Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus

It is inevitable that one’s environment will be a primary factor in producing who they are. However, if all they have ever known is confinement, they will fail to comprehend that they are not free. In critically acclaimed author and speaker Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Nigerian-set novel, Purple Hibiscus, protagonist Kambili Achike is the fifteen year old daughter of a wealthy radicalized Catholic father who boxes her in with extreme expectations, and it is unbeknownst to her that she is essentially imprisoned, for it is the only world she has been exposed to. The moment she steps foot into her aunt’s village, the lifestyle of those around her begin to open her eyes to the harsh reality she is living and enables her to taste freedom for the first …show more content…
This is highlighted on page 140, when Kambili notes the exuberance that fills the entirety of her aunt’s small home, “Laughter always rang out in Aunty Ifeoma’s house...morning and night prayers were always peppered with songs, Igbo praise songs…” (Adichie 140). Aunty Ifeoma’s home is the garden that allows Kambili to bloom, providing her with a positive and love-based perspective of life and religion as opposed to her barren home that suppressed her individuality and voice all her life. Although not explicitly stated, it is undoubtedly the aura of livelihood and freedom within her aunt’s home that opens Kambili’s eyes to the stark contrast with her own, thus being the first and most crucial step in identifying her need for liberation. In addition to the lifestyle her extended family lives in Nsukka, her aunt’s relatively liberal beliefs and integration of traditional Nigerian culture also enables her children to be exposed to various lifestyles and opportunities,in order to enable their independence to express themselves in ways that are most fitting to their own liking without damaging constraints. This is highlighted when Aunty Ifeoma explains to Kambili that her grandfather is not a heathen (like she was conditioned to believe by her father), but rather that there is no wrong in practicing a belief different from one’s own, particularly that of traditional Nigerian origin,“...she looked up and said Papa-Nnukwu was not a heathen but a traditionalist...sometimes what was different was just as good as what was familiar.” This moment is a turning point for her; Aunty Ifeoma’s words enable Kambili to see that her father’s teachings are repressive, albeit not by directly saying it. It is essentially like an epiphany for her, for she has grown up conditioned to reject the culture of Nigeria and the way in