Martha Quest was published in 1952 and its plot occurs between 1934 and 1938 in Southern Rhodesia, which is now Zimbabwe. Both this time and place are key to the themes Lessing explores in the novel. Published shortly after the end of World War 2, Lessing explores both the after-effects of World War I and the social effects of the beginning of World War II. Given the incredibly broad effects of both World Wars, it's safe to say that at the time Martha Quest was published nearly all readers would still be processing the events of the wars and likely would be closely connected to people who were directly impacted, if they had not been directly impacted themselves. Martha Quest is the first book in Lessing's Children of Violence series, and this name gives us a clue as to how Lessing herself viewed the historical context of the book.

In addition to the violence of both world wars framing the book, Lessing was deeply invested in opposing the colonial relationships in Southern Africa where she lived between 1925 and 1948. In 1956, shortly after the publication of Martha Quest, Lessing was banned from South Africa and Rhodesia for her opposition to Apartheid. This opposition is clear in Martha Quest through Matha's rage against the injustice of the colonial state she is born into.

Both South Africa and what would become Southern Rhodesia were British colonies in the early 20th century. That is, Britain established and maintained control over governments in both regions that consisted of and cared mainly for white colonists despite both regions being overwhelmingly Black and white colonists having only begun arriving in the region in the 1600's. Over the course of the 20th century, white inhabitants of both states declared independence from Britain largely in order to maintain their racist Apartheid system, a version of racial segregation that allowed a small white minority to dominate the indigenous Black majority. Rhodesia became a multiracial democracy in 1978 and South African Apartheid ended in the 1990's. As the racist system has massive lingering effects, we can recognize the significance of Lessing's persistent opposition to Apartheid decades before it fell and how she used writing to share her views with others.