Skip to main content

Purple Hibiscus Response

So far, I am enjoying reading Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Right away the timeline of events in the book is in a different order which I find interesting. The novel is separated into sections titled "Palm Sunday", "Before Palm Sunday", "After Palm Sunday", and "Present". This creates a sense of mystery as to what happens on Palm Sunday and why the novel is based off of this one day. Also with the sections, they are titled relating to the religious Palm Sunday. This shows the novel has a religious aspect which determines much of how the family lives.

Another aspect of the book I find interesting is how much Papa controls his children's lives. He creates strict weekly schedules for his entire family. He also administers his children's participation in school and their grades. He holds Kambili and Jaja to extremely high expectations and does not accept anything lower than the best. An example of this is how disappointed he was in Kamibili for being second in her class. He visits her school making a statement of how Chinwe does not have two heads, to prove that there are no excuses for her coming in second. While parental control is important in children's lives, it will be interesting to see how Kambili and Jaja react to this level of control.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LOTF Response

Ralph chose the firm strip as a path because he needed to think, and only here could he allow his feet to move without having to watch them.  Suddenly, pacing by the water, he was overcome with astonishment.  He found himself understanding the weariness of this life, where every path was an improvisation and a considerable part of one's waking life was spent watching one's feet.  He stopped, facing the strip, and remembering that first enthusiastic exploration as though it were part of a brighter childhood, he smiled jeeringly. [...] This wind pressed his grey shirt against his chest so that he noticed--in this new mood of comprehension--how the folds were stiff like cardboard, and unpleasant; noticed too how the frayed edges of his shorts were making an uncomfortable, pink area on the front of his thighs.  With a convulsion of the mind, Ralph discovered dirt and decay, understood how much he disliked perpetually flicking the tangled hair out of his eyes, and at las...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reading Response

Throughout Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the main character and narrator Kambili, does not have much of a voice. She goes through so many traumatic experiences and so much stress in her daily life that she bottles it up. Her father holds extremely high expectations for her, constantly keeping her on edge. Before her trip to Nsukka, Kambili abided by what her father asked of her and was extremely polite, making it seem to others, such as girls at school or her cousins, that she didn't have a personality. She also gave off the impression that her wealth made her too good for others. While in Nsukka, Kambili builds up more confidence and meets people like Father Amadi who make her comfortable to express herself. She laughs and smiles for the first time in her life when surrounded by Aunty Ifeoma and her cousins, people she looked up to for their ability to be so comfortable and happy. Another aspect of the novel that I noticed was Papa's reaction every time he be...
1 comment
Read more

New Semester Reflection

The fall semester was my first semester of high school which meant a lot to get used to. The three things I learned during the fall semester was to stop procrastinating, get more sleep, and use my tutorials and breaks for studying or doing homework. I procrastinate a lot and so I find myself cramming to complete assignments, papers, etc. on the due date. Procrastination can lead to late nights which leads to less and less sleep. I think the cause of all this procrastination and lack of sleep is being on my phone or computer. I learned to shut it off and sit down and study or do homework. From me turning off my phone and being more focused, I complete assignments faster and get more time to sleep. The third thing I learned from this past semester, is to utilize my tutorial and break times. I play sports every day after school; cheer, soccer, or sometimes both. Having extracurriculars and sports causes me to not have much time at home to do my schoolwork. Tutorial and break times are g...
1 comment
Read more