Coming of Age

Tambu is a young child at the beginning of the story, but she is very mature because of the requirements of her situation. From a very young age, she takes on responsibilities for her sisters, does an extensive amount of labor and worries about her family, especially her mother. The fact that she is responsible isn't unique to Tambu because her younger sister takes responsibility for caring for a younger sister while Tambu and their parents are in the fields working. While that's true, Tambu seems to go beyond that level, doing chores that would save time for her mother in an effort to lessen her mother's burden. Tambu is still just a child when she realizes that she's going to have to find a way to get back in school on her own because her father isn't going to help her make it happen. When...