Purple Hibiscus Analysis

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel, Purple Hibiscus, reflects her perspective on gender because she distinguishes characters like Mama and Aunty Ifeoma as women with contrasting viewpoints on ‘shrinking themselves’.

While the focus is Purple Hibiscus is admittedly the national, the transnational dimension represents an important narrative bypath. This is the case with Purple Hibiscus as well: in Ouma’s words, the novel is “informed by the experiences of movement and contact with other words”(49). kambili’s father’s sister, aunty Ifeoma, works as a lecturer at Nsukka University, where the country’s flaws are flagrantly visible: unpaid salaries, authoritarian management, and career stagnation are driving staff members into exile. The idea of leaving raises diverse feelings in kambili’s cousins. The oldest cousin, Amaka, feels that leaving means running away, and she asks her brother whether the problems of the crisis-ridden country cannot be fixed. “Fix what?” (232), reads the brother’s ironical,

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

Some would say that money and social position provide you with basic needs that are important for experiencing happiness, however, happiness is a complex emotion which is influenced by factors such as love, peace, and health, factors we cannot buy. This aspect is noticed in the novel Purple Hibiscus, written by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, in which Kambili the younger daughter of Eugene and Beatrice, and I also found that . I found this novel in the library and what called my attention was the way that the complete story is told from the protagonist point of view, the second aspect was the terrible things she shows about her social life her family, specially her mother obedience and her father’s brutality and religious dogma until their visit to their cousins’ at Nsukka, where, surprisingly, to them life can be more cheerful and happy, even when they did not have too much

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. This affects and can also be seen as a reflection of Okonkwo’s other relationships between male characters, namely Unoka, Nwoye, and Ikemefuna. This essay will discuss how Achebe portrays masculinity in Things Fall Apart (Achebe, 1958), how the hyper-masculinized character, Okonkwo, receives and interacts with certain characters. I will also discuss how Okonkwo’s ridged patriarchal ideals of virility are counterintuitive with his actions and intentions of ensuring a masculine household.

The blooming of sleepy, oval-shaped buds in front of the house is symbol of the readiness of Jaja to rebel against his father’s iron-fist authority. These changes show the experiences what he learns from his Aunty Ifeoma’s house. Other symbol include Eugene’s heavy missal, which throws at Jaja for not going to receive Holy Communion. Papa-Nnukwu’s shrine says Kambili that it looks the grotto at Saint Agnes church and mama’s figurines, which the missal breaks into pieces as it lands on the étagère. Ballet Figurines represents an important symbol in this novel Purple Hibiscus. Ballet Figurines are in small in size and places on an étagère at Jaja’s dining room. Figurines never move and never talk and easily breakable and symbolizes that Kambili, Jaja, and mother Beatrice’s silence. They resemble also weakness in physical. Their small bones easily can break because of their small bone structure like ballerina. The étagère on the stand represents the status of their family among the society. People can watch the

“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.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s coming-of-age novel Purple Hibiscus narrates the story of Kambili, a girl in Nigeria, who deals with religious hypocrisy and abuse of her father, a product of the British colonization. She and her brother, Jaja, visit their aunt and receive a different perspective on their family’s lives. This novel takes place in the Igbo region of Nigeria, after the Nigerian Civil War that ended in 1970 and colonialism of the 1900’s. In Purple Hibiscus, Adichie conveys her views of the Nigerian Civil War to the reader by using the setting, specific events reciprocated in history, and contrasting characters within the novel.

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.

Purple Hibiscus is the first novel and Bildungsroman written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The story is set in Enugu, a city in post-colonial Nigeria during the civil war in 1960. The Nigerian households in the 1960s worked in a patrilineal manner where the father is the head of the household and he is obeyed. The wife and children have little say and the wife is only seen has the one who gives the man his children (Qualls, A). The main character and also the narrator, Kambili Achike explains what it is like living under the roof of her patriarchal Father, Eugene Achike. The issue of patriarchy will also be further elaborated on in this essay and how it affects the characters in the novel, not only in the given passage, but in the novel in general.

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

Achebe has written the novel in the hope of providing the reader a deeper understanding of Igbo customs and removing the stereotyped view of African tribes shaped by Europeans. Even though Igbo cultures and traditions are civilized, Westerners in the novel view the Igbo as savages who are violent and kill people for no particular reasons. However, practically, when there is a conflict between Mbaino and Umuofia in Chapter 2, the villagers in the novel “would not go to war against it without first trying a peaceful settlement. (Achebe, 12)” This clearly suggests that the Igbo do negotiate first when there is a conflict between two groups and start a war only if the former does not work. Without understanding the real Igbo culture, the District Commissioner in the novel decides to title his book “The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.(Achebe, 209)” As Nick Knudsen mentions in his Prezi, Irony in Things Fall Apart, this shows the Commissioner’s ignorance of how culturally sophisticated the Igbo are, and demonstrates the fact that Europeans are clearly in the wrong, without passing judgement on them. Throughout the novel, Achebe suggests that just because Igbo society pass on knowledges orally, does not mean that they are primitive. By using Western literary tradition, the author implies a message

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. Colonialism had brought a lot of social, economical and political changes to the colonized country, and these changes could be positive or negative. Chinua Achebe deals with both the good and bad sides of colonialism in Things Fall Apart. He neither blindly justifies colonialism, nor does he utterly disapprove it.

In Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”, they recognize the life of the Igbos which are a tribe in the village of Umuofia during European colonization. There are many topics brought up in this book like the effects of colonization, culture and tradition, religion, race, etc. It is relatively easy to read “Things Fall Apart” as an anti-feminist text due to the face that the Igbo clan’s customs and traditions seem to side towards masculine features, such as power and strength. The novel is told through a male protagonist’s point of view in nineteenth century Nigeria, while women there do not have much rights, they do wield heavy influence over the leaders of the clan.

Next, he finds the violence in Nigeria is a big problem. An 11 year old thief trying to take things in the marketplace is not shown mercy, for his punishment is death. "The splashing liquid is lighter than water... it drips off him... The whites of his eyes are as bright as lamps. The fire catches with a loud gust... The boy dances furiously but, hemmed down by the tire, quickly goes prone, and still... In a few days it will be as though nothing happened." Despite the fact that the boy was stealing, the punishment did not fit the crime. This characterizes the people in Lagos as cruel and unjust. Something that sticks out is when it says that it will be forgotten. The people show no mercy and do not think much of harm brought to others, causing a chain reaction within