An example is, “I worked on the homestead, in the fields and on my own plot…When I was too small…I used to spend many productive hours working with my grandmother on the plot of land she called her garden,” (p. 17). Tambu described there is enough land for her family to have their own plot of land to grow crops, and even more land to grow for individual people to start growing their own crops as she, a child, began her own crop farm. It is evident that Tambu is surrounded by many plots of land, some she has grown herself and some in which she helps out with growing crops, which is one of many chores she has on her homestead. Tambu describes more participation she has on farming at home, displayed in, “I would go to the family fields to work with my mother, sometimes my father and, in the afternoon after school, my brother,” (p. 20). The scene is taken place at around 10 a.m. and when she is 8 years old, which is usually the time when children are at school. Instead of attending school and learning, she is helping her family out on the fields. Her older brother, Nhamo, is also in the fields, which shows that he is also not in school and is working with the family. Even though education is not very present in the lives of many people on the homestead, it is still a very important concept in the book with its own values that differ from …show more content…
A demonstration is shown in, “‘The child ought to be in school, learning her table and keeping out of mischief,’ she railed,” (p. 28-29), which describes the encounter Mr. Matimba, Tambu’s teacher, and her had with an old couple when Tambu went to Umtali to sell her maize. Doris, the woman of the old couple, is scolding Mr. Matimba on the reason Tambu is not in school and exhibits the western society’s point of view on children’s education, which is for children to be learning. Along the lines of Doris believing Tambu should be at school, she also accuses Mr. Matimba of, “…making me work instead of sending me to school…” (p. 29). At Tambu’s home place, a girl working is not a tremendous deal because women are seen as provider: cooking and producing food for the family. Doris does not believe that kind of thinking, which explains her reaction on witnessing Tambu standing on the streets, asking strangers to buy her corn. Education plays an important role in the book, even if the views on the subject vary, and although many people in Tambu’s homestead desire it, it is a privilege not many people get to