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Plot and Character Analysis in Purple Hibiscus
The story takes place in Enugu, which is a city post-colonial in Nigeria, and which it’s narrated by Kambili Achike the main character of the story. The story all began on a Palm Sunday. Jaja has refused to go for communion and Papa got mad and threw a book at Jaja in which it did not hit him but his wife’s beloved figurines. At this point, you could see the violence and strictness of Papa towards the beliefs. But out of home Papa is a prominent figure in Enugu. He owns several factories and also publishes the pro-democracy newspaper the Standard. He really appreciates the priest how is Father Benedict. Papa generously donated to his parish and his children’s school. The way people know his from out is totally different from what his family thinks of him. After some time Kambili’s thinking has been influenced by her aunty Ifeoma after she has invited Kambili and Jaja to visit so they can go on a pilgrimage to Aokpe, site of a miraculous apparition of the Virgin Mary.
The story has reached a shock when Papa has pushed his own wife who was pregnant at that time and caused his own child to die. Instead of trying to comfort his wife what hi did is to insult his wife in front of everyone by telling her to apologize to god 7 times. In this part of the book, you can see the feeling of the father towards his family. Once he found that his children have spent time with “heathen” and that is how he calls his own father just because he still follows the religious traditions of his people, the Igbo. He punished them by pouring hot water on their feet for what he calls “walking into sin.”
Kambili and Jaja took the comfort of papa-Nnukwu and ended up caught by papa and got bitten up but this time papa heated Kambili so hard that she ended up in the hospital. The family can not bear papa’s actions anymore so when Kambili was well enough to be released by the hospital she goes to Nsukka instead of home. After that, they saw mama coming out of the taxi. Papa has beaten her again and this is not the first time Kambili and Jaja have seen this scene but this time was different for they had enough of Papa and aunty Ifeoma requests her to not go back to Enugu, but she still took them home.
And the following Sunday was a palm Sunday Jaja has refused to go to church. And what he demanded was that they spend Easter with their cousins. And their mom did a move which was poisoning her husband’s tea in order to survive but after the crime, Jaja takes the blame and went to prison. Three years later Mama took Kambili to visit Jaja and at the end what Kambili wanted was to take Jaja to America and visit Aunty Ifeoma.
This story really gave me a new feeling of all the books I have read. It’s not a perfect or miserable ending like all the others I have read but a warm and at the same time touching ending. I recommend you to go and read this book and feel your own hibiscus in your heart.
