I am going to write an essay on the novel Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and discuss the events that take places as well as the depiction of violence in the novel and the various entanglements which are suggested between the private world of the family and the public world of the church and state. The novel is based on post colony in Nigeria and it looks at how the characters’ lives are affected by the current situations and how they manage to uphold their positions in society as well as in their different households even with the various problems that seem to arise in Nigeria and in their lives during this time.
Coercive violence
During this period a big problem arises in Nigeria as the change of coups is announced and Eugene for one is not pleased with this change, this is evident when Eugene says “Coups begat coups” (Chimamanda, p.24). We are made aware that violence will arise as a result of the changes made in that country and this seems to be the beginning of violence in the country, “A coup always began a vicious…show more content… This supports the theme of “appearance vs. reality in the sense that the appearance is the public life and the reality is the private life that no one else knows about expect those who are directly affected by the situation. The Achike family portray themselves as well disciplined, loving, united and respectful to the public and that is just how the public views them, we learn about this when the family visits Eugene’s hometown and the people in the community are overjoyed at his arrival and call him “Omelora” (Chimamanda, p.55) because of the kindness and good giving heart he has for his people and community. The family or rather the father tries to uphold a good and clean image of the family and that is why he always expects them to perform to their at most best which in this case is being first in everything they do (Chimamanda,
completely forbidden or excessively limited. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie follows this example in her novel Purple Hibiscus, in which the voices of Kambili