Nervous Conditions: Chapter Two Summary & Analysis

Stepping back in time, Tambu explains how they got to the point where she hated Nhamo. He begins school at age seven, while many other kids didn't begin for another year or two. Babamukuru, however, forces Jeremiah to send Nhamo early. Tambu starts the next year. Unfortunately, despite fair rains, the crop that year is poor, and there's no money for school fees. With Babamukuru in England, there's no chance of asking him for money.

Tambu asks her family members about the events surrounding Babamukuru's departure for England, as she doesn't remember it. Babamukuru purportedly didn't want to leave the mission, as he'd already left his mother once and by that time had two children. The question of going centered around them, though Babamukuru felt he couldn't say no—doing so would've annoyed the missionaries who helped him get so far already. They even offered Maiguru a scholarship to study as well. Eventually, they decided to go and take Chido and Nyasha with them for five years. Jeremiah worried about having to provide for himself, while Mainini hoped that it would make Jeremiah more responsible at last.

At that time, Nhamo knew lots of things: he knew he was going to study like Babamukuru, and that it was his responsibility to educate or care for his sisters. When Jeremiah and Mainini told him there was no money for school fees, he cried. Mainini began selling boiled eggs at bus stops and managed to keep Nhamo in school, which angered Tambu. Jeremiah told Tambu that she shouldn't mind not being in school, since she'd never be able to feed her husband books.

Tambu thought that this was silly, as Maiguru was educated and didn't serve Babamukuru books for dinner. She went to Mainini and spat that Maiguru was a better wife because of her education, but Mainini calmly insisted that womanhood is a heavy burden. She explained that Tambu needed to learn to carry the burdens of blackness and womanhood with strength. Tambu couldn't make sense of this, as Babamukuru was black and successful, and Maiguru was a woman and successful. These conclusions reached, Tambu announced that she'd go to school.

Jeremiah refused to work and earn the school fees himself, but Tambu had a plan: if he'd give her corn seed, she'd grow corn and raise the fees herself. Jeremiah laughed, and Mainini suggested they allow Tambu to do this, as she'd just learn to fail. Tambu spent the next few months tending her crop, just as her grandmother taught her when she was little.

In addition to teaching Tambu how to grow corn, Tambu's grandmother also taught family history. She moved to the area after getting married. However, "wizards" came from the south and forced people from the land. Eventually, they came upon the sandy homestead. Tambu's grandfather went to a wizard's farm to work, was a slave briefly, and then escaped to the southern gold mines while Tambu's grandmother and her children were thrown off the homestead. Her husband died, leaving her with six children. She walked with her children to the home of the "holy wizards," who took in nine-year-old Babamukuru and educated him. He worked hard and eventually earned a scholarship to South Africa. The message was to endure and obey, and Tambu lapped it up.

Tambu tended her cornfields and completed all her other chores. Mainini began to discourage Tambu to prepare her for failure, and Nhamo didn't help either. He told her that she couldn't go to school because she's a girl. After this, Tambu stopped feeling much concern for Nhamo.

Late in February, as Tambu's crop ripened, the cobs began to disappear. Nhamo asked her what she expected. Tambu decided to go to church on Sunday, craving the games and the friendship. She met up with her friend Nyari, who insisted she missed Tambu—but enjoyed it when Nhamo brought her corn. Tambu immediately raced to Nhamo, tackled him, and was stopped by Mr. Matimba when she tried to tackle him again. Mr. Matimba chastised the watching children and sent them away.

Tambu told Mr. Matimba the whole story. He suggested that Tambu sell her corn to Whites in town and offered to take her with him on Tuesday. Jeremiah was incensed and tried to forbid Tambu, but Mainini refused to stand with him: she pointed out that if he didn't let her go, she'd resent him for not letting her help herself.

On Tuesday, Tambu climbed into the truck with Mr. Matimba. He explained to her why the bumps on the road felt bumpier in a car and why he drove on only one side of the road. When they started up into the mountains, she commented that the white people must've been strong to build such a road. Mr. Matimba noted that the black people actually built the road, and it was an awful job. At the pass, he pointed out Umtali. Tambu was terrified when they entered real traffic and encountered stoplights.

Finally, they got out of the car and stopped on a corner. Tambu arranged her corn as Mr. Matimba tried, in English, to flag down an old white woman. Tambu tried not to act disgusted at the sight of the woman's skin. The woman, Doris, took issue with the child labor she was witnessing and insisted that Tambu needed to be in school. Tambu understood almost none of this given her rudimentary grasp of English, but after Mr. Matimba spoke, Doris gave him paper money and chose a few cobs.

Mr. Matimba helped Tambu pack up and explained that he'd told Doris that Tambu was an orphan trying to pay her way through school. Doris gave Mr. Matimba ten pounds towards the cause. When Tambu suggested she'd keep the money at home, Mr. Matimba suggested they give it to the headmaster for safekeeping and then deduct her school fees out of it yearly. Nobody at home believed Tambu earned ten pounds, so Jeremiah went to see the headmaster. When Jeremiah learned Tambu was telling the truth, he insisted the money belonged to him. The headmaster pointed out that it was Tambu's.

Finally, they called in Mr. Matimba. He pointed out that someday, Tambu will be able to earn more than ten pounds per month if she's educated. Jeremiah spat that he'll lose it all when Tambu marries, but Tambu went to school for the next two years, and Babamukuru returned from England during her second year.

In the lead-up to Babamukuru's return, Jeremiah manages to come up with a significant sum of money through begging to throw a party. Nhamo gets to accompany Jeremiah to the airport and makes a big deal of this honor. Though their travel plans are simple in theory—a bus and then a train—everything is complicated by the fact that the buses often don't arrive when they're supposed to.

Tambu desperately wants to be a part of the travel preparations, and Jeremiah eventually tells her to stop wanting so much, as it's natural for her to stay home and help Mainini with the preparations. This and his other assessments of what's natural annoy Tambu, and she decides that there's no reason to try to please her father since he can't be pleased anyway. This makes Jeremiah even angrier, as he feels she's trying to emulate Nhamo and is becoming a useless woman. Eventually, he leaves her alone.