REVISION NOTES FOR
PURPLE HIBISCUS
KEY CHARACTERS
PAPA
Our first impressions (*best character for this question)
1. Violent – opening lines “broke the figurines” “flung the missal”
2. fanatically religious – description of him taking mass
3. twisted idea of love – symbolism of “love sip”
4. revered in community - triad, Priest referred to “the Pope, Papa and
Jesus”
Strengths
- leader in community (successful industrialist, newspaper, church role)
- supported human rights / opposed corruption (denounces coup, prints
info on disappeared people, refuses bribes)
- generous – donated to many causes
Weaknesses
- misguided in terms of religion – very black-and-white
- lashes out – “why do you walk into sin?”
- controlling – children / family
- rejects his own father and culture
- laden with sense of guilt / shame – his upbringing with Priests
Realistic / believable because
- not one-dimensional – man of contradictions
- difference in his public (status in community / crusader for justice) and
private face (abuse, repressive towards children)
- author presents him not as a monster but as a person we have to feel
some sympathy for (his past – treatment by priests, self loathing)
- author allows us insight into his feelings of guilt, regret over actions
- characters respond to him in a range of ways – e.g. Kambili’s love for
him, Ifeoma testifies to him being a “colonial product”
KAMBILI
(*Best character to talk about in terms of character development / change)
Beginning
- shy, silent, obedient, submissive, introverted, not independent
- lives in her father’s shadow - desperate to please (words), afraid of
disappointing him (school)
- accepts his twisted form of love (love sips)
- at school is unable to socialise normally with others
- oppressed (punishments, trapped in schedules) and repressed
(emotionally)
Changes
- from being ignorant / prejudiced towards her own culture →
understanding and embracing her Igbo identity
- from silent → speaking her thoughts / feelings
- from being obedient/passive → more assertive (ptg of Papa N)
- from accepting pain as love → wanting more; enjoying the empowering
‘love’ of Father Amadi
- from accepting to questioning “Do you think we are abnormal?”
RELATIONSHIPS AND CONFLICT
Conflicts
Kambili v. Papa (K’s fear of displeasing P, Papa Nnukwu)
Eugene v. Ifeoma (diff attitude towards their culture / religion / children)
Eugene v. Papa Amadi (diff approach to religion / “parenting”)
Jaja v. Papa best conflict to discuss
• Missal throwing – key act of defiance, turning point
• Jaja has gained a taste of freedom from his time in Nsukka
• Purple hibiscus cuttings he plants – a metaphor for him “planting”
freedom in their home in Enugu and his boldness in defiance. [red
hibiscus assoc. with Papa – violence / pain / love]
• Openly challenges Papa’s faith – refuses to go to communion
• Disobeys – leaves table before others, doesn’t comment on cashew
juice, asks for the keys to his room
• His actions seem to give confidence to Kambili and Mama to defy Papa
Relationships
Kambili & Papa
- based on fear (“we scaled the rod because we were terrified we
couldn’t)
- Papa is a God-like figure in his home– “He had seemed immortal” (K
after he dies)
- twisted way of loving (love sips “burned Papa’s love into me”)
- tyrannical rule – schedules, punishments (foot burning, finger)
- Papa influenced by Fundamentalist religion – overreacts, e.g Kambili
eats cornflakes when she has cramps, “has the devil built a tent in my
house?”
- “Everything I do, I do for your own good.”
- Self censorship – “I did not even think what Mama needed to be
forgiven for.”
- K says what she thinks P will want to hear – “God will deliver us.” I
said, knowing Papa would like my saying that.
Kambili & Father Amadi
- He is impt as K’s first love – and as a trigger to her self-discovery
- Encourages K to question her father’s teachings, e.g. Papa Nnukwu
- Gives her confidence – “good legs for running” “you can do anything
you want” “you are beautiful” etc
- Contrasts with her relationship with her father
- Offers her another way of being in terms of her culture – speaks
“English laced Igbo”
STYLE AND STRUCTURE
Structure of the novel
- Starts ‘in media res’ (in the middle of things)
- Palm Sunday is the turning point of the plot
- Foreshadowing of missal throwing incident
- Non-linear narrative (not told in chronological order)
- From reading the first section we know that things will reach ‘breaking
point’, so we read section two with uneasy knowledge of events slowly
building up; but also helps us to understand/further sympathise with
Jaja’s actions
- Each section has a thematic title – relates to religion, e.g.
o Breaking Gods (Jaja defies Papa as a God)
o Speaking with Our Spirits (Life before Papa was challenged,
tells story of how K & J’s spirits emerge as they reconnect with
their family, cultural heritage, etc in Nsukka) – Longest section
of book and one of the most important.
o The Pieces of Gods (aftermath of Jaja’s defiance – Papa’s
regime crumbles, Mama’s miscarriages, poisoning – “everything
came tumbling down after Palm Sunday”)
o A difference silence (Future – Papa dead, Jaja in prison, how
they are now that Papa is no longer there – but no final
resolution or ‘happy ending’ – realistic, not over simplified.)
- Tension / drama created through acts of violence (Papa’s punishments
but also Jaja’s defiance and finally Mama’s act of poisoning)
Style
- Use of Igbo words throughout – food, places, customs etc
- 1st person Narration – from Kambili’s p.o.v – we identify with her. She
is a passive observer in the beginning but later becomes more active.
- Internal monologue – K doesn’t speak much, but we hear her thoughts
- Later more dialogue used – shows her “finding her voice”
- Symbolism – purple and red hibiscuses
- Motifs – language and silence repeatedly referred to – linked to
freedom / oppression
- Author plays with our first impressions of characters and adds layers /
complexity as we find out about their past.
SETTING
- Nigeria, 1980s – Enugu, Nsukka, Abba town
- Military coup led by Big Oga (modelled on General Sani Abacha)
- Human rights abuses rife – e.g. Ade Coker, Nwankiti Ogechi, no
freedom of speech to criticise the regime
- Social setting – strong class divisions between very wealthy / poor
- Religion – Christian beliefs passed on by missionaries during
colonisation
- Events in the macrocosm of Nigeria are mirrored in the microcosm of
Kambili’s family. E.g. dictatorship, revolt, silencing
ENUGU
Kambili’s family live here in a wealthy neighbourhood, cosmopolitan big city
with “happening places”.
Their house – luxurious but rather empty and lifeless – “the silence was
broken only by the whir of the ceiling fan.” Oppressive – “the off white walls
were bearing down on me.”
ABBA TOWN
Home of Papa Nnukwu
Symbolic of the spiritual and cultural heartland – where Kambili explored her
Igbo roots. Previously could only visit for 15 minutes with “heathen”
granddad. Later they get to witness a traditional mask ritual.
NSUKKA
Home of Aunty Ifeoma & cousins, University
- Where K and J taste freedom, symbolic of the promise of cultural
integration (taking the best of both Western / Kenyan worlds)
- materially poor but spiritually rich – “cement floors were rough” / “Igbo
praise songs”, laughter, talking
- Place where they first see Purple Hiiscuses
CONTRASTS IN THE NOVEL
Freedom Oppression
Nsukka Enugu
Poor, place of learning, laughter, Wealthy, place of commerce, control
experimentation and schedules
Ifeoma / Father Amadi Eugene
Loving, accepting, empowering, Severe, puritatnical, violent, the
modelled on Jesus of New Testament punitive Old Testament God figure
style
Purple Hibiscus Red Hibiscus
Experimentation, non conformity Twisted love, bloodshed, pain,
Defiance, self expression religious justification for violence
Language Silence
Speaking = power to express self, Silence – of victims who are silenced,
challenge systems of power. or self-censor out of fear.
Invites communication, bonding, Disconcerting and distancing.
Amaka Kambili
Outspoken, expressive, questions oppressed and repressed, silent,
everything, loud, culturally conscious ignorant of her culture, fearful
