Doris Character Analysis in Nervous Conditions

A white woman who buys corn from Tambu in Umtali. She's initially disgusted to see Tambu selling corn, as she believes Mr. Matimba is using the girl for child labor. However, Mr. Matimba is able to appeal to her sense of propriety by spinning a tale of Tambu's unfortunate circumstances, which makes Doris guiltily hand over enough money to pay for several years of Tambu’s schooling.

Doris Character Timeline in Nervous Conditions

The timeline below shows where the character Doris appears in Nervous Conditions. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...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... (full context)

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.... (full context)

As a teen, Tambu likes the missionaries much better than she liked Doris. However, some of them are very strange: they speak Shona more than English, and a... (full context)