Simran Bagdiya
Mr.Wissocki
Honors Global Studies-4A
Analysis of Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in Relation to Nigeria Nigeria, a relatively renowned African country, has always depicted the people to be poor, with unfavorable circumstances to work around. However, after reading the novel Purple Hibiscus, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, one can understand that such stereotypes do not apply to all people living in Nigeria. This novel revolves around the unique aspects of Nigerian culture, and focuses on Kambili Achike, a fifteen year old Nigerian girl. Even though Kambili has an extremely privileged life due to her father’s wealth, she is increasingly miserable and endures great stress at home. This is because while her father, Eugene, is generous and politically active in the community, he is a religious Catholic zealot and a violent figure at home, often beating his wife Beatrice, and his children, Kambili and Chukwuka (also known as Jaja). When Nigeria begins to fall apart under a military coup, Eugene sends his children away to Nsukka to stay with their Aunt Ifeoma. Through meeting her poorer aunt and her cousins, Kambili and her brother discover a life beyond the confines of their father's authority. Through Kambili’s coming of age journey, several aspects of Nigeria are touched upon, such as the role of women within society, the importance of religion, and the presence of Nigerian politics.
The novel heavily focuses on women and how they are perceived in
The novel “Purple Hibiscus” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells a story of how two Nigerain children rebelled against their very father. For these children to end up rebelling against their father they must first bring about a change in themselves, they must become more mature, more responsible and not so dependent on their father. Kambili is one of those children that does go through a considerable change in her character, she reaches maturity. In fact this novel is a bildungsroman which is a story about a character self-development, her change.
I feel that the school dress code needs to be revised to a newer, less strict version. Some of the rules are unnecessary and foolish such as the rule about and covering vulgar or offensive tattoos. This is because you have to be 18 or older to get a tattoo in Kansas and most students’ graduate when they are 17 or 18. The last time the school dress code was revised was about four years ago and fashion was a lot different then. There are a few other rules that are unnecessary and one that I think should be put in place.
The death penalty has always been a long lasting debate for centuries. According to the information gathered the death penalty is racially/mentally biased, does not favor those who are low income, and does not show any change in crime rates. The text that will be used is Top Ten Pro and Con - Death Penalty- ProCon.org. The websites that will be used are www.ammestyusa.org/DeathPenaltyfacts and www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/document/FactSheet.pdf .
In times of high pressure, silence can show the way a person truly feels far more than speech could.Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie presents a tale of deep personal struggle in Purple Hibiscus. This struggle is meant to be portrayed for people not from Nigeria to get perspective on certain aspects of Nigerian culture. Struggle has arisen in the main character Kambili’s life due to the fact that her family dynamic is dysfunctional, relatable to teens, and adults, all over the world. Voice is a key part of Purple Hibiscus, and as Kambili’s Father’s influence in her life shrinks, her “voice” grows. “Voice” in the figurative sense, is not just the way someone sounds, but their ability to express their true selves to the world without fear of repercussions. Kambili, a 15-year-old girl, confronts her life’s main problems, which take on two forms, her father, and herself. Purple HIbiscus truly about the way that Kambili’s different lives intersect, and how she perseveres and strengthens herself to overcome most challenges.
Intense events can completely change how a person thinks, acts, or feels every second of the day. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie illustrates how corruption (figuratively and literally) changes outlooks on life through the story of a girl named Kambili. Adichie’s work is known to reflect the dynamic of the Nigerian people during this era. Working to eliminate political strife, Adichie publishes Purple Hibiscus, hoping to demonstrate the true meaning of how it feels to live under an oppressive state of both physical and mental capacities. Domestic violence—physically and mentally—not only takes a toll on her, but also her family. As Kambili strives to find hope, she instead finds something bigger than that—change in herself. Adichie seeks to connect the story to the human experience, illuminating the attributes that make us truly human. As violence, hope, and colonialism are prevalent themes in Purple Hibiscus, Adichie strives to illuminate how events of different intensities can change a person altogether. Through manipulating factors of hospitality and religious beliefs against personal morals, Adichie reveals how Kambili's character develops throughout the story, resulting in a positive impact overall.
Webster's Dictionary defines home as “the place in which one's domestic affections are centered”. In Purple Hibiscus, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, this fact is quite the opposite. Kambili Achike,15, is the main character, and the story is written through her eyes. Her and her older brother, Jaja, reside in Enugu, Africa with their father and mother. Their father, Papa, is a priest; while their mother, Mama, is a stay at home mom. Their home is a destructive, toxic, calamitous environment, mainly due to the fact that three of the four main characters: Mama, Jaja, and Kambili, repeatedly get hit, abused, and are constantly being brainwashed by the means of Papa. It may seem that Papa’s abuse is just physical but it is in fact emotional too.
Purple Hibiscus, written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, is layered with themes, one of the more prominent ones being freedom. It is incorporated throughout the book on multiple levels, on a national scale with the fragile political situation in Nigeria, with university students rebelling and Papa Eugene’s newspaper finding it increasingly difficult to have the freedom to tell the truth, as well as on personal levels as each character struggles to find their own sense of freedom. Kambili, the main character and narrator of the story, exemplifies this theme as she grows and develops from new experiences with new people in her life. Kambili demonstrates the theme of freedom through the gradual evolution of her character, ultimately becoming a free
Purple Hibiscus takes place in Enugu, a city of political conflict in post Colonial Nigeria. The story is narrated by the protagonist Kambili Achike, a teenager and lives with her elder brother Jaja, who excels in academics like his sister but is withdrawn and sullen. Kambili’s father papa is a delightful but a harsh authoritarian whose faithfulness to
Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus is a story set in Nigeria told from the perspective of Kambili and her journey towards independence; along the way, she looks to the female role models in her life, each which aid her path to liberation. Mama and Aunty Ifeoma are two vital female characters to the development of the story but with stark contrasts; Mama’s submissive and reserved demeanor provides a perfect foil to Aunty’s outgoing and independent personality. They both influence Adichie’s bildungsroman, but how they aid Kambili’s endeavor is strikingly different. Mama and Aunty Ifeoma represent the female figures in Kambili’s life; Mama shows Kambili to submit to the men in her life, while Aunty Ifeoma opens up the idea of being independent and free thinking. Mama stresses submission and dependency as a sacrifice to tradition while Aunty Ifeoma emphasizes independent thought to embrace oneself and progress over all others. The way that these two women uphold themselves throughout the novel, demonstrates how these patriarchal societies, like the one in Nigeria, restrict women like Mama, while women like Aunty are deemed rebellious to society.
Religion is a very prominent theme in the “Purple Hibiscus”. The author, Adichie, uses a variety of characters to explore different ways of expressing one’s faith. She explores the ways in which three very different characters express their religion of the Catholic faith, as well as looking into the traditional Nigerian beliefs of Papa Nnukwu. By illustrating some very contrasting religious beliefs and methods of religious expression in her characters, she encourages readers to consider their own views on religion and helps them understand some valuable lessons on the subject.
I came up with a problem that concerns many parents. It seems as though violence plays a role in the lives of many people. Even innocent children are affected by the negative things that go on in the huge world we live in. Television violence is often overlooked because of its ability to retain children’s attention. Countless mothers and fathers put their children in front of the television so they can have time to themselves. As a result, the kids are subjected to unnecessary media violence. I feel that this violence has a great effect on the children’s lives.
Nigeria, a barren wasteland, now an uprising land of civilization enters an era of ferocity, dominance, depravity. From the ashes of Nigeria, emerges Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the author of Purple Hibiscus. She intertwines Purple Hibiscus with her personal memories; she wrote her tale based on her experience-religion, history, and politics. Purple Hibiscus is a novel expressing the complexity of the human nature. From tragedies to happiness, life is a pendulum of occasions. Life consists of abrupt changes; these changes are caused by external factors such as government. However, when a government is corrupt, two primary courses are presented: to submit or rebel. The corruption within government vastly expands towards major concepts-politics, economy, religion-that influences people’s lives. Therefore, Adichie exposes the detrimental transformation of a tyrannical government through her portrayal of the economic, religious, and political strife throughout Nigeria.
In the novel Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the Nigerian author explores a number of issues such as religious absolutism, egalitarianism, feminism, domestic violence, politics and colonialism which in turn all highlight the main ideology of patriarchal power. By referring to the Oxford dictionary, the adjective ‘Patriarchal’ is described as “something relating to or denoting a system of society or government controlled by men.” In this specifically powerful novel, it refers to an organized society where the males are the heads of the families and the men are considered the “Fathers of the human race.” Adichie exposes a society that suffers devastation as an effect of total patriarchal control and intolerance within the family, the Roman Catholic Church, as well as the education and the state. Through the representation of the characters, she promotes the principle of a political system in which unrestricted power is in a dictator, and she identifies contrasting perceptions of religion, race, culture, spirituality, gender roles and the abuse of power. Throughout the novel, the reader is
Chimmanda ngozi Adichie is the latest Nigerian female writer whose works have largely concentrated on post colonialism, Religious fundamentalism, patriarchy, and traumatic domestic discourse in Nigeria. This paper aspires to explore the religious fanaticism and the destructiveness comrade with it. The central character Eugene’s embracement over religion makes others to be forced to contend with agonizing situation. It reveals the general religious intolerance which created mainly by the failure to draw a border line between self and others. Adapting other’s religion is always set to be crisis. Cultural and religious legacies played a crucial role in the home of Eugene. It never allows other members to burgeoning of their own autonomous role in the society. It also creates a great psychological impact on their mind. Adichie in Purple Hibiscus perspicuously manifests the defilement of religion. From the character of Eugene the readers will learn that one who holds the rigid religion often gets end for his course of traumatic action. Thus Adichie born as a third generation writer who unerringly projects the dark side of African continent.
The novel Purple Hibiscus, written by Chimamanda Adichie is first seen as a typical, modern, adolescent fiction novel. A bildungsroman where a brother and sister navigate the challenges of a neglective adulthood. This includes the impact of social ostracism, having an abusive parent, and the emerging desire to become independent from the restricting orders of Papa Eugene, the father. Nevertheless, the historical context of the novel is set in post Biafra Nigeria depicting Purple Hibiscus as more than just a modern adolescent fiction novel, as it creates an intricate allegory that allows the reader to understand the complexity of the post colonial period in Nigeria. Purple Hibiscus explores the influence that historical context can have on