On this ambitious page, I will share information about interesting characters in African literature. To qualify as interesting, a character has to be memorable, one whose qualities have kept him or her alive in the memories of readers from generation to generation. While primarily subjective, and limited to the books I have read, this discussion of characters should have an appeal to other readers who have read the books in which these characters appear. I therefore invite others to contribute names of characters whom they found intriguing. Let us develop this page into a rich resource for those who are seeking to understand the characters in African literature. Such as quest will in turn open new possibilities for the literature and its readers.
Character: Tambudzayi Sigauke
Book: Nervous Conditions
Author: Tsitsi Dangarembga
Country: Zimbabwe
Famous quote: “I was not sorry when my brother died.”
Tambudzayi, the principal character of Tsitsi Dangarembga’s triloggy, is one of the most developed characters in African Literature. Created by a very careful author, one who has taken her time to allow this character to mature, Tambudzayi grows from an education-deprived rural girl, to an ambitious apprentice of life who believes that only through education can she realize her dream. The strongest statement Tsitsi Dangarembga makes about Tambu (short form of the name)’s desparate situation is captured by the quote above. It takes the death of her brother for Tambudzayi to draw close to realizing her dreams for success. That death enables her to go to school since the focus of her benefactor, Babamukuru, is now on her the hope for her father’s family’s success.
So begins a scholarly journey that will see her through a missionary convent, taking her all the way to what Aaron Chiundura Moyo (Zimbabwean Shona novelist) once called the “hill of education”, University of Zimbabwe. While Nervous Conditions allows Tambu to experience her bildungsroman, it is the next novel in the trilogy, The Book of Not, that allows her to experience a life of higher education and its aftermath. Indeed, when one follows Tambu, one experience the parallel life of Zimbabwe as a nation, the struggle for freedom, the attainment of freedom, the exploration of freedom and the despair that obtains from a failed life of prosperity. By the end of The Book of Not, readers are already feeling despair resulting from the struggle for independence of and prosperity that Tambu fought so hard for. But no one doubts her strength, which has enough latent energy to enable her author to create a third book for her, Bira, where middle age catches up with her and her dreams become as personal as they were at the launch of her dreams in the rural areas. We are waiting for this third book, especially as we have already seen an excerpt published by Per Contra Magazine. Tambu has to be one of the most complete creations of African Literature! No wonder we made her the first entry here.
there are no comments,but the stories are interesting.
thanku