SILENCE IN PURPLE
HIBISCUS
Presented by: Brandon & Jana
HOW DOES ADICHIE
PRESENT THE THEME
OF SILENCE IN
PURPLE HIBISCUS
Purple Hibiscus is a novel made
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
about a very religious
Nigerian father who controls his
families' lives. In Nigeria, a
woman is not allowed to speak
unless spoken too. Most people
in Nigeria take their religious
beliefs too far and begin to do
really bad things, like Eugene.
The silence about the family
leads other family members into
not knowing what is going on
until they actually begin to
observe and find out.
Women are most of the time not
able to express their feelings and
leave other family members or
other people to speak for them.
In the novel, Purple Hibiscus,
Kambili shows how her silence
leads her to not being able to
express her feelings and makes
her leave other people to
speak for her.
The theme of Silence is an important motif that
is important throughout the novel, to the point
that it contrasts the theme of Speech and both
become recurring themes on a personal and
political level. Silence is associated with the
fear of Papa that Mama, Kambiliand Jaja
experience on almost a daily basis. Especially
Kambili, one of the main characters of the
novel who rarely speaks because she is afraid to
stutter and does not ever wish to anger her
father. She and her brother Jaja have a
“language of eyes”, in which they speak only
through glances
In the beginning, Kambili does not
speak at all, but only speaks when
spoken to. She begins
to describe the silence between the
family on certain occasions. "We all
reached for the salt
at the same time. Jaja and I touched
the crystal shaker, my finger brushed
him gently, then
he let go. I passed it to Papa. The
silence stretched the room." As Papa
asks for the salt,
Jaja and Kambili reach out for the
salt. Silence is still expressed
throughout the room.
Kambili is able to hand the salt to
Papa as the silence still stretches
throughout the room
Kambili and Jaja share a very strange relationship
that is non-verbal and both could tell what
the other needed, wanted and thought without
uttering a single word. Rarely ever leaving
home together or even mentioning Papa’s name out
loud. Kambili’s silence then becomes
more conspicuous during her stay with Aunty
Ifeoma’s family she says “I did not say anything else
until lunch was over, but listened to every word
spoke, followed every cackle of laughter and line of
banter. Mostly, my cousins did the talking and Aunty
Ifeoma sat back and watched them, eating slowly”,
and in this scene we find Kambili observing the
power of dynamics and the way aunt Ifeoma’s family
continuously have conversations and Kambili
contrasts this ton the way her family acts back at her
home where they are forced to keep quite by their
father Eugene and the of “laughter and banter”
suggests that the aunt Ifeoma’s family enjoys each
other’s company. This clearly shows that through the
oppression forced on Kambili by her father her
“Silence “becomes a weapon through which she
observes closely how the people around her are
compared to how her father describes the world to
her.
Another area where we find the
theme of silence is in the achike
family.as Eugene the husband and
father of the family terrorises his
family with his violence, their
silence helps perpetuate the
public image of a unified family
headed by a benevolent
patriarch. While
their mother Beatrice rather keeps
quiet about her husband’s
behaviour. This is particularly
shown when Ade Coker visits them
while they are in abba and says
“They are always so quiet’’.
In this instance Ade Coker is
showing a bit of fear worry and
surprise towards the way
these children are so submissive
hinting to the reader the existence
of secrecy amongst the
achike family. This particular type
of silence that exists in the Achike
family shows how Papa
the head of the family had the
freedom of speech whilst Mama,
Jaja and Kambili were
forced to remain quiet.
On a political level we find Papa and Ade Coker write
the newspaper “The Standard” that represents the
freedom of Speech and speaks against the corrupt
government. Aunty Ifeoma too criticises the corruption
she sees unlike the other professors at her university.The
Act of Silence is initiated on them when Ade Coker is
silenced by a package bomb and Aunty Ifeoma loses her
job. These actions are likened to the way Papa treats his
own family using violence and oppressions it contrasts
the way he likes to speak against oppression
though his own family members are victims of it.
At the end of the novel, Amaka says to Kambili, "Why do you lower your
voice?" Amaka describes it by also saying, "You lower your voice when you
speak. You talk in whispers. This gives us an understanding of how Kambili
talks to people. She doesn't talk very loud, basically a whisper, Eugene did tell
Ade Coker that he did not raise his children to be loud and obnoxious, but this
is also because she barely talks at home. Kambili only speaks when
her mom, dad, and Jaja speak to her. Amaka begins to realise how Kambili is
talking and tries to figure out why she speaks that way. Kambili was sitting at
a table and she stated, "I had felt as if I was not there, that I was just
observing the table". This shows her silence even at a dinner table. Eugene
has influenced her so badly to the point that she doesn't even
tend to have conversations at a table, Kambili begins to feel a little left out
because of her not speaking.
CONCLUSION
Ultimately the theme of silence is
meant to show the suffering and
oppression forced on
both the Achike family and
Nigeria as a whole. The silence
shown in the novel is meant to
be the starting point of the
development of the characters
as they encounter other aspects
and points of views of other
people which helps them grow a
conscious state and become
more aware of their environment.
Thank You