A Purging of Ideological Consumption

From the introduction to Tambu’s life on the homestead at the beginning of the novel to the transition of her more plush lifestyle on the mission, one might notice that food was always a rather important element. With such matters of food and sustenance incorporated frequently throughout the novel, it is obvious that it truly held a great amount of significance in the makeup of the story, and very possibly served as a crucial symbolic element as well.

With the stark portrayal of the way of living on the homestead it would appear that food was not something to be taken for granted—it was something that each member of the family worked extremely hard in order to produce or attain. Despite all of their hard work and effort it is shown that they still go without many items we are accustomed to today, such as varieties of meets and desserts, which they were only allowed, and greatly relished, on special occasions. Arriving at the mission Tambu relays how unbearably overwhelmed she at first became when presented at each meal with all of the variety the new lifestyle had to offer.

Nyasha, however, already having been immersed in such a lifestyle for such an extended amount of time, began to slowly reject these amenities more and more, from initially cutting down on her diet, to ultimately refusing to consume or retain anything at all. As Tambu grew throughout the novel, embracing and thriving off of all that the mission had to offer, Nyasha’s character only began to weaken—her immense burdens and inner-struggles surfacing more and more as the plot went on. What might not have been so obvious was the fact that, like Tambu, Nyasha had also reached a point at which the things offered to her becoming overwhelming as well. Having been exposed to so much insight in life so rapidly (as opposed to Tambu who still retained a rather vast amount of naivety at this point), the great accumulation of knowledge became simply unbearable for Nyasha by the end of the novel. Reaching the point where even rebellion could no longer bring the slightest bit of ease to her torment, she found herself with no other option but to simply purge herself of some of the excess luxuries that held her bound.