We Need New Names

Guavas are symbolic of wish fulfillment for Darling and her friends in Zimbabwe, and later for Darling while in America. Darling notes early on how she and her friends are always hungry. Because they don’t know if they’ll ever not be hungry, and because they do know that guava season doesn’t last, they steal guavas so that they can fill their stomachs even though they eat too many and get constipated. The thought of going hungry, or being without, is enough to cause them to eat until they’re sick: “We just eat a lot of guavas because it’s the only way to kill our hunger, and when it comes to defecating, we get in so much pain it becomes an almost impossible task, like you are trying to give birth to a country” (18). As such, guavas represent their wishes and dreams (of not being hungry) coming to fruition. When Darling is in America, her friends send her guavas and the smell of them instantly transports her home. She eats them frantically—even though she knows she’ll get sick (Aunt Fostalina even warns her about this)—because they tie her to home, and she really wishes that she can go back home to visit.