colonization

An eating disorder has a psychological component which affects the way a person sees themselves. Like colonization I think that it is proven more successful when you affect the people mentally. The colonizer has an effect on the culture, religion, and education of the colonized, but it can only be carried on if the people are affected to the point that their view of themselves is distorted. Therefore I think that it is accurate to believe an eating disorder is a metaphor for colonization. Nyasha's refusal to eat can be seen as the way she has chosen to express her inward frustration and battle in response to her identity crisis. After living in English culture at a young age when her identity began to form and was uprooted to her motherland it is only natural that her battle is not only cultural but definitely one with herself. Her attempt to center her life and balance both cultures has failed and the only thing she can put together is her outward appearance. As mentioned in class I believe this is her way of controlling the only thing she can in a home in which Babamukuru is the dictator. It also offers her a way to achieve a certain look that the culture she grew up in would accept, while at the same time rebelling against her father, the very man that puts the food on the table.