Chapter 3 : Nervous Conditions

Lots of events take place in chapter 3, but there was one point Tambu made in her head that really confused me. The tension between Tambu and her cousins was not something I was expecting as she always talked about them in awe and with respect in previous chapters. Tambu seems to immediately dislike Nyasha because of her short dress and the fact that she forgot her native language. She finds this offending and refuses to associate with her for the entire family gathering.....

but then, later in the chapter Tambu notices how uncomfortable Nyasha looks while the rest of the family is dancing and enjoying themselves. She actually tries to help Nyasha, but Maiguru prevents her from dancing. Really she prevents her from doing anything related to the Shona culture. This left me very confused. Why did Tambu have a sudden change of heart? And why is Maiguru preventing her daughter from enjoying her native culture?

Also in chapter 3, there is a scene after the death of Nhamo where Tambu's mother is grieving. She explains that her mother had lost three children already during childbirth, three boys to be specific. Boys are the only gender a family really wants because they are the only gender that could continue the family line after marriage. Tambu's family said to be cursed because of this unfortunate loss of so many boys and large amount of living girls. I think this easily can be added to the theme of Gender Segregation in this book.