Purple Hibiscus is the first novel by the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It portrays Kambili Achike, a 15 year old Nigerian teenage girl who struggles in the shadow of her father, Eugene. Eugene is a successful businessman, a beloved philanthropist, and a devout Catholic, who nevertheless violently abuses his family. A post-colonial novel, it received positive reviews upon publication. The novel was published in the United States on 30 October 2003, by Algonquin Books. A year later, Fourth Estate published the book in the United Kingdom and in 2006, Kachifo Limited published it in Nigeria.
The novel is a coming-of-age story: the characters psychological and moral growth from childhood to adulthood changes, particularly Kambili and Jaja's tough life in Eugene's house and later, a free living in Aunty Ifeoma's house. After publication, it won several awards including the Orange Prize for Fiction shortlist in 2004 and Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book in 2005. Adichie investigates the themes of family, womanhood, and religion. Her writing style, combined with her use of Igbo description to convey characterizations and action, demonstrates her as one of the third generation of Nigerian writers.
Plot summary
Kambili Achike is a fifteen-year-old Nigerian girl from a wealthy family in Enugu State. The family is dominated by her father Eugene, who is a devout Catholic and businessman. Eugene is both a religious zealot and a violent figure in the Achike household, subjecting his wife Beatrice, Kambili, and her brother Jaja to violent abuse. Kambili tells the story beginning with Jaja missing the holy communion at church. Both later live at the house of their aunt, Ifeoma, with her three children. The household offers a different view of what they faced in their father's house. It practices a completely different form of Catholicism, making for a happy, liberal place that encourages its members to be inquisitive, form their own opinions, and speak their minds. Kambili and Jaja become able to voice out their opinions. While at Aunty Ifeoma's house, Kambili also falls in love with a young priest, Father Amadi, which awakens her sense of sexuality.
Unable to cope with Eugene's continual violence any longer, Beatrice poisons him. Jaja takes the blame for the crime in order to save his mother, and gets locked in prison. Aunty Ifeoma and her family moves to America after she is unfairly dismissed from her job as a lecturer at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka. Purple Hibiscus ends almost three years after these events as Kambili becomes a young woman at eighteen. Her brother Jaja is about to be released from prison, hardened but not broken by his experience there. Their mother, Beatrice, has deteriorated psychologically to a great degree.
Principal characters
Kambili Achike: Kambili is the protagonist of Purple Hibiscus. She is a female character and the novel's narrator. A 15 year-old teenager from the Achike household: brother Jaja; mother, Beatrice; father, Eugene Achike, her childhood was surrounded by her father's strict religious belief- catholicism and violent physical abuse. Kambili has a shy personality following her struggle for academic excellence and need to be safe in her patriarchal home.[1]
Eugene Achike: Eugene is Kambili's father and a Catholic man. His father was a pagan. He was portrayed as an autonomous man who abuses his children, but also loves them.[2] Alexie Lorca describes him as paradoxical.[3]
Aunty Ifeoma: Hore describes Aunty Ifeoma as a liberal academic. She is also a Catholic and thr aunt of Kambiki and Jaja.[4]
Major themes
Hypocrisy, colonialism and politics
Purple Hibiscus portrays many themes. Hypocrisy is one of the themes as shown through Eugene, who generously serves the society as a philanthropist, but also, abuses his family. For example, he donates bags of rice to the church, schools and to widows, but could not provide a cup of rice to his father who he condemns as a pagan.[5]
Usually my family would crowd around the radio when there was a coup. And then you would hear a voice telling you that you had a new head of state and everyone had to remain calm. I think what you internalize is the choicelessness of it, that you didn't really have a choice in who's in charge of your country, because if somebody decides to have a coup, all you have to do is listen to the radio, and they tell you, there's a new head of state. And then I would hear about things happening. People were shot and killed, people who would speak out against all the injustices of the government.
Political instability was showcased throughout the novel inline with its historical accuracy, for example, the arrest and killing of the editor of The Standard, Ade Coker. The themes of culture and tradition are explained in the local setting of the novel, and Adichie's use of folklores in the novel. It also touches cultural clash, especially when Eugene tries not to indoctrinate his extended family into the Catholic religion. The theme of perfectionism is captured through Eugene’s high expectations of his children to excel academically in school by taking first position after their exams. Tragedy is dominated with the themes of death and destruction. For example, the death and funeral ceremony of Papa Nnukwu; the poisoning and death of Eugene, and the disintegration of his family.[5] The characters of Purple Hibiscus are affected by the political unrest in Nigeria including the ills done by the political leaders and government officials.[7] Eugene's sister Aunty Ifeoma, the aunt of Kambili tells her that Eugene is a product of colonialism.[8]
Patriarchy
The protagonist Kambili, narrates the abuse of her brother and mother in the hands of their father Eugene.[9] The privilege of valuing sons over daughters is made evident in the way that women are less valued in the family on the basis of their gender. For example when the Achike family travels to their hometown Abba, the village women gets jealous of Jaja because as a male he will inherit his father wealth. Mtenje writes that "unlike Kambili who will get married elsewhere, Jaja being male will ensure that money is kept in the family."[10] Ifechelobi writes that a patriarchal society is a male dominated society, hence the household of Eugene reflects the saying in George Orwell's Animal Farm, "All Animals are equal but some are more equal."[11]
Religion
According to Voice of Nigeria, Adichie says she wrote Purple Hibiscus to explore the role of religion in contemporary Nigeria.[6] Also a Roman Catholic, she explores issues of faith in the private and public spheres in the novel.[12] The novel depicts the seven sacraments especially Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Eucharist. The sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is shown in the masses celebrated by Father Benedict, Father Amadi, and other priests in Abba. It also includes active participation by Papa and his family, and Aunty Ifeoma and her family.
The novel also portrays the absence of culture in religion as was majorly seen through Father Benedict. For instance, he allowed the Credo and Kyrie be recited only in Latin; the rhythmical clapping of hands should be minimal; but offertory singing should be in Igbo.[13] Adichie addresses the complexity of both cultural traditions with her childhood teachings. In Ifeoma's house, Kambili and Jaja experiences the idea that "one can practice both native rituals and still be Catholic."[14]
Silence and voice
Vawter argued that Kambili's narration is her chance to speak, which she barely does in her early life as she is depicted as a shy girl. The novel explores the themes of language and silence. The characters speak English in formal settings and Igbo in informal settings; Eugene rarely speaks Igbo and encourages his children to do so. Throughout the plot, characters struggle with communication and freedom of speech, especially within the Achike household, hence, a novel of silence.[15]
Background
Adichie was in Enugu, the setting of Purple Hibiscus.[16][17] By the end of 2002 she has written two works—a poetry book, Decisions (1997) and a play, For the Love of Biafra (1998)—as well as many short stories, and other pieces.[18] Her work has been translated into over thirty languages and has appeared in many publications including The New Yorker and Granta.[17] Adichie's Igbo heritage and the complexities of postcolonial Nigeria played a significant in Adichie's work and themes such as cultural identity, class and belonging, and historical memory. She has cited Nigerian authors like Chinua Achebe and Buchi Emecheta as influences on her work.[19]
Adichie was attending the Eastern Connecticut State University when she started writing Purple Hibiscus .[16][20][21] She sent her manuscript to many literary agents and one agent told her to use the "African material" as background for a continued story set in America. Another rejected instantly with "NO" on the query letter and sent it back. Literary agents either asks for setting to be changed from Africa to America inorder to attract familiar readers or the manuscript gets rejected instantly. Djana Pearson Morris, an agent who works at Pearson Morris and Belt Literary Management, accepted the manuscript. Since Adichie was Black, Morris cited challenging commercial sales and sent the manuscript to publishers.[21]
During the summer of 2002, Antonia Fusco, an editor at Algonquin Books, received the manuscript and accepted it for publication. Elizabeth Scharlatt, the then publisher at Algonquin, also recounted difficult challenges of the book publication as Algonquin was not driven by market trends or shareholder pressures. Although they launch new debut novel every season and since there was a small list in that year, all energy would be in promoting Purple Hibiscus.[21]
Setting
Purple Hibiscus is set in South Eastern part of Nigeria. It captures the socio-economic and political status of Nigeria during the military rule of General Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha. Most of the events occur in the Kambili's residence in Enugu and others took place in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where character Aunty Ifeoma was a lecturer.[5]
Style
Hilary Matel wrote that the secret of Adichie’s style is simplicity, rhythm and balance. He also asserted that she writes a poet’s sentences.[22]
Publication history
Purple Hibiscus was first published in October 2003 in the United Kingdom by Algonquin Books.[23]Fourth Estate later published the book in 2004 in the United Kingdom and in 2006, Kachifo Limited published it in Nigeria.[21] To commemorate the novel's 10th anniversary, an edition was released in the UK by Harper Perennial, featuring a new introduction by Adichie.
Legacy
Influence
Ibrahim Mahama created Purple Hibiscus, a textile installation named after the novel; the installation comprises 2000 square metres of handwoven cloth covering the Barbican’s Lakeside Terrace.[24]
Critical reception
Purple Hibiscus is a sensitive and intimate story that brings a reader the innocence and delicacy of childhood, the struggle of maturing into adulthood and the blurred lines between love and hatred. Chimamanda Adichie uses her captivating and mature style of writing to artfully endear character to readers in the intimacy of her plot twists and experiences. Her sense of irony is impeccable as she strays lightly into political waters, post-colonial rule and religions. —The New Times review of Purple Hibiscus, 7 June 2016.[25]
Literary editor of New Statesman, Jason Cowley writes that it is the best debut he's read since Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things", and Yale University lecturer Bill Broun in reviewing it calls Adichie "the 21st-century daughter of that other great Igbo novelist, Chinua Achebe."[26]Kirkus Reviews praised Adichie for "creating a compelling narrative—and a surprising punch at end."[27]Östgöta Correspondenten wrote, "Purple Hibiscus" is a painfully brutal yet wonderfully moving educational novel about getting up and walking". Again, it praised Adichie writing, "Purple Hibiscus could be a tragic, depressing read at best, but Adichie is the kind of dizzying storyteller who manages to lure the reader further and further into the story, until you can no longer resist. She fills the novel with nuances and colors, scents and flavors, and with cautious hope."[28] Journalist Hephzibah Anderson of The Guardian praises Adichie's focus, writing that it "remains fixed on her heroine, enabling her to express the political in acutely personal terms, telling an intoxicating story that is at once distinctively feminine, African and universal."[29]Sue Arnold, in a review, praised the novel's audio narrator Adjoa Andoh's characterisation of the Kambili, whose confused love/hate relationship with her father underpins the story, is stunning.[30] Also, Rachel Redford, writing for The Guardian, reviewed the audio version, and wrote, "This is an intense story of many fearful conflicts, not least between traditional Igbo religion and Catholicism, and between silence and speaking out, highlighted by the skilful narration and enriched by judicious use of the Igbo language."[31] Siasoco says the novel is "vivid, authoritative, and true to the experiences of a teenage girl in contemporary middle-class Nigeria".[32] Roy Sandip wrote in San Francisco Chronicles, that the novel "is at once the portrait of a country and a family, of terrible choices."[33]
Amaefule, Adolphus Ekedimma (15 April 2021). "The Roman Catholic Church in Nigeria and Liturgical Inculturation in Chimamanda Adichie's Purple Hibiscus". Ecclesiology. 17 (1): 72–90. doi:10.1163/17455316-bja10002. ISSN1744-1366.
Umezurike, Uchechukwu P. (2022). ""Omelora": Orthodox and Disciplinary Masculinities in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus". Men and Masculinities. 25 (4): 566–580. doi:10.1177/1097184X211063498. ISSN1097-184X.
M, Robert Chandran; Govindaraj, Dr. C. (2022). "Renovation of Kambili in Adichie's Purple Hibiscus". SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.4023406. ISSN1556-5068.
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