Nervous Conditions: Chapter 1-10 Main Points

This shows the main points of each chapter of Nevous Conditions.

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Nervous Conditions main points on chapter 1

  • Describes Nhamo before he died.
    • Lazy: He only works when Babamukuru says he's coming to visit.
    • Jerk: He mocked Tambu and and treated his sisters like a servant.
    • Thief: He stole Tambu's mealies to give them to other people so he could get a good reputation with those people.
  • Describes homestead and surrounding places
    • Beautiful: The trees, the river and the rest of the scenery to Tambu was beautiful.
  • Describes Babamukuru
    • Hard working: Jeramiah's conversation about Babamukuru with Tambu (p.5) doesn't directly say he's hard working, but it gives out the signal that he is hard working.
  • Describes what Nhamo did at the homestead
    • "Studied": He "studied" so he could get out of doing the work in the fields.
  • Described what Tambu did at the homestead
    • Chores: She worked in the fields, her moms garden, and took care of the livestock.
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Nervous Conditions main points on chapter 2, 1/2

  • Tambu stoped school due to poverty.
    • Tambu stoped going to school because they could only offord Nhanmo's school fee.
  • Tambu starts growing food to sell.
    • Cince Tambu wants to go to school so badly, she starts growing crops to sell to earn her school fees.
  • Mr. Matimba helps Tambu sell her crops.
    • He drives her to the city
    • He got peoples atention for her in a nice way so she could sell her food.
    • Tambu earned £10
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Nervous Conditions main points on chapter 2, 2/2

  • Tambu's dad and Mr. Matimba argue about who gets the £10 Tambu earned.
    • She gives the money to the headmaster of the school so he could take the money out of her acount when she starts school again.
    • Jeramiah calls the hedmaster a thief for keeping her money, claming that the money is his, cince Tambu is her doughter.
    • Mr. Matimba comes and settels the mater as the money is Tambu's
  • Nhamo and his dad plan to pick up Babamukuru.
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Nervous Conditions main points on chapter 3, 1/2

  • Babamukuru returns
    • All of Babamukuru's family greets him at the homestead.
  • Babamukuru has a family meeting.
    • Babamukuru talks about educating one of the kids in each of his brothers families.
    • Nhamo is chosen to be educated in Jeramiahs family and is chosen to be educated at the mission.
  • Nhamo gloats that he was chosen to go to the mission.
    • Nhamo gloats to Tambu that:
      • He is going to the mission
      • He is going to not be "the son of Jeramiah".
      • He is going to have new clothes
      • He is going to eat with a knife and fork.
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Nervous Conditions main points on chapter 3, 2/2

  • Nhamo left to go to the mission.
  • Nhamo dies and Tambu takes his place.
    • Babamukuru comes to the homestead and tels Tambu's parents the bad news.
    • Tambu was chosen to take Nhamo's place at the mission.
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Nervous Conditions main points on chapter 4, 1/2

  • Tambu for the mission
    • Tambu expects to find a new self
      • Clean
      • Well looked after
      • Well dressed
  • Tambu gets to the mission
    • Tambu finds that she is a pesant compared to the others at the mission
      • Dirty 
      • Poorly taken cared of
      • Poorly dressed
  • Tambu describes Babamukuru's house
    • "Pallace"
    • "Mansion"
    • "Castle" 
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Nervous Conditions main points on chapter 4, 2/2

  • Tambu eneres the house
    • Attacked by two visiouse dogs
    • Greetedy Nyasha and Anna
    • Has tea with Maiguru
    • Is shown where she will sleep
  • Maiguru tels Nyasha not to read the book she was reading
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Nervous Conditions main points on chapter 5

  • Babamukuru confiscates Nyasha's book while she is making gravy for dinner
  • Niasha argues that the book she was reading was fine
  • Nyasha leaves the dinner table without finishing her food
  • Nyasha and Tambu go outside
    • Nyasha is smoking at the time
  • Tambu discoveres Maiguru has digrees
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Nervous Conditions main points on chapter 6

  • Tambu, Nyasha, and Chido go to the Christmas dance
    • They get back late
  • Nyasha and Babamukuru have a fight
    • Nyasha talks cheekily to Babamukuru
    • Babamukuru calls Nyasha a whore
    • Babamukuru hits Nyasha TWICE
    • Nyasha hits Babamukuru
    • They both start phisically fighting
    • Babamukuru threatens to kill Nyasha
    • Maiguru and Chido hold Babamukuru back to stop him from killing Nyasha
    • Nyasha leaves the room
  • Tambu notices that being a female at the mission is the same as being female on the homestead by treatment
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Nervous Conditions main points on chapter 7

  • Babamukuru's family and Tambu head to the homestead for Christmas
  • Babamukuru finds that Takesure and Lucia haven't left the homestead like he told them to
  • Babamukuru holds a meeting with the other fathers and husbands at the homestead
  • Maiguru and Tambu's mom argue
  • Lucia stands up for herself in the meeting
  • Babamukuru proposes the idea for givinga a wedding for Tabu's parents
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Nervous Conditions main points on chapter 8, 1/2

  • Tambu takes Babamukuru's plan for the wedding as an embarrassment
    • She thinks it's a stupid idea.
    • She doesn't want to take part of it.
  • Tambu is left back at the homestead with her family to work in the fields.
    • Takesure and Lucia are still living at the homestead
    • Lucia and Tambu are the ones that are really working, while Jeramiah and Takesure are being their lazy selves.
  • Tambu returns to the mission
  • Tambu's mom has a baby boy at the mission
    • Relatives from the homestead go to the mission to congratulate Babamukuru and Tambu's mom
  • Lucia stays at the mission with Tambu's mom
  • Babamukuru finds Lucia a job at the mission
  • Tambu's mom goes back to the homestead
  • Everybody start making wedding preperations
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Nervous Conditions main points on chapter 8, 2/2

  • Tambu returns to the mission
  • Tambu escapes and doesn't go to help at with the wedding preparations
    • Tambu spent the day at a friend's house
  • Tambu gets back to Babamukuru's house late at night
    • Babamukuru is still in his office
    • The man eating dogs weren't let lose
    • Tambu sneaks int her room through a window
    • Maiguru sees her sneaking in and warns Tambu that Babamukuru is angry
  • Next morning tambu decides not to get out of bed, because that's the day of the wedding
  • Babamukuru threatens to take Tambu out of school if she doesn't go to the wedding
  • Tambu stays at the mission and doesn't go to the wedding
  • Tambu regrets not going to the wedding
    • looked like fun
  • Tambo gets lashed 15 times and takes Anna's job for two weeks
  • Maiguru leaves the mission
    • Goes to her brothers house
  • Babamukuru brings Maiguru back to the mission
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Nervous Conditions main points on chapter 9, 1/2

  • Three nuns visit the mission to bring 2 girls to their school (Sacred Heart)
  • The nuns tested the girls at the mission
  • Nyasha tels Tambu not to go to Sacred Heart
  • Babamukuru says it's not worth the money to send Tambu to Sacred Heart
  • Maiguru says it's a good idea to send Tambu to Sacred Heart
  • Babamukuru sends Tambu to the homestead
  • Babamukuru talks with Jeramiah about Tambu's future
    • Babamukuru decides to let Tambu go to Sacred Heart
  • Ma'Shingayi doesn't like Babamukuru's decision
    • Warns Tambu about "the Englishness"
  • Ma'Shingayi becomes lazy
    • She won't move or eat or clean herself
  • Lucia helps Ma'Shingayi by:
    • Bringing her to the river and setting Ma'Shingayi's baby in the middle of the river on a rock so she would go in the water to get the baby
    • Cooking her food
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Nervous Conditions main points on chapter 9, 2/2

  • Tambu goes back to the mission before going to Sacred Heart
  • Tambu's friends tell her not to forget them
  • Tambu walks back to the house with Nyasha
  • Babamukuru's mad at Nyasha because she came late
  • Babamukuru forces Nyasha to finish what´s on her plate
    • Nyahsa doesn´t want to eat at all
    • Nyasha eats anyway
  • Tambu goes up stairs to get ready for bed
    • She heares Nyasha gaging up her food in the bathroom
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Nervous Conditions main points on chapter 10, 1/3

  • Tambu explains how she feels when getting ready to go to Sacred Heart
    • She feels:
      • Excitement
      • Anticipation
      • Elation
      • Exultation
  • Babamukuru, Maiguru, Nyasha, and Tambu drive to Sacred Heart
  • Tambu describes the place. It has
    • four hockey courts
    • a basketball court
    • a netball court
    • a pond with goldfish
    • two main buildings
      • the school
      • the dormitory
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Nervous Conditions main points on chapter 10, 2/3

  • Tambu sees the croud of students
    • She doesn't see any black students
    • Only black people she sees are people carrying trunks for the students
  • The nun that greets everybody and shows where the first formers and "Africans" wold live
    • In the rooms where the "normal" students would live there were four beds
    • In the room where the "africans" would live, there were six beds
      • The nun explanes that "we have more africans here than normal this year"
  • Nyasha says goodbuy and referes to tambu as an "african"
  • Tambu starts school at Sacred Heart
  • She gets some letters from Nyasha talking about the stuf that she's missing
    • She get's a seriouse letter from Nyasha explaining how she misses her and how life is without her
    • She get's another letter that was normal and saying that when she came back to the mission she would find a more disiplined Nyasha
  • Tambu go's back to the mission
  • Tambu sees that Nyasha was a lot thinner and could see her bones
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Nervous Conditions main points on chapter 10, 3/3

  • Tambu goes back to the homestead
  • Tambu goes back to Sacered Heart without passing through the mission
  • Three months pass
  • Tambu goes back to the mission
    • "Nyasha grew skeletal"
  • Nyasha wakes Tambu up late at night toa ask her about a question when studying
  • Nyasha wouldn't come to the dinner table
  • Nyasha goes crazy
  • Babamukuru and Maiguru take Nyasha to a psychiatrist
    • The psychiatrist says nothing's wrong with Nyasha
    • The second psychiatrist said that Nyasha needed to rest
      • Nyahsa was put into a clinic for a fiew weeks
  • Tambu is taken back to the homestead and explanes what happened to Nyahsa
  • Ma'Shingayi blames "the Englishness" is what caused Nyasha to go crazy and warns Tambu to be carefull about it too
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