ASSESSING “PURPLE HIBISCUS” BY CHIMAMANDA ADICHIE FOR WAEC/NECO LITERATURE EXAMS THROUGH THE EYES OF OTHERS (29)

DISCUSSING "PURPLE HIBISCUS" FOR WAEC/NECO EXAMS THROUGH THE EYES OF OTHERS (29)

adichie

A.Literature Review (PURPLE HIBISCUS)

Purple Hibiscus is a book by Nigerian born writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, She tells the story of a lonely and reclusive 15 year old girl Kambili in present day Nigeria who grew up in a wealthy Nigerian home under the domain of a harsh, demanding and oppressive father.

15 year old Kambili and her brother Jaja were the children of Eugene a religious fanatic, who loved his children but wanted them to conform to his every ambition for them. Though admired in the community, he was fanatical and abusive to his family, making impossible demands upon them.

When things fell apart in the family, the children were allowed to go and live with their aunt in a nearby city. The aunt and her family were a caring and loving counterpoint to the father’s repressive violence. Kambili’s cousins regarded her and her brother as oddities whereas the reverse was true. Jaja adapted to the new environment, but Kambili, fearing her father’s disapproval, fights against such change.

Kambili began her infatuation with a man who had taken the vow of celibacy i.e Father Amadi a member of the chaplaincy of the University of Nsukka, young and attractive.

Kambili’s first visit to Nsukka is brief but provided her with an increasingly more attractive contrast to the rigid, but more affluent life that she and her brother lead in Enugu.

The downfall of the family both in Enugu and in Nsukka, drew us gradually towards an extraordinarily tragic ending were Jaja took on the weight of protecting his mother and sister from his abusive father, paying a great price for it at the end of the book.

Posted by EMEKA AMARACHI (slightly modified by us)

CRITIQUE NO 1

B.Critisicm of the book “PURPLE HIBISCUS”

The book Purple Hibiscus is written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie an Easterner from Nigeria.

It was her first book and was published in October 2003 in USA.

Purple Hibiscus is a prose and a fictional biography of 307 pages talks about Kambili a fifteen year old girl whose world is circumcised and controlled by her father Eugene.

Eugene who belongs to the Catholic faith is a religious fanatic. He took his religion to the extreme as seen in his dealings with his immediate family. Though he was very generous and helped the church as we see in chapter one were he donates wines for the holy communion, he was a nightmare to his children and wife.

Eugene on one occasion threw the figurine in the parlor at his son Jaja for not partaking in the Holy Communion which led to Jaja’s last finger been dislocated .This action carried out by Eugene is so pathetic and could be regarded as wickedness. Another instance of Eugene’s religious fanaticism can be seen when he burnt Kambili’s leg with hot water for having a painting of their grandfather who was a traditional worshiper.

At the end of the book, things change and we see that Eugene is poisoned by his wife Beatrice while the children were away at their aunt’s house and Jaja took the blame upon himself and went to jail for his mother but later got released after a while( they fought for his bail)

The book is based on the Igbo setting and cultural ways of life as we could see that Eugene and his family lived at Abba and his sister Aunty Ifeoma and her family stayed at Nsukka.

Chimamanda in building her characters did a very good job. All the characters in the book were fully and effectively represented and their roles were seen clearly.

Purple Hibiscus could be assessed on a very good note in comparison with other books produced by the author such as “Half Of A Yellow Sun” and several others. Even as the 1st book written by the author, the book came out to be one of the best of its kind as it won so many awards.

One major problem of the book is that it lacks a glossary which is very important. Adichie after using several Igbo terms and other non-English terms in expressing the feelings of the characters didn’t include a glossary which could helped her readers search for the meaning of these terms.

Overall, all, Purple Hibiscus is a wonderful book that depicts a typical Nigerian home and a true representation of the Nigerian culture.

Posted by ITAHA OMACHELE

RE-BLOGGED FROM http://graceemekaa.wordpress.com

CRITIQUE NO 2

C. PURPLE HIBISCUS REVIEW (CLICK)

(CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE. PURPLE HIBISCUS.REVIEWED BY RUBY A. BELL-GAM-THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE)

SO WHAT IS NEXT?

a. Are the last two reviews too critical or less critical of Chimamanda? Why do you think so?.

b. Before you decide why don’t you have a look at the three posts on Chimamanda coming up next.One of them tell us about her background (Biography) while the other two come from the same person-a personal opinion about her as a prelude to the interview which followed .

If these three articles help you decode the novel for better performance in the exam hall,please do not forget to let us know.

There is no Nigerian website at the moment handling WAEC/NECO literature on the net as we do.Its no pride but true commitment to our purpose.

Good luck.

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