Prose: Purple Hibiscus KEY QUOTES Flashcards
Kambili: symbolism for Papa’s abuse/love
‘Love sips’
‘I knew that when the tea burned my tongue, it burned Papa’s love into me’
Kambili: dependence on Papa/struggle for his approval
‘“God will deliver us.” I said, knowing that Papa would like my saying that (…) Then he reached out and held my hand, and I felt my mouth were full of MELTING SUGAR’
‘I wanted to tell Jaja that my eyes tingled with unshed tears, that I still listened for and wanted to hear, Papa’s footsteps on the stairs’
Kambili: Father Amadi
‘I could not move my tongue, could not swallow. I was too aware of his eyes, too aware that he was looking at me, watching me’
’He was too close (…) I wanted to collapse into him’
Takes Kambili to get her braids done -> love
KEY THEME: family
‘The painting … represented something lost, something I had never had, would never have’
‘Obiora balances Aunty Ifeoma’s family on his head’
KEY THEME: silence vs speech
‘Silence hangs over us (…) but a different kind of silence, one that lets me breathe’
‘They are always so quiet (…) Imagine what the Standard would be like if we were all quiet’ - Ade Coker
‘ I willed the words to come (…) but they would not come’
KEY THEME: religion
‘I remembered Aunty Ifeoma’s words (…) about Papa Nnukwu being a traditionalist and not a heathen’
‘He had seemed immortal’
‘He was gracious, in the eager-to-please way that he always assumed with the (…) white religious’
KEY THEME: tradition vs colonialism
‘Igbo was not acceptable’ in the church
‘Papa changed his accent when he spoke, sounding British’
‘They insisted that people take English names to be baptized. Shouldn’t we be moving ahead?”’ -Amaka
KEY THEME: violence
‘“we will protect him.” I knew that Jaja meant from Papa’
‘The words in my textbooks kept turning into blood each time I read them’
‘A coup always began a vicious cycle’ (political violence followed by domestic abuse)
‘Military men would always overthrow one another, because they could, because they were all power drunk’
Mama
‘Papa deserved praise for not choosing to have more sons with another woman’
‘Mama sounded like a recording’ when she told them about the murder
‘Mama took the belt from him and laid it on the table’
Gives Kambili Panadol, visits her in the hospital
Jaja: DEFIANCE
‘Being defiant can be a good thing sometimes’
‘Jaja’s defiance seemed to me now like Aunty Ifeoma’s experimental Purple Hibiscus: rare, fragrant with the undertones of freedom’
‘His eyes are too full of guilt to really see me, to see his reflection in my eyes, the reflection of my hero’ (when they visit him in prison
Aunty Ifeoma
‘I could not tear my eyes away. It was the fearlessness about her’
‘Her whisper was like her - tall, exuberant, fearless, loud, larger than life’
‘It was the way the carried her head, high and proud, the way she laughed with her mouth wide open, unguarded’
Kambili: silence to speech progression
‘Why do you always lower your voice? (…) You talk in whispers’ - Amaka
‘Are you sure they’re not abnormal, Mom?’
‘Kambili, have you no mouth? Talk back to her?’
‘You can do anything you want’
‘Amaka says’… they exchange letters and she gives Kambili advice
Kambili: father amadi change
‘His letters dwell on me. I carry them around because they are long and detailed, because they remind me of my worthiness, because they tug at my feeling’
‘I no longer wonder if I have a right to love Father Amadi; I simply go ahead and love him’
‘God and I are simply sharing’ -> stops feeling guilty and overthinking her actions
