Compare and contrast the characters of Nyasha and Tambu as it is reviewed to the readers when they started to share the room at the mission school.

Tambu joins the family for her first dinner at the mission and is thoroughly embarrassed by her lack of knowledge about table manners. As is custom, Maiguru serves Babamukuru and waits until he has finished eating to serve herself and the girls. Nyasha, however, decides to start eating before her father is done. Later, after declining seconds, Nyasha gets in a fight with her mother about the D.H. Lawrence book, which Maiguru has confiscated. Nyasha storms out of the dining room. At night, in their bedroom, Nyasha asks Tambu to join her for a cigarette, and Tambu is appalled. Anna asks Tambu to come to the living room, where Babamukuru lectures her about how lucky she is to have this opportunity for education. Tambu hopes to be like her uncle one day, "straight as an arrow... steely, and true."

The next morning, Tambu once again notes how Nyasha is particularly concerned about being fat, eating very little for breakfast. Then, Tambu and Nyasha head off for school, where Tambu realizes that Nyasha's classmates do not like her, despite the fact that she is the headmaster's daughter. They think she tries to be "white" and spread rumors that she is promiscuous. Tambu, however, remains uninterested in socializing or anything else that might compromise her new life. When Tambu gets her first menstrual period, she is embarrassed by the dirty rags her mother has given her to use. Instead, she learns from Nyasha how to use a tampon. Unlike Tambu, Nyasha is not ashamed.

Tambu quickly becomes fluent in English and does well in school. She also notices how obstinate Nyasha can be and how ungrateful she seems toward her parents, despite the fact that she has every comfort she could possibly want. One day after church, the headmaster of Tambu's school, Mr. Satombo, praises Nyasha and Tambu to Babamukuru. Nyasha is rude to Mr. Satombo, while Tambu feels proud.