuated imposing gender inequality. The road to solving this gender inequality is a bumpy ride and acceptance in the strict patriarchal society ensures the characters pass through severe stress and rejection but ultimately there is light at the end of the tunnel as the society is gradually accosted by unstoppable force for change through determination against the odds. Women characters sojourn against the currents opposing their equality and gently in their cocoons of brooding strive to be accepted. Tambu the main protagonist is raised in poor family where the paternal uncle is well-up and had taken upon his obligation to educate his brother Nhamo. Gender inequality is depicted as Tambu is not entitled to be educated because the culture constructs the young women as objects only confined into household chores and later to be married off. Her dreams of education come true only when her brother Nhamo dies which is why she is not touched emotionally by his death, but sees it as a
STUDENT NUMBER: 51458144
MODULE: ENG2603
ASSIGNMENT NO: 1
DUE DATE: 17 AUGUST 2015
Theme of gender inequality is explored by many authors in African literature portraying the African patriarchal societies during and after independence; but Dangarembga surpassed all her counterparts in her vivid depiction of this inequality that affected the societies in her master-piece novel Nervous Condition. The setting is placed in colonial Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, in the 1960s and 1970s.. This novel further depicts the inequalities enhanced by imperial government and by the perpetuation of colonialism via gender dominance and class division. The theme of gender inequalities in this novel is unfolded through the unique characterization and more so the author’s personal experience in colonial and postcolonial Zimbabwe.
Dangarembga presents a cliché of women who stand up against the internal societal struggles to break the yoke of patriarchal dominance that perpetuated imposing gender inequality. The road to solving this gender inequality is a bumpy ride and acceptance in the strict patriarchal society ensures the characters pass through severe stress and rejection but ultimately there is light at the end of the tunnel as the society is gradually accosted by unstoppable force for change through determination against the odds. Women characters sojourn against the currents opposing their equality and gently in their cocoons of brooding strive to be accepted. Tambu the main protagonist is raised in poor family where the paternal uncle is well-up and had taken upon his obligation to educate his brother Nhamo. Gender inequality is depicted as Tambu is not entitled to be educated because the culture constructs the young women as objects only confined into household chores and later to be married off. Her dreams of education come true only when her brother Nhamo dies which is why she is not touched emotionally by his death, but sees it as a