Doris Lessing and Tsitsi Dangarembga write fiction set in Zimbabwe, the
former Southern Rhodesia. Although Lessing grew up as a white settler and
Dangarembga, a generation later, as part of the colonized African population, the
women sometimes address similar issues. Both write of young girls trying to find a
speaking position; under colonialism, what they want to say cannot be said.
Lessing's first-person stories differ from her more distant third-person works, which
show how white settlers either refuse to recognize their own complicity within the
colonial system or accept living a compromised life. Her younger narrators are as yet
innocent; the stories often focus on the character's discovery of her own responsibility
as a member of the white ruling class. However, these girls have varying levels of self
awareness; some seem unaware of the implications of their stories, while others catch
glimpses of their own complicity, yet are unable to act. Although Lessing herself is
highly critical of colonialism, her stories sometimes risk textually replicating and thus
reinforcing the values she criticizes.
Dangarembga's first-person novel Nervous Conditions (1988) portrays Tambu,
a girl from a poor African family, and her more modern cousin Nyasha. Tambu
narrates the story as an adult, Although Nyasha resents colonialism and her patriarchal
family, Tambu proceeds with her education, attempting to ignore the injustice around
her. Because of the use of an adult narrator, the reader sees what Tambu the child
cannot see. Nyasha is unable to voice her concerns; her protest surfaces as anorexia.
Both Lessing's and Dangarembga's characters have difficulty speaking because
colonialism does not include a space for what they want to say; even if they spoke, their
words could make little difference. Lessing' s characters can "speak" only by leaving
the country, as Lessing herself did. Dangarembga's Tambu may or may not have
"escaped" her situation; by the book's publication, Rhodesia had overcome white rule,
and it may be this political change that allows Tambu to tell her story. / Graduation date: 2002
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/28932 |
| Date | 22 June 2001 |
| Creators | Thomas, Jane McCauley |
| Contributors | Rice, Laura |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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