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From
the view of the society, Kambili's life is full of all people's desires; she is
living in a filthy rich house with perfectly caring family. However, in the inside,
her life is nothing of what others think of her life. Her house is dominated by
her overly-obsessive, violent dad. There is not a single day without dad's
violence. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie reveals the theme of domestic violence in
her novel of Purple Hibiscus through various
compounds of character of Papa, and symbols.
Character of Papa:
Things are less than perfect in Achike household; throughout the novel, Mama has gone through two miscarriages caused by violence, Kambili had to be hospitalized, and one of Jaja's fingers became abnormal. Papa performances violence on his family for not meeting his extremely high-standards. Papas's excuse for his cruelty is that it is God's will and it is for their own good. According to Papa, even a little thing as "exposing your hair in church" (Adichie 100), and missing a communion was 'ungodly'. Because of Papa strict dictatorship in the house, both Kambili and Jaja doesn’t have an opportunity to question and have their own opinions. Even for their education. Kambili has "never thought about the university, where [she'd] go or what [she'd] study. When the time came, Papa would decide" (Adichie 130). When she came in second in her class, that was a sin, but when she came in first, she "had fulfilled God's purpose" (Adichie 53). They did not have an opportunity to reach their adulthood, but simply just stuck with dad's schedule. Papa's initial plan was to have them fear the God, but with that having an opposite effect, they were actually fearing Papa. They were never supported and encouraged to develop and succeed, but only threatened with failure. Although Jaja and Kambili breaks free from Papa when they feel freedom in Nsukka, realizing how wrongful it was and how glorious freedom is, Mama never comes to epiphany till the end. Mama has experienced two miscarriages in the book, but she has stated that she had several more miscarriages before Kambili was born (Adichie 20). She is so blind in what Papa was doing to her and her children and rather thankful for being married to him. In her second miscarriage I the book, “she cried for a long time … she cried until she fell aslepp” (Adichie 249). However, she was worried that “Eugene has not been well” and that “he has been having migraines and fever” (Adichie 250). This is what his dictatorship has done to his family. They forget the pain they are feeling in their body and instead, worries for perfectly-fine Papa. Even when they are beaten, they do not realize the seriousness. Because Papa is so fanatically religious and oppressive at home, the house is filled with silence and suffocation. |
Symbols:
In addition to Papa's character, symbols also demonstrated the theme of domestic violence. The color red has been used a lot throughout the novel, for multiple meanings. For example, Aunt Ifeoma and Amaka's red lipstick symbolized fearless and confidence (Adichie 89), and red hibiscus "startling red" (Adichie 16) symbolized freedom. However, the color red is more famously known to symbolize dange, fire, blood, anger, and communism. The symbol of red is demonstrated in the theme of Papa’s domestic violence. When color red represents Papa in the book, it was usually used when he was feeling remorseful, weak, and tired (like after Ade Coker's death), ready to relieve his stress by harassing his family. Papa was wearing "his red silk pajamas" (Adichie 41) when he found out that Kambili has come in second in class and called on her to punish her (the totally opposite with Aunt Ifeoma’s red wrapper, which symbolized her challenge to the society/ against the government coup). When Papa has figured out that Papa-Nnukwu was staying in the same house as Kambili and Jaja, the children imagined "the rage in his red-tinged eyes" (Adichie 182) even before anything, preparing themselves from Papa’s punishments. When Mama hesitated to go meet with the priest, Papa beat her, leading her to have another miscarriage with "blood on the floor" (Adichie 33). Additionally, when Papa found his children having to keep a picture of Papa-Nnukwu, he was "wearing his wine-red pajamas that lent a slightly red shimmer to his eyes" (Adichie 209); this is when Kambili was almost beaten to death. Whenever color red shows up in the book, it is foreshadowing future symbol of violence. The viciousness inside what the society calls ‘a perfectly organized and happy family’ is not what it seems. House ran by an overly-obsessive, violent dad does not end a day without Papa’s violence. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie rebeals the theme of domestic violence in her novel of Purple Hibiscus through various compounds of character of Papa, and the symbol of color red. |