Related Papers
African Postcolonial Literature: A Gothic Reading of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus
Dedre Engelbrecht
Purple Hibiscus is an African postcolonial Gothic tale cautioning and warning against the falsely assumed sense of absolutism of the Roman Catholic Church and its definitive contestation with the concept of tradition. Adichie’s auto-fiction tells a tale of a child transgressing beyond a complicated set of interwoven boundaries in order to find herself and establish herself in the realms of religion and tradition – embodying two assumed contesting concepts. It is only through an extreme disassociation with herself that Kambili finds a sense of physical and emotional piece and forgiveness – she assumes the role of Kambili that was previously denied by her tyrannical father. Kambili’s shared, yet emotionally exclusive experiences with her mother and brother Jaja, provided the opportunity for these characters to emancipate themselves from the absolutist dystopian reality they were led to believe was the only reality.
The Journal of Commonwealth Literature
Subversive responses to oppression in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus
2019 •
Sandra Nwokocha
Focusing on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's critically acclaimed Purple Hibiscus (2003), this article argues that subversion, an aggressive performance that aimed at overthrowing and displacing patriarchal institutions which initially impact on the choices and activities of the oppressed, is the hallmark of the fictional figures' responses to oppression. The essay contends that such forceful reactions to repression expand our understanding of twenty-first century Nigerian female-authored narratives. This argument I contrast with earlier critical readings, observing that while critics are eager to expose and endorse a female presence in the text, the readings often undermine its revolutionary suggestions. Through a radical feminist approach, my analysis of the novel highlights the heroines in order to demonstrate subversive behaviours in their drive to establish female agency, and notes such defiance to be necessary considering their repressive milieu. In doing so, I conclude with the notion that dissidence is a remarkable feature of the novel and that the radical feminist paradigm is useful in widening awareness of this groundbreaking tenor.
Vivid Journal of Language and Literature
Patriarchal Oppression and Women Empowerment in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus
Tifanny Astrick
This study examines how Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus interrogates the oppressions of women in the Nigerian patriarchal society and how women empower each other lead them to women empowerment. The study shows how the oppressions of women is represented through female characters which perpetually put women in disadvantaged positions as portrayed in Purple Hibiscus. One of the most despicable oppression among the so well-known cultural practices in Nigeria is the patriarchal oppression. However, as the events unfold, efforts will be made in order to reveal of how African women are rated based on the good and real women as represented by Beatrice and Ifeoma. I argue that Adichie's approach to subvert patriarchal oppression describes that despite the struggle and pain, women assert themselves in the world of patriarchy through education and sisterhood. Adichie’s novel suggests women empowerment through social transformation confronted by women. The title of the nove...
Literature and Theology 24,2: 421-435
Dethroning the Infallible Father: Religion, Patriarchy and Politics in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus
Cheryl Stobie
Kambili's Journey to Dignity, and Self-empowerment: A Womanist Approach to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus
Kambili's Journey to Dignity, and Self-empowerment: A Womanist Approach to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus
2022 •
Nicky Lindecrantz
Using womanist theory as a theoretical framework, this study has analyzed identity formation and self-empowerment. Adichie is considered a feminist writer, but her ideals and ideas are very different from Western ideals and aim to survive and challenge patriarchal culture. In her debut novel, Purple Hibiscus, Adichie argues for a change in society's attitude toward the oppression of women and children. Adichie articulates a womanist ideology that relates to universal human suffering. This study considers the postcolonial background of the main characters, who confront the hybridity that occurs with identities that encounter a postcolonial culture. The domination of women is the most basic form of female subjugation in postcolonial Nigerian society. This is largely due to the cultural influences of patriarchal culture inherent in African society, which promotes prejudice against women and accepts violence against women and children as normal. Patriarchal violence is analyzed to explain how surveillance and punishment imprison the characters in the novel and isolate them from others. This analysis aims to show that liberation from oppression is only possible through unity with others, courage, and the achievement of dignity. Keywords: change, Christianity, dignity, identity, Igbo tradition, interaction, liberal- and radical feminism, mimicry, Nigeria, patriarchal violence, postcolonialism, self-empowerment, womanism
A Reformist-Feminist Approach to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus (Pp. 261-274)
nadia aissou
Exploring the Role of Violence in Patriarchy in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus
JRSP-ELT - Journal for Research Scholars and Professionals of English Language Teaching
The present article deals with African Feminism and explores the role of domestic violence in patriarchy with special reference to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus and account the responses of the major characters of the novel and that of the African women towards violence in domestic realms. Theorists from Africa like Gwendolyn Mikell blame colonization for worsening the condition of women. This perspective has also been explored her apart from the role of tradition of African society in maintaining male dominance. Reasons for women's subjugation to domestic violence have also been explored. This study includes the view of the author also which shall throw light upon the gravity of the issue.
GEDRAG & ORGANISATIE REVIEW
Reconnoitering Gender Discrimination, Domestic Violence and Women Oppression in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus
2020 •
Desiree Ann
Chimamanda Adichie's Purple Hibiscus: A Postcolonial Inquiry
MOHD N A G E E N RATHER
The Purple Hibiscus (2013) is the debut novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, that was received with critical acclaim in literary circles all around the world. It is a bildungsroman novel set in the political context of a military coup in 1980's Nigeria. The present paper attempts to examines how the writer portrayed, through the medium of English, the destructive influences of post-colonialism to present to the world the awareness towards the traditions of Africa and its legacy that remained buried beneath the land of colonized Nigeria. For a thorough analysis of the selected text the qualitative research paradigm, guided by thematic textual analysis, has been used. The results show that Purple Hibiscus, as a post colonial text, critiques the associated violence of the colonial forces, religion, and patriarchal domination.
Representation of Violence on Women in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus
Ruth Nzegenuka
ABSTRACT This study examines how Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus interrogates the problem of violence on women. The study shows how violence is represented through characters who due to violence condoned by male characters they are affected. It establishes how the novel portrays religion and patriarchy as two ideologies that men exploit to enforce violence on women and subject them to submission. In the portrait, family is represented as the focal point where violence is nurtured before it largely extends to a wider society. Generally, violence on female characters is manifested in men’s viciousness which in turn causes much suffering whose domino effects have far-reaching implications for both individual characters and the society as a whole. Male characters perpetuating violence on female characters find themselves trapped in the process while the wrath of female characters, triggered by silence, ultimately threatens to destabilize the society. This study thus demonstrates violence on women a serious problem that affect the entire society.
