Purple Hibiscus Analysis

Imagine being in a family where they cannot do what they want, is told how to breathe, how to act, what to do and how to do it. In Purple Hibiscus, a novel written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the Achike family is controlled by Papa Eugene through physically, emotionally, and mentally. However, despite being controlled by Papa Eugene they all seem to return to him somehow, until Jaja reaches his limit and defies his father’s requests. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie develops the Achike family to be defying towards Papa Eugene’s rules and obligations through characterization specifically to display the Achike family conflicts with Papa Eugene and how it eventually leads to his death. Adichie uses the red motif to represent the control Papa has on the Achike Family and
In this quote Kambili is explaining the situation of visiting Jaja in prison, “Mama and I hardly came to prison together. Usually Celestine takes me a day or two before he takes her, every week. She prefers it I think” (Adichie 296). Also, this quote she is portraying the conflict that she has with Mama, but also the conflict Mama has with herself, “The brash voice soon fills the car. I turn to see if Mama minds, but she is looking straight ahead at the front seat; I doubt she hears anything. Most time, her answers are nods and shakes of the head, and I wonder if she really heard” (Adichie 297-298). Being controlled by someone can do on a family is that they get to the point that they don’t talk to each other anymore and how Jaja and Kambili lose their language of the eyes and Mama and her don’t talk at all anymore. This is what can happen to a family when something happens to the controller because they lost the little bit voice that they had and don’t know what to do or how to act without the controller being