Act 1, Scene 1

The setting of the first scene and the first act is in a semi-rural area. Atete Rutendo is the main protagonist of the scene as she sees all the other characters enter and leave the house. The tone of the scene starts light but grows tenser and tenser and finishes with Rudo crying.

Conflict underlies the scene as we meet both the men are vying for Rudo’s attention. Togara is the man who has financially taken care of Rudo since she was in school. He now wants Rudo to fulfil his late wife’s wishes and marry him. His late wife is Rudo’s older sister. On the other hand, is Leo-James, the man Rudo has fallen in love with. He wants to engage Rudo before he leaves for his studies abroad. Rudo is in love with Leo-James and resents Togara. She does not want to marry him and this further highlights the tension within the scene.

The fixation with job titles takes centre stage in the chapter. This highlights not only the importance of financial stability but also how what people do defines them. Atete Rudo is an enterprising farmer and has made money through subsistence farming. She asks Togara if his children’s future occupations will be worth it financially. She asks Leo-James if he makes as much money as a teacher. All these questions are meant to assess how financially stable he is and whether Rudo will be taken care of financially and appropriately as it is a man’s job to take care and provide for his family.

Tradition and culture are also central to the scene. Atete Rutendo’s greetings and probes on where Leo-James comes from highlight the importance of relations. Tradition also favours traditional customs over newer customs. For instance, Atete Rutendo prefers to go to a n’anga rather than visit a doctor. She also tells Leo-James that the traditional engagement involves exchanging clothes for engagement rings. Leo-James respects tradition by making his intentions with Rudo known to Atete Rutendo. Meanwhile, Atete Rutendo is traditionally responsible for escalating the issue to her brother, Rutendo’s father. This highlights the importance of tradition amongst the characters.

Act 1, Scene 2

The setting highlights that Togara is well-off and this is because of the presence of many rooms in the house. In addition, the house seems well furnished. However, a tense atmosphere permeates the house highlighted by the relationships between the different characters. Togara and Rose have been in a relationship for four years and yet Togara has made no move to marry her, instead opting to honour his dead wife’s wishes and marry Rudo. Togara also seems disinterested in Rose. This is seen through the personification from Rose, “… so you are married to your books?”

The interactions between Togara and his sister Atete Revayi exacerbate the tension. Atete Revayi clarifies that she does not want Rudo as a sister-in-law, as Tambu, Rudo’s older sister, was horrible to Atete Revayi. Her preference for Rose therefore makes the relationship between brother and sister difficult.

When the children return and find their mother’s picture on the floor and the glass of the frame shattered, they are “sad”. The shattering of the glass represents a broken family. When Atete Revayi and Rose do not help the children pick up the shattered glass, this further symbolises a broken family.

Act 1, Scene 3

The setting is homely and the stage directions at the beginning indicate a peaceful home. However, the entrance of the first character, Rudo, brings melancholy to the scene. The conflict forcing her to choose between Leo-James and Togara continues to affect her. The tone then grows from melancholic to tense by the end of the scene. Ndareva, Rudo’s father, settles Rudo’s conflict and chooses for her a man she does not love.

The dream motif is central to the scene and helps to highlight the conflict that Rudo is facing. The words of Rudo’s late sister, Tambu, continue to haunt her. The dreams are therefore a source of conflict for Rudo.

One of the major themes explored in the scene is that of gender with patriarchy taking a centre role. Even though there are two women pleading for Rudo to marry the man she loves, Rudo’s father still has the final say. Ndareva overpowers the women and tells them that Rutendo will go to Togara. This symbolises the silencing and voicelessness of women in the play and society.

Act 2, Scene 1

This is one of the lightest scenes in the play in terms of tone. The setting is Leo-James’s home, which, from the stage directions, is middle-to-upper income. The scene also has the two protagonists who are lovers. Despite there being no traction in their impending engagement plans, the two seem at ease with each other. Rudo promises to wait for Leo-James’s return, cementing commitments for the future. The tone of the scene is also light as there is no mention of dreams or Togara, Tambu, or their children.

However, Ndareva, Rudo’s father’s presence is still seen in the scene. Rudo is afraid of him and wants to go back home before it is late and he gets angry, although in the end, she defies this pressure. In addition, he seems to impede the relationship because Atete Rutendo’s failure to bring back a response has led to a snag in the relationship between the two lovers.

Act 2, Scene 2

While Ndareva does not make an entrance into this chapter, his presence is felt with Atete Rutendo mentioning that he is “mad” and “in a rage”. This helps to give the scene a melancholic tone. The audience is aware of the presence of one of the antagonists in the book but cannot see him. In addition, this also reinforces the notion of patriarchy with male control being felt even in the absence of the males.

Love, however, gives the scene a lighter tone and environment. Leo and Rudo continue to share affection. When Rudo dreams of her sister again, she mentions how “inconsiderate” Tambu is for not allowing her to fall in love with the man of her dreams. Leo-James also demonstrates his love for Rudo by giving her a gift, that is, a wristwatch. This is a present and a mini-engagement commitment from him since they failed to have an engagement party. This demonstrates the affection that the two lovers have. Meanwhile, Rudo’s impending marriage to Togara makes her “sad”.

Act 2, Scene 3

This scene explores various themes from gender to women’s relationships, and love and conflict. As in all the past scenes, the main cause of conflict in this scene is not included, and this is Leo-James. Even though Rudo has been married for three months, she still does not feel any affection for Togara. She pines for Leo-James. As such, Leo-James makes appearances in the scene through letters, photographs, and gifts. These further worsen the conflict within the scene as the discovery of the first card by Atete Revayi and all other cards highlights a problem in her brother’s marriage.

The scene examines women’s relationships. There is a juxtaposition of Atete Revayi and Rose’s relationship compared to Atete Revayi’s and Rudo’s relationship. As a patriarchal figure, Atete Revayi represents her brother and chooses to side with the ex-girlfriend rather than the current wife. The relationship between Rudo and Atete Revayi is also frosty. Rudo does not want to spend too much time in her presence. In addition, though both Rudo and Atete Revayi are the main characters in the scene, they hardly interact with each other, further highlighting their difficult relationship.

Act 3, Scene 1

The setting of the scene highlights the conflict inherent within the scene itself. The stage directions note that “The whole room is untidy.” This helps in setting the tone for the remainder of the scene. Atete Rutendo is faced with the turmoil of having to explain her niece’s absence.

Love and deception also feature in juxtapositions throughout the scene, thus bringing to light the conflict. Leo-James represents love noting that he misses Rudo so much and is unable to work or function without her. On the other hand, Atete Rutendo represents deception as she cannot say where her niece is. The characters’ different motives make the scene difficult to comprehend.

Act 3, Scene 2

In this scene, the play climaxes as the two antagonists Togara and Leo-James meet. Their meeting is ironic as neither of them knows the other although the audience is aware of who both of them are to Rudo. This helps to set a tone of tension in the scene as the audience knows when the reveals happen and Atete Revayi and Togara remain oblivious to them.

The lawyer’s meeting with his clients represents conflict. Leo-James is torn between pursuing and fighting for the love of his life and his profession. He also understands that Rudo is gone and even though he loves her, he has to let her go. For Togara, the conflict is between the need to find solutions and his desire to keep his marriage. In the end, he apologises to Rudo even though he has been wronged.

For Rudo, the conflict arises in choosing between her husband and her lover, and the explosion of her secrets. She has no feelings for her husband and is preventing pregnancy with him. She however knows she has no future with Leo-James. Atete Revayi’s conflict, on the other hand, stems from catching her sister-in-law with evidence of infidelity. However, her brother refuses to accept the evidence before him. She is also loyal to her friend Rose who she thinks should have married Togara. Because of these various intersections, conflict exists in the chapter.

The scene also highlights the clash of culture and individual desire. Togara represents tradition and culture while Rudo represents individual longing. As such, the audience empathises with Rudo realizing the choice between personal longing and culture. Culture however wins.

The title of the book also appears within the scene with Togara saying that when his first wife died, he had pledged, “I will wait” till Rudo finished her education. The audience is then able to see and understand that the title works for the three main characters, Rudo, Togara, and Leo-James.

Act 3, Scene 3

This scene highlights the tragedy of the play as it is the anti-climax. Togara, whose only fault has been to love Tambu and her younger sister Rose, meets his death through his vindictive ex-girlfriend and his sister. The scene hides a lesson in morality warning the audience not to be greedy.

However, despite this being a tragedy, Togara’s death also seems like the end of the play’s conflict. This is because Togara’s insistence, and later his ability, to marry Rudo comes true. He, however, dies before he has lived with Rudo for a long time. For the audience torn by the conflict facing Rudo, the scene closes the chapter and resolves the tumultuous relationship between Rudo and Togara.

Women’s relationships are also portrayed in a negative light, especially since at the beginning of the scene, both Rose and Atete Revayi are getting along. However, in the end, Atete Revayi uses strong epithets such as “Devil” and “dog” to express a breakdown in the relationship between the two of them.

The use of the green cup as the murder weapon is also symbolic. The cup had been the last gift from Tambu to Togara and represents a symbol of love between both of them. No one else could drink from the cup, and this helped to make the murder easier. However, in the scene, the cup no longer symbolised love, but also stands for death.

Act 3, Scene 4

This scene brings a finality to the tragedy. The masterminds of Togara’s death have been arrested and sentenced. A tone of lethargy heralds the beginning of the scene. There is also a sense of disillusionment as to what the future holds for Rudo. However, the scene ends with the characters who were in the first scene all present. Leo’s insistence that he will wait for Rudo brings a sense of hope to the play’s ending.

Tradition is also one of the main themes in the play with Rudo prohibited from pursuing relationships with men until after the traditional ceremony of kurova guva has been completed. Culture thus prolongs the coming together of Rudo and Leo-James, but this is made better by Leo-James’s willingness to wait until all traditional and cultural rites have been done.