Nervous Conditions

The enduring impacts of colonization appear explicitly throughout the novel. The theme is directly introduced through Tambu’s retelling of her grandmother’s explanations of the family history. She narrates, “Wizards well versed in treachery and black magic came from the south and forced the people from the land” (18). The displacement reflects the real-world land seizures that took place when the British colonized Rhodesia. The colonizers enslaved Tambu’s great-great-grandfather, but he escaped and found work in mines, where he later died. This detail reflects the fact that numerous Africans were enslaved because of colonialism. Segregation, too, is depicted through white colonizers living in distinct areas and through the racial separation of students at Sacred Heart. Nyasha’s internal conflict is, in part, driven by the impacts of colonization, as she is forced to live in a figurative purgatory somewhere between British and Rhodesian culture. Her dislike of colonization grows and becomes a primary factor in her emotional distress. Due to intense pressure to assimilate, she becomes highly skeptical of British culture and Christianity, stating, “It’s bad enough […] when a country gets colonized, but when the people do as well! That’s the end, really, that’s the end” (150). These explicit elements highlight the enduring impacts of colonization on landscape, culture, and individual behavior.