Summary Of Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus
THE PLOT OF ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS
Kambili Achike, the narrator, is a fifteen-year-old girl living in Enugu, Nigeria with her father, Eugene (Papa), mother, Beatrice (Mama), and older brother, Chukwuku (Jaja). The novel begins on Palm Sunday. Jaja refuses to receive communion at church, and Papa throws his missal, breaking Mama’s beloved figurines. Kambili then explains the events leading up to this scene. Papa, a wealthy factory owner, is an active philanthropist in public and an upstanding Catholic, but at home is a strict and violent authoritarian. He publishes a newspaper, the Standard, which is the only paper willing to criticize the new Nigerian Head of State.
Mama gets pregnant. After Mass one day the family visits Father Benedict, their white priest. Mama feels sick and doesn’t want to leave the car. When they return home Papa beats Mama until she has a miscarriage. Later Kambili takes her exams and comes second in her class, disappointing Papa. At Christmas the family goes to their home village of Abba. Papa’s father, Papa-Nnukwu, lives there, but Papa doesn’t speak to him because his father sticks to his traditional religion and won’t become Catholic. Kambili and Jaja visit Papa-Nnukwu briefly. Aunty Ifeoma, Papa’s widowed sister and a university professor, arrives in Abba as well. She seems fearless and willing to criticize both Papa and the government. Her children—Amaka, Obiora, and Chima—are precocious and outspoken.
Ifeoma takes Jaja and Kambili to an Igbo festival. On Christmas Papa feeds the whole village. The next day Papa catches Kambili breaking the “Eucharist fast” as she eats some food along with a painkiller she needs to take for menstrual cramps, and he beats her, Jaja, and Mama. Ifeoma convinces Papa to let Jaja and Kambili visit her in Nsukka. Kambili and Jaja arrive and are surprised by Ifeoma’s poverty, but also the constant laughter in her house. Jaja is fascinated by the purple hibiscuses in Ifeoma’s garden. Father Amadi, a young, handsome Nigerian priest, comes to dinner.
As the days progress Jaja opens up, though Kambili remains silent and confused. Ifeoma hears that Papa-Nnukwu is sick, and she fetches him from Abba. Amaka starts painting a picture of him. Father Amadi visits often, and Kambili finds herself attracted to him. One morning Kambili observes Papa-Nnukwu’s morning ritual, which is similar to Catholic confession. Father Amadi takes Kambili to the local stadium. He makes her chase after him and tries to get her to talk. Kambili is confused by her feelings and his “unpriestly” demeanor. Papa finds out that Papa-Nnukwu is staying in the house.
The next morning the family discovers that Papa-Nnukwu has died in his sleep. Papa takes Jaja and Kambili back to Enugu, and Amaka gives Kambili her painting. Papa punishes Jaja and Kambili for not telling him they were staying in the same apartment as their grandfather, a pagan, by pouring boiling water on their feet. Papa and his editor, Ade Coker, decide to run a controversial story in the Standard. Soon after, Ade Coker is assassinated with a package bomb. One day Kambili and Jaja are looking at the painting of Papa-Nnukwu when Papa comes in. He beats Kambili severely, and she wakes up in the hospital. Papa agrees to let Jaja and Kambili return to Nsukka.
Summary Of Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus
Mama arrives one day after being beaten into another miscarriage. Papa takes his family home, and the next day is the Palm Sunday on which the novel begins, when Jaja stands up to Papa. After Palm Sunday there is less fear and silence in the house. Ifeoma calls to say that she has been fired and is moving to America. Jaja and Kambili return to Nsukka. Ifeoma takes them on a pilgrimage to Aokpe, where Kambili sees Papa is found dead at his desk, and they all go to Enugu. When Papa’s autopsy is complete, Mama says that she poisoned him. The police arrive and Jaja takes responsibility for the crime. Three years later, Kambili and Mama visit Jaja in prison to tell him he will be released soon. Mama has withdrawn and rarely speaks. After the visit, Kambili feels hopeful about the future
SETTINGS OF THE NOVEL
The novel Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie, set in post-colonial Nigeria during the Civil War in the late 1960s, is a bildungsroman that focuses greatly on family relationships as well as religious and cultural ideals.
THEMES IN THE NOVEL
Wife Battering
Adichie explains wife bettering through the character of Eugene, Kambili’s father. His battering attitude makes him hurt his wife, Beatrice. He is a man who fights for political freedom. This is confirmed by the Reverend father, father Benedict who says:
“When we let our light shine before men, we are reflecting Christ’s triumphant Entry”, he said that Palm Sunday. “Look at Brother Eugene. He could have chosen to be like other big men in this country, he could have decide to sit at home and do nothing after the coup, to make sure the government did not threaten his businesses.” (12-13).
It becomes surprising that a man who fights for the political freedom of his people through his journalistic ventures could practice what he attacks on his wife Eugene disrespects his wife and beats her. Kambili witnesses it and refers to it thus.
“I stepped out of my room just as Jaja came out of his. We stood at the landing and watched papa descend. Mama was slung over his shoulder like the jute sack of rice his factory workers bought in bulk at the same border… there’s blood on the floor, Jaja said. I’ll get the brush from the bathroom”. (41)
Battering of wives, bring pain upon women. Beatrice Eugene’s wife loses the pregnancy she has been nurturing and expecting. She discusses it with her children.
Maltreatment of Women by Men
Men maltreat their wives without care, because they are known to be the head of the family. To them, they are in control of every situation in the family putting their wives below them.
Adichie describes this through the character of Eugene, Kambili’s father. He does bad things and refuses to apologies. Kambili confirms this:
“I meant to say I am sorry papa broke your figurines, but the words that came out were, I’m sorry your figurines broke mama” (18).
Eugene is a serious Christian who does not care about anybody, when it comes to church matter, yet he discriminates among his children. On one occasion, Beatrice, the wife of Eugene, offers to stay in the car, but Eugene forces her to leave the car by instilling fear into her. Kambili witnesses and reports this episode:
“Let me stay in the car and wait, biko Mama said, learning against the Mercedes. I feel vomit in my in my throat. Papa turned to stare at her. I held my breath. If seemed a long movement, but it might have been only seconds. Are you sure, you want to stay in the car? Papa asked… I’ll come with you. (37-38)
Summary Of Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus
The subject matter
Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, identifying discrimination against violence against women, women, preference of male to female children, maltreatment of women by men and polygamous practices. The researcher has also identified the effects of child upbringing, parenting and discrimination on children. It also discusses survival of without men.
Narrative Technique in Purple Hibiscus
Adeche employ the Omniscient narrative technique, which is also known as eye-of-god approach to reveal that secret thought of characters as deployed in the story. she also employed some figurative expression such as:
Proverbs:
“I will not ask my brother to bend over so that I can lick his buttocks to get these things” (44).
Humour:
“I wished that she would not keep looking at me as if I were laboratory animal” (108).
“she spoke the way birds eat, in small amount” (122).
Simile:
“I wished that she would not keep looking at me as if I were a laboratory animal” (108)
“…like a big man with the spindly legs of a child” (164).
Personification:
“The boiled yam and peppery greens refused to go down my throat” (144)
“His seventeen-years-old fence had grown lines (p.210).
Summary Of Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus
Characterization
Eugene Achike: He is Kambili’s father, whom she calls “Papa”. He is a wealthy and ostentatious businessman who is also a very strict Catholic who dominates his family for much of the novel by imposing a harsh religious regime in the family home. For much of the novel he controls almost every aspect of his family’s life, including imposing a schedule upon the lives of Kambili and her brother Jaja so that every minute of the day is mapped out for them.
Beatrice Achike: She is the mother and wife in the Achike family, often called “Mama”, is a quiet, maternal figure for much of the novel, presenting a softer, more passive presence in the home in contrast to the often-tyrannical presence of Eugene. During the course of the novel, Beatrice suffers two miscarriages after severe beatings from Eugene. She polishes the figurines on the étagère after every beating.
Kambili Achike: is the central character in Purple Hibiscus and also the narrator of the story. Kambili is shy and inhibited until she spends an extended amount of time away from her family home at the house of Aunty Ifeoma and her family. Kambili is the younger of Eugene and Beatrice Achike’s two children. She does not like the living environment under her father after she gets used to the freedom of Nsukka.
Aunty Ifeoma: she is Eugene’s only sibling, a tall, striking, intelligent woman who works as a lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She is highly capable in many aspects of her life, displaying determination and resourcefulness in bringing up her children without a husband. Though financially struggling, she creates a much happier environment for her children than does her brother Eugene for his family.
Father Amadi: He is a young priest in the circle of Aunty Ifeoma and her family. Being youthful, indigenous and well versed in contemporary life; he could be described as a “new generation” priest, as opposed to white European priests in the country such as Eugene’s priest, Father Benedict
Papa-Nnukwu: He is both father and grandfather in the Achike family, being Eugene and Ifeoma’s father. He is a kind, loving man rooted in the traditional non-Christian beliefs of his indigenous culture, presenting a marked contrast, in particular, to his son Eugene’s adherence to European religion and lifestyle.
