(Part Three)
In the last two articles I had examined the reflection of sympathy in the novel. In Nego Feminism, Nneameka advises African women to walk as a chameleon. In this suggestion what she means is not to dramatize the way and style of its walk but rather use the unique strategy that this lizard uses in its life track. This can be seen in two ways: the strategy that it applies for survival, and the strategy that it applies for gaining its food (which is the life goal of the animal as any animal). These strategies emanated from its special nature and unique traits of the chameleon among others. In this section I am going to associate the nature of chameleon with the characters trait which is deliberately done in order to achieve a certain goal set by them. In this analysis, the traits of the chameleon approached are mainly goal-oriented-ness, cautiousness and adaptability nature of the animal.
In the novel, it was Tambu who exhibited a chameleon nature throughout the novel. Her cautiousness was displayed as follows. The story opens with the protagonist Tambu, feeling nothing on the death of her younger brother Nhamo. The story develops by bringing up her reasons for this an expected and abnormal reaction that no one could not even imagine. “I was not sorry when my brother died. Nor I am apologizing for my callousness, as you may define it, my lack of feeling. For it is not that at all,” (Dangarembga, 1988, p. 1).
The chameleon does not eat the prey in front of it even if it is hungry. It tastes it by its tongue before taking an action. Even if the death of her brother could make any one to cry and worry, she did not feel anything because of many reasons that she expressed throughout the novel. From this, it can be said that Tambu was cautions and careful in dealing with situations. Before taking any action, she considered it logically. Nhamo was her brother, but he was another patriarch, and the one that had stolen her maize cobs. When he died, she did not feel any sympathy since more than becoming emotional on his death; she cooled down and realized what he had been doing regarding her life.
Tambu was represented as a cautious girl who knows what things are happening around her. This was evidenced in the novel as in: “The needs and sensibilities of the woman in my family were not considered a priority, or even legitimate” (Dangarembga, 1988, p. 12).
This showed that Tambu was very active in understanding her environment as much as she can. Before reacting to any issue that she faced, she always tried to observe the situation carefully from different angles.
It was not only Nhamo who didn’t want to see Tambu going to school, but her father too. She narrated this as follows: “He thought I was emulating my brother, that the things I read would fill my mind with impractical ideas, making me quite useless for the real tasks of feminine living” (Dangarembga, 1988, p. 34).
The extract showed that Jeremiah did not know to what extent the patriarchal system was affecting his daughter and even the society. He mentioned the educated wife of his brother Babamukuru. He believed that the MA holder Miaguru could not serve her husband to have her degree to be eaten. It was only her feminine effort that was important to her husband. For him it was the skill of how to do foods was relevant than having any degree for the husband.
Tambu was not happy with the way things stood following the return of her uncle. She stated this as: “I began to see that the disappointing events surrounding Babamukuru’s return were serious consequences of the same general laws that had almost brought my education to an abrupt, predictable end. It was frightening. I don’t want my life to be predicted by such improper relations. I decided I would just have to make up my mind not to let it happen” (Dangarembga, 1988, p. 38).
In order to avoid those disappointing incidents, Tambu was conscious on what solutions she should take in order to escape these inadequacies. As the lizard that looked ways of possibilities to pass thorny places, Tambu searched for a way out for the situation that was possibly happening with Babamukuru. This was evident in her words as in: “I would have to confront uncomfortable issues, I busied myself with housework…I was pleased with my efforts” (Dangarembga, 1988, p. 39).
This means that she did not allow herself to be affected by those factors; rather she actively looked a resolution to the problem. In this way, she became stable and could fulfill her goal.
Tambu faced many troubles in her life as the novel depicted. In order to get money for her school fees, she planted maize cobs. When her brother was sent to school, she was supposed to work at home and in the fields. She says: “the next January my brother entered Standard One. I worked on the homestead, in the family fields and on my own plot” (Dangarembga, 1988, p. 17).
Since she had a goal to be achieved sometime in the future, she did not feel as the one who is forgotten and unable to lead a good life. She knew that this sacrifice was done for a specific purpose. In the future, she was confident that things would be changed. This means that Tambu was a goal-oriented character.
Her brother did nothing for the school fees. He did not even think about it. He was treated well by the family. Tambu noticed that: “He would drink sweet black tea while he read his books, and we went about our chores. This used to amuse my mother” (Dangarembga, 1988, p.9).
Here what made her feel bad was her mother’s fascination with the situation. Tambu was not equally treated as her brother. Unlike him, she stayed in the kitchen to cook what the family needed even what her younger brother Nhamo needed. And here was her mom who was happy with the Nhamo’s present status. These things made Tambu jealous of her younger brother, and this was another reason for not worrying when he died.
She resisted every obstacle without complaining verbally. Therefore, she was in a good relationship with people around her. It can be said that she was self-motivated in meeting her goal. This would mean that Tambu would be able to support her family in the future. Gender equality then could happen naturally. Nneameka believes that gender equality will be manifested when women became economically independent and participate in measures taken to faster advancement of the society.
Since Tambu was goal oriented, she did her best to find a solution for poverty in her family. Without entering into conflict with the patriarchal ideology, she tried her best to fulfill her goal. She discussed her plan with her previous schoolteacher. He was the only person who understood her and showed his readiness to help her sold the cobs in town using the school bus. “If you took your green mealies to town,’ continued Mr. Matimba, ‘you might make for a couple of term’s fees. After that, we would have to see” (Dangarembga, 1988, p. 24).
Still the girl was sticking on the goal of returning to school. This passion was very important for African women to overcome the problems of unfair gender treatment as the theory proposes. Tambu was in the house of Babamukuru for education after her brother died. She was hoping that the atmosphere in this house would be better. But it was the reverse. She said: “Babamukuru condemning Nyasha to whoredom, making her a victim of her femaleness, just as I had felt victimized at home in the days when Nhamo went to school and I grew my maize,” (Dangarembga, 1988, p. 115).
There in her family the basic factor that caused deterrent from her goal was the poverty of her family. But here the problem was the effect of colonialism, as exhibited in Babamukuru. As an educated person Babamukuru was expected to treat women as equally important as men. But he did the reverse. He was very strict in compromising his status with Blacks in general and women in particular. Tambu narrated this in the following way:
“I had thought that issues would continue to be clearly delimited, with Babamukuru, who was as nearly divine as any human being could hope to be, imposing the limits. Through him, because of him, black would remain somber and white permanently clear” (Dangarembga, 1988, p. 168).
Even if Tambu experienced women’s exploitation in her uncle’s house, she was not irritated by it and did not attempt to run away to her house. She explored the good aspects of this situation. She decided to tolerate the problems for the sake of her education. Unlike her home, here there were good opportunities. For instance, in this house, she was not supposed to stay in the kitchen; she stayed clean and ate good food; she got out to meet people, and she had time for reading her books. She says:
“I performed better there than I had done at home because Baba and Miaguru knew that my schoolwork was important and did not disturb me when I was studying. I could not help being pleased with myself and with the way things were turning out, but it was a wholesome pleasure in living that people” (Dangarembga, 1988, p. 95).
She was not emotional and impulsive unlike Nyasha. She seriously considered everything from different angles. She tried to find the best options that could help her pursue her goal. Thus, she adapted herself to the environment that she was in.
I will be back for its sequel by the next article.
BY MEKDES TAYE (PhD)
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 8 AUGUST 2024
