Postcolonial Fiction Craft Sheet
“Nervous Conditions”

Protagonist(s): The main character of the story. The character whose journey it is; the character who goes through the most change. Tambu

Antagonist(s): The character or force who gets in the way of the main character’s journey. Nyasha, Babamukuru, Jeremiah, Nhamo, Ma'Shingayi the fact that she is a female gets in the way in the beginning of the novel.

Setting(s): Place and era. Rhodesia in the late 1960s and early 1970s

Point(s)-of-View: First person (using “I”), Second person (using “you”), Third person (no forms of “I;” only forms of he/she/they) First person

Crisis Action(s)/Turning Point(s): Describe the story’s crisis action, or the action in the story that embodies the protagonist’s major decision or change. (If you can’t find a clear crisis action, make your best guess and explain your difficulty here.) For every protagonist that you list, you must list a crisis action (here) and resolution (below). The crisis with Tambu is that her family is very poor except for her well educated uncle. Tambu got the chance to go to school because her brother died. Otherwise she would have not had that chance.

Resolution(s): Describe the feeling of the protagonist as a result of his/her decision. Tambu is given a scholarship to attend a covenant. She feels excited to be able to further her education since in Rhodesia it wasn’t an option for woman.

Themes: Name a few abstractions that this story embodies. Race, Colonization, Gender, poverty and education

Meaning Statements: Try to articulate what the story seems to say about what it means to be human. Paradoxes are GREAT to note here. Always start with the word “sometimes.” We are not looking for a moral imperative here. These meaning statements must be directly related to postcolonial and/or gender identity.

Sometimes women do not realize how important it is to do things for themselves. We lived in a world where a woman had to ask permission to even speak. Women were not allowed to be educated. In today’s society, things have changed drastically when it comes to gender.

Postcolonial Fiction Craft Sheet
“Nervous Conditions”

Protagonist(s): The main character of the story. The character whose journey it is; the character who goes through the most change. Nyasha Antagonist(s): The character or force who gets in the way of the main character’s journey. Babamukuru, Tambu, Maiguru

Setting(s): Place and era. Rhodesia in the late 1960s and early 1970s

Point(s)-of-View: First person (using “I”), Second person (using “you”), Third person (no forms of “I;” only forms of he/she/they) Third person

Crisis