Beyond the odds of the red hibiscus: a critical reading of Chimamanda Adichie's Purple Hibiscus.(Critical essay): An article from: Journal of Pan African Studies

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From the author: Fiction in Africa has taken a new turn with the production of realities in factional modes. The need to tell the story from the 'inside' could have been one of the reasons for these significant literary productions. In Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie, there is a critical presentation of the oddities in Nigeria as well as Africa in general, as the continent trudges in the biting tyrannical trauma of the military and anarchical leaderships. This aspect is x-rayed beyond the micro setting (families) to the macro society (countries) as the inhabitants, represented by the naive Kambili, perceive unruly torture in their experience of governance. We see a novel that reassesses what Izevbaye (1979) expresses as "the civilizing function which literature performs by tearing down the veil of sophisticated drawing room manners and fashionable clothes ... dealing with the African image in the past or the politics of the present" (African Literature Today 10, 14). This paper examines how Chimamanda Adichie has unraveled the problems of politics, freedom, gender and development within the threshold of governance in Africa.

Citation Details
Title: Beyond the odds of the red hibiscus: a critical reading of Chimamanda Adichie's Purple Hibiscus.(Critical essay)
Author: Anthony C. Oha
Publication:Journal of Pan African Studies (Magazine/Journal)
Date: August 1, 2007
Publisher: Journal of Pan African Studies
Volume: 1 Issue: 9 Page: 199(13)

Article Type: Critical essay

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