Jaja’s transplantation of the purple hibiscus from Ifeoma’s garden to his own proves he cherishes its uniqueness, beauty, and power.Ī secondary plot highlighting external governmental upheaval parallels the main plot’s internal family conflicts. This section of the novel illustrates the importance of education, tradition, unconditional love, and acceptance.Īdichie emphasizes many natural elements in Nsukka: Ifeoma’s garden Odim hill weather features like clouds, rain, and the sun and numerous plants, trees, and flowers. Aunty Ifeoma is key in showing strength through adversity, compassion, and a sense of joy. It is here they meet Father Amadi, a different kind of priest, who becomes special friends with Kambili and serves as a role model to all the children, as does Aunty Ifeoma.

They are exposed to a wide-open world that encourages them to laugh, speak for themselves, and discover their own identities in a unique coming-of-age experience. Kambili and Jaja’s visit to Aunty Ifeoma and her children in Nsukka is the turning point of the novel. This intolerance extends to Papa’s father, as well, and is never relinquished. Although their lives may seem disciplined and mundane, the dark truth soon emerges as Papa physically abuses Mama and the children for breaking his enforced theological directives.

The longest section in the book harkens back to before the Palm Sunday incident, when the family’s life is utterly controlled by Papa’s religious tenets. The reader will later learn that the postcolonial Nigerian government’s killing of his partner and silencing his newspaper coupled with Auny Ifeoma's liberating effect on the children, Kambili's first period, and Jaja's growth beyond the world that Papa can provide for him is the catalyst for this most harsh of beatings Papa will deliver and for which Mama will kill him. Mama has endured great hardship at the hand of the uncompromisingly cruel Papa, and this will be Papa's last attempt to control his family in the name of his God. The explosive action followed by silence is not new, but Kambili (the narrator, Jaja's sister) and Jaja have experienced newer, freer worlds outside this one, so their perspective of his violent episodes has changed. The title of this first section, “Breaking Gods,” implies a shattered spirituality, reflected in Mama’s (Beatrice Achike’s) broken figurines, and the fury with which Papa (Eugene Achike) throws his missal, God’s word, at Jaja (Chukwuka Achike), the son who rejects his father’s God. The novel begins with its climax, a violent domestic scene resulting from many months of frustration and change.

Purple hibiscus novel by chimamanda