Analysis Of Purple Hibiscus

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a very dense novel that focuses on the development of the main character and the supporting characters which could be defined as Bildungsroman. The narrator, Kambili, takes a reader through the psychology of the characters and explores them in different ways. At the beginning, we are exposed to the family that has a patriarchal figure as a father and a husband who is the perpetrator of domestic violence. Yet he is a role model and a remarkable figure to the public. The novel penetrates deep through various forms of violence which are coercive, discursive and domestic and are the ones that separate families, communities and the Nigerian nation as a whole. This novel is centred in these aspects of violence in which the narrator tries to outline them in different stages of life in the postcolonial society. In this essay I will discuss the connection between these forms of violence and link them to the characters and their encounters in the novel.

Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart is an attempt in literary form to reinstate the dignity of the Igbo (and African) culture and people that had been become absent and restrained with the advent of colonisation of Nigeria by Europeans. Achebe demonstrates in the novel that, in a world where white colonists find the traditional customs and practices of the Igbo people as savage and primitive; the culture of this society is one of depth and dignity, where the traditions and practices of the people throughout their history demonstrates a solid and civilised structure in their own right. Analysing three episodes that occur in Things Fall Apart, this essay aims to discuss how Achebe tries to accomplish his aim of restoring dignity and self respect of the African people.

The novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, defines an important literary example of the historical conflict of European colonialism in Nigeria during the

longer followed by feelings of guilt that papa’s moralistic Christian worldview provoked in her earlier. Even though his teenage romance does not end happily from kambili’s viewpoint, her relationship with father Amadi is a strongly empowering one: not only does it allow her to find her sexual identity, but it also allows her to find a more tolerant and liberal interpretation, of religiousness and, above all, the courage of questioning. Later, father Amadi, with his tender and supportive attitude, becomes a new masculine authority for kambili, who believes that “his word is true” (302). Kambili’s admiration of father Amadi signals yet again her desperate need for a father figure.

This historical fiction novel, Copper Sun, describes the epic story of a young girl, Amari, who experiences a journey she would not anticipate. Torn from her family in her African village, she would be sent to the African coast, where a giant ship waited for her arrival From there, Amari sailed as prisoner across the sea, enduring hardships from the pale-faced strangers. After the journey, she is sold into slavery and stripped of everything she has ever known, except hope. The novel first begins by introducing Amari, a young woman surrounded by her Ewe people in small village located in the African country of Ghana.

MONEY AND SOCIAL POSITION DONT EQUAL HAPPINESS IN PURPLE HIBISCUS MAGAZINE ARTICLE I wrote this magazine article about the topic of money and happiness in the novel Purple Hibiscus for People´s Magazine in the states. It was written with a euphoric tone and hopes to address and adult audience interested in Nigerian literature. In my article I used direct language and formal expressions. I tried as well to use a sophisticated level of vocabulary with word choices like Nigerian words and names.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the positive and negative impacts of colonialism. Key words: - Colonialism, Religion, Culture, Civilization, Conflict INTRODUCTION Things Fall Apart was published in 1958 just two years before Nigeria’s independence from the British’s rule in 1960. Achebe, who was born in 1930, had experienced colonialism in his country. The novel depicts the pre-colonial and early colonial Nigerian society.

“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to preserve and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”- Christopher Reeves. This represents how in life a regular person can turn into a hero just being able to find strength within themselves and “endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” The author is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The main characters are Kambili, Jaja, Mama, Papa, Aunty Ifeoma, and Amaka. At first Kambili was timid in the beginning of the book, but became more confident when she confronted Amaka, while still finding her identity she became enlightened when she was baptized. In Purple Hibiscus, Adichie utilizes the character Kambili to prove this idea to be true, but only when people elicit positive talents out of negative situations.

Purple Hibiscus, written by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie, is a novel set in post-colonial Nigeria where the protagonist, 15-year-old Kambili struggles growing up torn between two contrasting beliefs; Igbo traditionalism and western Catholicism. Religion as many believe is the hope in a power greater than ones self. It is also a means of worship, moreover as means of people uniting together as one and believing in one God. Religion is a very important aspect and can certainly impact and influence a person’s mentality. Adichie uses two conflicting religions to show the development of Kambili’s character and maturity, as well as explore the tension that is forced unto the her throughout the novel.

As Obierika explains, “The white man is very clever... he has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart” (176). Achebe’s in-depth story exhibits all aspects of Igbo culture and examines the way a culture can transform as the world progresses around it. Throughout the novel, readers sense the shift in the characters’ attitudes and beliefs towards once-vital traditions. The bold protagonist, Okonkwo, represents the culture, and as pressures to change appear from the outside world, he comes apart at the seams.

Have you ever read a novel about African cultures and traditions from African point of view? The novel Things Fall Apart, a tragedy by Chinua Achebe, centers on one tragic hero in Igbo village of Umuofia in Nigeria and the effects of European arrival on his life and Igbo clan. Throughout the novel, Achebe introduces Igbo customs to the reader by creating several occurrences and how they react on them to claim that the Igbo is civilized before the Europeans arrive. The significant difference between Igbo and Western cultures is the way wisdom is passed on: Igbo oral traditions transmit values and knowledge orally by allegorical tales, while Western literary traditions educate people through generations by written texts, just like the novel itself.

Through the way that The Headstrong Historian portrays the topic of assimilation and the creation of the “Nigerian middle-class”, we are shown the historical accuracy of The Headstrong Historian. The British assimilated many Nigerians through education. Because of the many benefits to be gained from a European education, by the late 19th century, more and more Nigerians were taking

Post colonial Literature is a body of literary writings that reacts to the conversation of colonization. Post colonial literature often involves writings that deal with issues of decolonization or the political and cultural independents of people formerly subjugated to colonial rule. Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, part of the third generation narration is concerned with the identity of the modern African woman in the 21st century. Chimamanda Adichie is one of the prominent contemporary Nigerian women writers. She is dynamic and writes from a feminist perspective. Her novel usually deals with the social, cultural, traditional, economical and mental conflicts of women. Adichie presents real life situations in her novels. Adichie succeeds in creating characters that negotiate hybrid identities defining selfhood. She wants woman to realize herself through self analysis. Such a quest for one’s own identity forms the theme of her novels. Purple hibiscus reflects the theme of identity. In the home culture each female is exposed to a fixed identity, but when she moves outside her home life. She is able to develop her own values from the world views of his parents. Purple hibiscus is a coming of age story for the central characters Kambili. The novel is narrated by Kambili about her struggle to attain her self- identity. This paper focuses on the search for self identity. The novel aims at discussing the divergent problems encountered by Nigerian women in the patriarchal

Chinua Achebe’s 1958 literary classic, Things Fall Apart (Achebe, 1958), is renowned for its authentic account of the black African experience. Set in post-colonial Nigeria, the fictional novel discusses the cultural roots of the Igbos and follows the life of the tragic hero, Okonkwo. This acclaimed novel deals with strong patriarchal ideals of masculinity within the Igbo culture and how Okonkwo is a direct manifestation of this. Achebe depicts the relationship between masculinity and both male and female characters, and how this, in turn, has an effect on Okonkwo’s relationships. The strongest relationship in the novel is between father (Okonkwo) and daughter (Ezinma); their bond is strong because Ezinma is everything Okonkwo would want in a son.

S. Naipaul and J. M. Coetzee these Post-colonial writers have all dealt with Africa in their own individual and unique ways. Achebe does not treat the African culture and ways of life as something hybrid, complex, dependant for its significance on the Western style of perceiving things or neither has he shown Africa to be existing only in relation to its difference from or consonance with the Western form of religion, culture, identity, and discourse. The major theme of the novel ‘Things Fall Apart’ centers around the destruction of Africa’s intricate, almost incomprehensible but unique way of life and culture in the wake of British colonization and forced or maneuvered conversion to Christianity. The administrative as well as religious changes that the British tries to impose upon the native Africans has the disastrous effects of uprooting the indigenous people from their original root and tradition and can be seen as some instruments of subjugation, subordination and subservience which starts with creating distrust, doubts and insecurity in the minds of people for their Igbo tradition, and its cultural and religious practices and ends with making them internalize the Christian way of life and British administrative apparatuses. Another theme that is explored in this novel is the inherent fault of the central character Okonkwo, who is ambitious, industrious, honest, masculine but is rash, and unthinking and his sense of self and identity is wholly dependent on the approval of others in his community and he thinks of anything that intrudes into it as a threat and he tries hard to be a man though in a flawed manner.