A Girl Named Disaster Study Guide

A Girl Named Disaster

A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer

A Girl Named Disaster is a 1996 novel by Nancy Farmer dealing with themes of femininity, multiculturalism, spirituality and coming of age. The novel follows Nhamo, an eleven-year-old girl living in Mozambique. After numerous problems, including an epidemic and an arranged marriage, Nhamo flees from her village to find her father in Zimbabwe. Traveling on a boat down the river, Nhamo confronts dangerous animals before having to confront hostile social forces in Zimbabwe.

A Girl Named Disaster Characters

Table of Contents
  • Nhamo Jongwe : The girl named "Disaster". She got her name due to the many disasters she faces during her life, even as a child. However, Nhamo is resourceful and clever, in spite of the bad luck she supposedly causes.
  • Aunt Chipo : Nhamo's bad tempered aunt, who has resented Runako, Nhamo's deceased mother and Chipo's older sister, since they were children. She has hated Nhamo and her mother ever since she was born and forces her to do most of the work in the village, allowing her daughter, Masvita, to do the less strenuous tasks.
  • Masvita : Nhamo's sweet tempered cousin, who behaves respectfully towards Nhamo, in spite of how mean-spirited her mother is.
  • Aunt Shuvai : Nhamo's younger aunt. She is considerably more ambivalent to Nhamo.
  • Uncle Kufa : Nhamo's uncle and Aunt Chipo's husband. He is a pragmatic man.
  • Ruva : Masvita's youngest sister.
  • Ambuya : Nhamo and Masvita's grandmother. She treats Nhamo with respect and loves her dearly, and is one of the few people to do so. Chipo resents her mother, believing that Ambuya favoured Runako (Nhamo's mother) for doing well in school and Shuvai, who was the youngest of Ambuya's three daughters.
  • Crocodile Guts : A man who helps Nhamo escape the village
  • Sister Gladys : A nurse who takes care of Nhamo in the latter part of the book.
  • GorĂ© Mtoko : Killed by Nhamo's father
  • Muvuki : the witch finder

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