Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Number of pages: 310
Genre: prose
Year of publication: 2006
Publisher: Farafina( an imprint of kachifo Limited)
#SETTING#
Macro setting:
The story is sited in Nigeria after her independence; during the era of the political killings and instability in general. The nation is faced with an air of violent political coup as the civilian government is overthrown.
Micro setting:
The story is focused on the family of Papa (Eugene) kambili's father. A wealthy catholic, under whose shadow kambili, the protagonist lives. He is generous and politically active in the community, he is repressive and fanatically religious at home. Kambili and her brother jaja are in bondage until they get a taste of freedom at their aunt's place in Enugu
THE PLOT
Kambili and her brother Jaja are in great bondage due to their father's unquestionable faith in religion. The worst kind of oppression in the book is the shifting power of verbal, mental and physical abuse wrought by kambili's father, "Papa". During one particular telling episode, kambili has stood second in her class at school and the sheer terror in her voice is scary. One waits with bated breath for the nasty consequences that are sure to follow. Eventually, kambili and her brother Jaja get a taste of freedom when Aunt Ifeoma takes them away for a little vacation to her country home. Yet even here, while the two are free from their father's physical presence they cannot understandably shake off their father's shadow. Every time the phone rings, kambili quakes in fear.
All around them, Nigeria is slowly disintegrating just as the family does. Kambili and Jaja along side with their long suffering mother eventually liberate themselves from the tyranny of their father. It is a questionable freedom, though like any survivor of abuse, kambili finds that release without closure is small success. " silence hangs over us (now)" , she says towards the end of Purble Hibiscus, but its a different kind of silence, one that lets me breathe. I have nightmares about the other kind, the silence of when Papa was alive. In my nightmares, it mixes with shame and grief and so many things that i cannot name, and forms blue tongues of fire that rest above my head, like Pentecost, until I wake up screaming and sweating".
THEME
Major Themes:
Fanatism
Papa is very fanatical about catholism. In a particular episode in the story he blames his wife over a miscarriage stating that it was because of her sins and reluctance to visit the reverend father after service which was a routine of the family. Reasonably Mama is six months pregnant and would be tired and irritated. Papa never compromises his father neither does he take care of him irrespective of his lustrous wealth simply because he is a traditionalist and he dies a poor man.
OPPRESSION
The worst kind of oppression according to the book is the shifting power of abuse: verbal, mental and physical abuse wrought by kambili's father, 'papa' . Kambili, jaja and their mother suffer a long term of oppression which leads to a lot of mishaps in the family. In a particular episode, he uses his belt to whip everyone including his wife because they had broken the Eucharistic fast because of a good reason which he does not consider due to his hot temperament. On another occasion he breaks a wooden table on his wife which leads to her second miscarriage.
FREEDOM
Kambili and jaja only get to freedom when they go on a vacation to Aunty Ifeoma's place in Enugu. There, they live a different life, the real life with their cousins and never feel the physical wrath of Papa. At a point Mama has to join them in Enugu to take refuge in Aunty Ifeoma's house when it all becomes unbearable for her.
MINOR THEMES
FRUSTRATION
Papa seemed to be really frustrated during the raging coup and the military take over period. His newspaper company is closed down and so is his biscuit factory by soldiers who bring rats ina carton and close down the place on an account that rats are in the factory. Papa falls sick and losses a lot of weight when Mama runs to Enugu. When his family comes home and he regains his health he begins his fanatic activities which land Kambili in the hospital for over a week. To a large extent, kambili enjoys her hospital bed more than her home.
BONDAGE
The word bondage is an understatement in the novel. Kambili and Jaja never go out of the corners of their tall fence. They never have the opportunity to associate or make friends. Their lives are based on timetables.
CHARACTERIZATION
MAJOR CHARACTERS
Papa(Eugene)
Papa is an interesting character study, a person so completely sold on the superiority of the western mode of thought and action, especially through religion, that he will stop at nothing to see it enforced in his own home. He is at once consumed by raw extreme of passion, extreme love and worse, extreme anger. Adichie's description of Papa's shifting presence is well done. One's heart bleeds for the family.
Mama(Beatrice)
Mama is Papa's wife who goes through long suffering in her husband's hands. During her two miscarriages, she is blamed for it by Papa, even the one which is caused by him. Mama is a very loving mother to Kambili and Jaja, she does not like her husband's fanatism over religion though she has no say.
Jaja
Jaja is kambili's brother who tends to oppose his father in different ways. He is quite a brave boy and very outspoken. He and kambili are very happy with their stay in Enugu as he readily associates and takes on challenging tasks that seem normal to other people around him. His love for flowers leads him to discover a purple hibiscus in his aunt's garden which was given to her by a colleague. Jaja eventually poisons his father in search for freedom which is fulfilled when papa dies. Jaja owns up the poisioning and is being jailed. He does not stay long in jail due to his mothers connections to three senior advocates of the country who lobby for jaja's release.
Kambili
Kambili is the protagonist who is faced with some social problems in school. She is discriminated and this makes her feel real bad. However, everything changes when she goes back to Enugu. She falls in love with young Reverend Amadi who because of her age would not express his love for her. Kambili is rather compromising her father's actions, she thinks he is right but this continually goes off her as she feels how she would really enjoy life without Papa.
MINOR CHARACTERS
AUNTY IFEOMA
She is Papa's sister who persists that kambili and jaja come over to Enugu to the holiday so they could get to know her children better, now they are still young. Aunty Ifeoma is one who takes care of her father but faces negligence as her husband dies. Aunty Ifeoma is a fun loving woman and so jaja and kambili have a good time with her family.
AMAKA
Amaka is aunty Ifeoma's daughter and kambili's best friend. At first she makes life unbearable for kambili but later understands her background and begins to relate very well with her. She teaches her a great deal of things and eventually changes her shy nature.
Father Amadi
Amadi is a friend of the family at Enugu and eventually gets to admire kambili. He renders a lot of help to the family and is loved by everyone in the church but takes greater delight in aunty Ifeoma's family.
DICTION
The author Adichie uses the first person narrative in the book. In a soft, searching voice, Adichie examines the complexities of family, faith and country through the haunted but hopeful eyes of a young girl on thr cusp of womanhood. The stunning denouement underscores the power of family love. The novel is redolent in its description of the Nigerian countryside and generates a palpable narrative tension over what is to become of kambili and jaja's new found sense of freedom.
The book contains rich literary devices which are garnished in long phrases and sentences to make a whole meaning. Little of euphemism, hyperbole and metaphor are "He has fallen asleep" , "The view from the top of the hill is breathtaking and ...even the roar of lions was as mild as the whine of a mouse", respectively are the few straight devices chosen among many.
Quite, chilling and heart wrenching, this debut novel is both a superb potrait of an unfamiliar culture and an unflinching depiction of adolescence. Like many first novelists, Adichie tries for too much ; her potrayal of kambili's home life is striking but for too incomplete a depiction of Papa. Her potrait of Nigeria is fascinating. Aunty Ifeoma and the cousins are likable enough but not memorable. Nonetheless, with kambili the author has created a compelling narrative and a surprising punch at the end.
Personal evaluation
Purple Hibiscus is stunningly good. It is hard to believe its author is twenty -five years old when she writes it. Her debut novel proves beyond a doubt that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is one of the most powerful literary voices to recently emerge from Africa. The novel describes the life of a young girl in the cusp of her adolescence and indeed is a book that both the young and old should read. Finally , Purple Hibiscus is a harsh story, almost unbearable at first, but beautifully written.
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