Style choices

I want to discuss Nervous Conditions, specifically zeroing in on the opening chapters and point out the similarities between those and the opening chapters of Things Fall Apart.

Nervous Conditions opens with a bold statement "I was not sorry when my brother died. Nor am I apologizing for my callousness, as you may define it, my lack of feeling." First of all, this line is crucial because she doesn't say that she couldn't cry, she says that she wasn't sorry. This bold statement portrays the powerful feeling of resentment or even a simple separation from any kind of family bond. It reminds me of Achebe's opening chapters of Things Fall Apart. Achebe outlines Unoka and his failures. Unoka is even called a woman- which would be the ultimate insult in a culture like his. I think here, in Nervous Conditions, family is the most important element of culture. And so this disowning that Tambu performs on her brother after his death is certainly the equivalent of Okonkwo calling Unoka a woman.

I also see a similarity in the way that both narrators of both of these books make this bold claim and the step backwards to explain the bold claim, and then make that statement again.

In Nervous Conditions, Tambu begins to relate several experiences that ultimately led to the separation between Nhamo and her. She tells about Nhamo stealing her mealies that she grew for school, which I think angers the audience the most. In these opening chapters, Tambu does a good job of outlining her oppression and how her brother played into that. And I think one of the most important lines is: "Exclusion whispered that my existence was not necessary, making me no more than an unfortunate by-product of some inexorable natural process" (pg 40). This line gives us insight into why Tambu takes such offense to being excluded from school. It is that concept alone that she hates or even fears. During this section Tambu captures her audience and gets them on her side, so that we, too, are not sorry when Nhamo dies, which she repeats: "These things I have recounted are the reasons why I was not disappointed when he did not arrive" (pg 53). I think this statement is less of a slap in the face to the audience because Tambu has walked us through just the beginning of her oppression.

And so I think in a similar way, the narrator of Things Fall Apart makes bold claims about Unoka that may jolt the audience at first and come off as harsh, but after the explanation, the audience may agree when the narrator repeats those claims.

I think it is important how both novels have this style: say-explain-say. I think it offers a parallelism in the story itself and gives it an innate structure. It is also very natural because it is similar to the style of oral folktale. But mostly, as a reader, I think it is captivating. The narrator gives you the point very boldy and you are determined to figure out why the narrator has made such a bold claim.

I am interested to see if this is a recurring stylistic theme in African literature.