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Purple Hibiscus is the story of two teenagers, Kambili and Jaja Achike, growing up in a household under the rule of their devoutly Christian father and against the backdrop of political and social unrest in Nigeria. Though the Achike family has considerable material wealth and property, they lack joy and room to grow. Papa’s fanatical devotion to the Christian church dictates the family’s movements and encourages their devout silence as they attempt to follow Papa’s rules and absorb the beatings that follow when they have disappointed him. Their story is told from the perspective of fifteen-year-old Kambili, who desperately wants to please her father and lives in fear of failure. Her brother Jaja is equally obedient but becomes less docile over time, and tension builds as the family slowly stretches beyond their confines in attempts to gain freedoms while Papa becomes inexplicably weaker.
The story hinges on the events of Palm Sunday, on which the inciting incident takes place as Jaja boldly defies his father for the first time. In the book’s first section, “Breaking Gods: Palm Sunday,” the story opens as Kambili reveals that on Palm Sunday, Jaja refused to take communion at church and things in the household began to fall apart. Papa’s violent anger is revealed in the first sentence as Kambili describes how he threw a heavy religious book across the room and broke the glass figurines displayed on Mama’s shelves. The figurines will return several times in the story as a symbol of both susceptibility to and survival from Papa’s abuse. The religious book, called a “missal,” which contains the church readings for the entire year, symbolizes Papa’s use of Christianity as a controlling and destructive force. In this scene, Papa’s swollen, rash-covered face and unsteady movements also foreshadow his demise. The remainder of this first section builds on the conflict as Kambili relates details of how religion is a suffocating force within the household, as well as her tenuous understanding of the relationship between pain and love. It also reveals the careful movements of the family as they share a meal, and Kambili’s cautious choice of words as she laments Mama’s broken figurines and attempts to appease her father with her civilized speech. Fear is also introduced as a powerful force, as it transfers from Jaja to Papa in his act of defiance against his father.
The second section of the book, “Speaking With Our Spirits: Before Palm Sunday,” is substantially lengthy and moves back in time to the period before Jaja has defied Papa. In this section, Kambili explains the way things have always been, with Papa demanding academic perfections from his children, controlling the family’s movements through their driver, and regularly punishing them with verbal insults and physical beatings when they step even slightly out of line. As the narrative progresses, Kambili unfurls the developing conflict as Papa’s control over the family begins to unravel. The Christmas visit to Abba provides the opportunity for Kambili and Jaja to observe another way to live. Aunty Ifeoma’s family functions very differently than Papa’s, with laughter and joy at the center of family life. When Papa relinquishes a bit of control and allows the children to visit Aunty Ifeoma’s family in Nsukka, Kambili and Jaja have the chance to see what life might be like without Papa’s constant dominance. The freedoms of Aunty Ifeoma’s home and the relationships Kambili and Jaja build with her children drive their development as teenagers and as people newly acquainted with free will. Even though they will return to Papa’s home, they will never be fully under his rule again.
In this space of freedom, Kambili learns to use her voice. Though her relationship with her fifteen-year-old female cousin Amaka is at first volatile, it becomes vital for Kambili’s development as a young woman. Kambili grows through opportunities to both challenge and confide in her cousin, and their camaraderie leads to her first romance. Like most other things in Kambili’s life, her romantic attachment to Father Amadi comes with restrictions dictated by the church. Through his eyes, however, Kambili begins to appreciate her worth and is able to explore a softer side of the religion that has stringently dictated her life. In Nsukka, Jaja begins to gain confidence and develops an appreciation for the details of everyday life in Aunty Ifeoma’s home. Both children also take special notice of the beauty of nature around them. Without the cloud of their father hanging over them, Kambili and Jaja can see. Jaja’s appreciation for Aunty Ifeoma’s purple hibiscus becomes a catalyst for change, and the flower itself a symbol of freedom. Aunty Ifeoma’s home also serves as a safe haven, a place the children can return to after Kambili finally stands up to her father and receives a brutal beating that almost ends her life, and a place where Mama can run to after Papa’s beating causes the final miscarriage in a series she has suffered for years, her only visible act of defiance throughout the story.
The third section of the book, “The Pieces of Gods: After Palm Sunday,” ends with the story’s climax as Papa dies and Mama reveals that she has been poisoning him. In this bold and calculated act born out of desperation, Mama has attempted to free herself and her children from Papa’s cruel tyranny. In the final section, “A Different Silence: The Present,” Jaja’s newfound freedom quickly dissolves as he steps up as scapegoat to take the blame for his father’s murder and to protect his mother and sister from the fallout of his death. Kambili finds herself existing in a place between freedom and entrapment as she learns to navigate life without her father and restructure her relationship with God. Her grief illustrates the juxtaposition between pain and affection that has colored her life, as she prays for her father and wishes she could still see him but also enjoys relief in the absence of shame, guilt, and abuse that his presence infused into her life. Though Jaja will soon be free from prison at the story’s end, he has lost all of the joy he discovered before his father died. The book ends on a hopeful note, however, as Kambili makes plans to plant purple hibiscus with Jaja once he is free.
