Tambu's arrival at the mission

Before arriving at the mission, Tambu reassuringly narrates of her intrinsic worth, and hence her excitement over education and this desire to escape the restraints of homestead life. There's so much spirit and ambition in this dream she has of bettering herself. In the car ride, on the way to Babamukuru's house, she foretells this notion that life at the mission will impart "leisure, [encouragement] to consider questions that had to do with survival of the spirit, the creation of consciousness, rather than mere sustenance of the body."

Upon seeing her uncle's home actually causes her to think negatively as it reminds her of reality back at home, on the homestead. Tambu mentions that she "slid into a swamp of self-pity." Tambu realizes that it is only after Nhamo's death is she allowed to be educated. Right away, Tambu already sees the effect of "white" education and quickly questions personal identity. This is where I get the first sense of this "nervous condition." This is where I feel the homestead is more attractive than the mission. Tambu, who once scolded her brother for losing this relation to family life and home, eventually describes the homestead as backward. What happened to this love for the land? It surprises me that she was so quick to forsake what she identified with prior to the car ride to Babamukuru's house. In Tambu's context, the mission seems to alter her perception of herself in relation to her community. (But it is possible that may feelings may change as I read further)

But we must remember that even with this opportunity, Tambu still maintains this sense of struggle through her poverty and femininity. Far from vindication, the way that Tambu describes the house makes me believe that, even though a good person, Babamukuru will eventually exploit Tambu. By exploitation, I do not mean indecency. Rather, Babamukuru will derive benefit from having Tambu at his house. Thus, working to become a good "woman", wife-like, is much more important than being scholarly. Besides, Tambu is simply a replacement to Nhamo. Babamukuru never contrasts womanhood to intellectual endeavors but suggests that the latter is not necessary of the two. It is also through Tambu's disapproval of Nyasha's rebellions against Babamukuru's authority that suggest Nambu's acceptance of this patriarchy, which suggests that she herself questions her own identity.

All these ideas lead me to question what will happen later in the book. It is possible that this relation of femaleness, apart from the men, is what will makes Tambu a strong woman and not the indoctrination of Western education? Also, is the possibility of achieving a true sense of identity in a post-colonical state compromised or even lost?