In Nervous Conditions, by Tsitsi Dangarembga, Tambu is constantly saying how she “was not sorry when [her] brother died”. The book actually opens with that statement. But before Tambu tells us how her brother dies, she explains to us why she is not sorry for the loss of her brother.
Tambu’s brother, Nhamo, is the only one in their family that is able to go to school because of the family’s lack of money, and he never lets his sister forget it. Every time Tambu brings up school with her father, Nhamo remarks “girls don’t belong in school” before her father can even say a word. When Nhamo dies, it allows for Tambu to go to school. She can now live her dream of being educated, and actually making something of herself, without her brother criticizing her decision. I think that the author begins the book in this way, to give the background information to the whole story, and give the reader a better understanding of the narrator. This makes is easier for the reader to understand the decisions of the narrator before the actually story has even begun.
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