I belonged to a book club once where this book was suggested by one of the ladies as a good read. It set me to explore the newer batch of upcoming African writers. A lot has been said about Adichie who won the Orange Broadband Fiction in 2007. Some people have even billed her as the next Chinua Achebe. Upon reading Purple Hibiscus, I read 'Half a Yellow Sun' and 'This Thing Around my Neck'.
I was not disappointed by "Purple Hibiscus" as it explored what for me what were difficult subjects and left me with more philosophical questions than answers. How does one reconcile Baba's Christianity to the cruelty exhibited towards his family? Was he two different people? Before judging him too harshly, we must remember that we all are human - to err is human - and we perhaps need a being greater than ourselves to help us manage some of our frailties.
How can one so meek and mousy be pushed to the edge of the precipice into poisoning one's spouse? Such scenarios abound in African lore but even the stories I have heard whispered in life did not prepare me for the tears I freely shed reading the book. What drove the father to such cruelty - what pushed him to the edge? Why did mama poison her husband? Why couldn't she just walk away when she had the opportunity? Do all of us have a breaking point....where we can take no more? I imagine there is always that last straw that breaks the camel's back.
My hero is Jaja, the son who decided, without any prompting, to pay the price for his mother's action. Sort of like Jesus taking our sins upon himself .
The setting is so far away in Nsukka Nigeria but reading it around the time I read the Poisonwood Bible, I wondered why I was being drawn to such tragic books. Or is life just that...simply tragic.
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ReplyDeleteIshiombo,
ReplyDeleteYou pose very interesting questions here, two of which I would like to respond to. I am way behind as I just got done reading Purple Hibiscus, my first Adichie's novel. I have to first commend her for paying homage to Achebe and for meticulously curving such a poignant tale that illustrates the ideological hegemony inherent in our African societies. You ask whether Eugene "was two different people". My answer would be that his character is a dramatization of the duality in identity exhibited by the African bourgeoisie. On the one hand, he is educated, rich, and devoted to his family, while at the same time, he's very distant, cruel, and unfeeling. To me, he represents the group of Africans who've been colonized into submission, albeit for him, it is in the cultural and religious inclinations. W. E. B. Dubois talks of "Double Consciosness" where he says it's the awareness of the descripancy that can exist between the internality and externality of such an identity. Because it relies fundamentally on this self-awareness and awareness of others’ awareness- regardless of specific identities being connected to and expressed- double consciousness can be applied to forms and classifications of identity other than just the African American identity. Homi Bhabha talks of "hybridity" where he argues that the nature of colonial identity is not monolithic,but ambiguous or cross-breed and even asymmetrical between the culture of the colonizer and the colonized. These two concepts happen so well in Eugene's character...he embraces the Catholic religion, but punishes his family with the barbarism of the Igbo...
Moving on, you ask: "Why couldn't she (Beatrice) just walk away when she had the opportunity?". Here, I will turn to a more complex critic...Antonio Gramsci who talks of "ideological domination by consent". Basically, Gramsci argues that the institutions and beliefs that a dominant culture support are so powerful and get hold of people when they're young that alternative ways of envisioning reality are very hard to imagine. (Basically, if you read Karl Marx, you'll realize that this is how hegemony is created). But Gramsci writes: "Fatalism is nothing other than the clothing worn by real and active will when in a weak position". Gramsci makes two important points...that dominant cultures form our view and that the dominated have to consent to it. Beatrice says: "A woman with children and no husband, what is that?...you have come again Ifeoma. You know what I mean. How can a woman live like that?" To me, this is the defining moment for Beatrice's character...can you believe she said this to a widow with children, who has a livelier life than herself?!! I digress...but I hope you see where I am headed with this..
Finally, while your favorite character is Jaja...mine is Ifeoma--I see my mother in her. I see myself in her. I see the hard-working, resilient, intelligent, revolutionary, loving African woman in her. She seems like the only sober adult in the novel and she rocks it hard.
Just seen your response which explains eloquently the subject of the book in a better way than I could. I didn't do this rant justice. I raised more questions than answers.
DeleteThe reason I liked Jaja was that he paid the ultimate prize for his mother. He did not let her take the fall.
I found this a hard book to read. I am not sure I can read it again. It was too painful.