Essays on Purple Hibiscus

“Uncle Eugene is not a bad man, really. . . . People have problems, people make mistakes” (251). These words are spoken by Kambili, who is trying to explain that the violent Papa is not a “bad man,” but instead a person who has good...

Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus explores the life of a wealthy Nigerian family with the protagonist Kambili, a young girl who tries to find her own voice in an oppressive society and home. Throughout the novel, the author uses a number of symbols to convey her ideas....

In the acclaimed novel “Purple Hibiscus” composed by Nigerian feminist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the narrative is dominated by the themes of systematic silence and abuse. The Achike family unit involved father Eugene, mother Beatrice, girl Kambili and child Jaja, is constantly brimming with calm pressure....

Explore How Kambili Shows a Search for Herself, Linking the Extract to Purple Hibiscus as a Whole A search for self in my opinion is the idea of an individual discovering what he/she truly wants and discovering your true identity of what makes you individual,...

Focal points are important components of life. Just as the earth revolves on an axis around the sun, so too does the Church calendar revolve around significant events, of which Palm Sunday is one. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie draws on this focus in her novel, Purple...

The novel Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie describes the life of a teenage girl, Kambili, who is raised in Nigeria. In the novel, Adichie uses two main settings to effectively describe the themes of freedom, silence, and repression. The two settings that are used...

To what extent do male and female literary characters accurately reflect the role of men and women in society? Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie uses dominance, control and power to accurately reflect the role of male literary characters and silence and oppression to reflect the role of...

When raised in a country hindered by the hardships of domestic violence, voicing one’s true thoughts can often carry savage consequences, Purple Hibiscus is no exception. When the voice of the Achike family is confined in an oppressive society and home under Eugene, an authoritarian...

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. The passage describing Kambili and Jaja’s first meal at their...

Silence is never the answer when abuse is involved. Purple Hibiscus is a novel made by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about a very religious Nigerian father who controls his families’ lives. In Nigeria, a woman is not allowed to speak unless spoken too. Most people in...

The novel, Purple Hibiscus uses many types of symbolism to express Papa’s abusive behavior towards his wife and children. Within the novel, there are many symbols being used to help develop the novel, in the text; the four major ones being Love Sip Tea, Figurines,...

In Purple Hibiscus, traditionalists are observed to be marginalized because of their different beliefs, and the influence of Western Colonization on the Nigerian people. This can be seen through the three characters, namely Papa-Nnukwu (Kambili’s paternal grandfather), Papa Eugene, and Father Amadi. Papa-Nnukwu is part...

Chimamanda Adichie’s novel, Purple Hibiscus is about the protagonist Kambili, her brother, Jaja and their mother, Beatrice being subjected to a tumultuous environment at home at the hands of the patriarch – Eugene. He is a devout Catholic who shuns his father’s traditional beliefs and...

Kambili and Jaja live in a strict, quiet household where everything revolves around their father, Eugene Achike’s, intense religious beliefs and the family’s need to constantly impress him. However, when they visit their Aunty Ifeoma’s house and get to know their cousins Amaka, Obiora and...

The “beautiful and harrowing” Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s critically acclaimed debut novel, uncovers issues of religious tensions and political conflict through the microcosm of a rapidly deteriorating family unit. The novel’s first person narrator and protagonist Kambili experiences first hand the damning effects of...

The monster under our bed, the boogey man in our closet, or the tough bully at school that everyone runs away from out of fear; psychological terrors experienced at a young age, whether we realize the fact early on or not, shape and define our...

Abstract Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus is discussed here as a dialogic novel, with a focus on multiple consciousness and the multi-voiced perspective of the characters, and the interpretation of the characters and the novel based on the ensuing consciousnesses. Bakhtin’s idea of dialogism and...

Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart both emphasize the complexities of father-son relationships. The major theme of parental conflict is developed throughout the course of both texts and serves to illustrate the impact of Western imperialism on Igbo culture. While Adichie...

Originating from the Latin word “rule”, a canon is a standard of judgement for ecclusiastical laws based on an accepted set of religious texts. Purple Hibiscus, a novel written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, is a perfect example of a literary canon considering that Adichie analyzes...

Within any system of oppression, the oppressed, once they realize their treatment is a type of oppression, oftentimes have the impulse to resist. This resistance, sometimes exceptionally dangerous, often bucked by popular opinion and those who have not recognized their own oppression, can take several...