Character Analysis
Peekay's Zulu Nanny is the true maternal figure in his life. She has taken care of him since he was born, nursing him and caring for him as if he were her own son. He describes her as "a person made for laughter, warmth, and softness, and she would clasp me to her breasts and stroke my golden curls with a hand so large it seemed to palm my whole head" (1.2).
She's the one who calls in Inkosi-Inkosikazi, the witch doctor, to cure Peekay's "night water" problem, and is the person Peekay most misses when he's away at boarding school.
Nanny is tough, and refuses to bend to Peekay's mother's new religion and take off her tribal jewelry and ignore her customs. She pays dearly, being packed off to Zululand, never to see Peekay again.