PURPLE HIBISCUS QUOTES

Question 1

Quote for Kambili:

“The words in my text…”

Answer 1

“The words in my text book kept turning into blood each time i read them.”

Question 2

Quote for Kambili:

“I remained a…”

Answer 2

“I remained a backyard snob to most of my class girls.

Question 3

Quote for Kambili:

“I cleared my throat…”

Answer 3

“I cleared my throat, willed the words to come. I knew them, thought them. But they would not come.”

Question 4

Quote for Kambili:

“It was like balancing…”

Answer 4

“It was like balancing a sack of gravel on my head every day at school and not being allowed to steady with my hand.” (Pressure in school).

Question 5

Quote for Kambili:

“Last night…”

Answer 5

“Last night, i dreamed that i was laughing, but it did not sound like my laughter, although i was not sure what my laughter sounded like. It was cackling and throaty and enthusiastic, like Aunty Ifeoma’s.”

Question 6

Quote for Kambili:

“I stood there…”

Answer 6

“I stood there, staring at her, wishing Aunty Ifeoma was there, to speak for me.”

Question 7

Quote for Kambili:

“My hands started…”

Answer 7

“My hands started to shake […] [Father Amadi’s] loping, comfortable gait pulled my eyes and held them.”

Question 8

Quote for Kambili:

“As [Father Amadi] drove…”

Answer 8

“As [Father Amadi] drove, we sang Igbo choruses. I lifted my voice until it was smooth and melodious like his.”

Question 9

Quote for Kambili:

“Anger suddenly…”

Answer 9

“Anger suddenly filled me, constricting my air passages, pressing my nostrils shut. Anger was alien and refreshing.”

Question 10

Quote for Kambii:

“I laughed…”

Answer 10

“I laughed. It seemed so easy now, laughter.”

Question 11

Quote for Jaja:

“Jaja’s defiance…”

Answer 11

“Jaja’s defiance seemed to me like Aunty Ifeoma’s experimental purple hibiscus: rare, fragant and with undertones of freedom… a freedom to be, to do.”

Question 12

Quote for Jaja:

“Jaja spoke…”

Answer 12

“Jaja spoke to me with his eyes.”

Question 13

Quote for Jaja:

“[Jaja] looked as…”

Answer 13

“[Jaja] looked as though he had been lying there watching TV his whole life. It was the same way he looked in Aunty Ifeoma’s garden.”

Question 14

Quote for Jaja:

“Aunty Ifeoma said…”

Answer 14

“Aunty Ifeoma said, “your father wants you to stay here a few days longer,” and Jaja smiled so widely i saw dimples i did not even know he had.”

Question 15

Quote for Jaja:

“The key to my room…”

Answer 15

“The key to my room. I would like you to have it. Makana, because i would like some privacy.”

Question 16

Quote for Jaja:

“Then i will die…”

Answer 16

“Then i will die. Fear had darkened Jaja’s eyes to the color of coal tar, but he looked Papa in the face now.”

Question 17

Quote for Papa Eugene:

“Things started to…”

Answer 17

“Things started to fall apart […] when Papa flung his heavy missal across the room.”

Question 18

Quote for Papa:

“Brother Eugene…”

Answer 18

“Brother Eugene […] could have chosen to be like other Big Men in this country but he spoke out for freedom.”

Question 19

Quote for Papa:

“A love sip…”

Answer 19

“A love sip, he called it […] i knew that when the tea burned my tongue, it burned Papa’s love into me.”

Question 20

Quote for Papa:

“We stood at…”

Answer 20

“We stood at the landing and watched Papa descend. Mama was slung over his shoulder.”

Question 21

Quote for Papa:

“He poured…”

Answer 21

“He poured the hot water on my feet, slowly, as if he were conducting an experiment and wanted to see what would happen. He was crying now, tears streaming down his face.”

Question 22

Quote for Papa:

“Everything i do…”

Answer 22

“Everything i do for you, i do for your own good,” Papa said.”

Question 23

Quote for Mama:

“I used to wonder…”

Answer 23

“I used to wonder why she polished [the figurines] each time i heard the sounds from their room, like something being banged against a door.”

Question 24

Quote for Mama:

“[Mama’s] face…”

Answer 24

“[Mama’s] face was swollen and the area around her right eye was the black-purple shade of an overripe avocado. She was smiling.”

Question 25

Quote for Mama:

“Mama slid..”

Answer 25

“Mama slid down the floor […] she cried for a long time.”

Question 26

Quote for Mama:

“Mama’s eyes were…”

Answer 26

“Mama’s eyes were still glazed, but she looked like a different woman […] she looked possesed by a different demon.” (Mama resolves to return home to poison Eugene after Kambili’s beating).

Question 27

Quote for Aunty Ifeoma:

“Every time…”

Answer 27

“Every time Aunty Ifeoma spoke to Papa, my heart stopped […] it was the flippant tone.”

Question 28

Quote for Aunty Ifeoma:

“She laughed…”

Answer 28

“She laughed so easily, so often. They all did.”

Question 29

Quote for Aunty Ifeoma:

“Laughter always…”

Answer 29

“Laughter always rang out in Aunty Ifeoma’s house […] arguements rose quickly and fell just as quickly.”

Question 30

Quote for Amaka:

“It is a little too…”

Answer 30

“It is a little too sweet. It would be nucer if you reduced the sugar in it.”

Question 31

Quote for Amaka:

“I kept thinking…”

Answer 31

“I kept thinking of Amaka’s lipstick, wondering what it felt like to run over color over your lips.”

Question 32

Quote for Amaka:

“Kambili just behaved…”

Answer 32

“Kambili just behaved like an atulu when my friends came.”

Question 33

Quote for Amaka:

“You were singing.”

Answer 33

“You were singing along to Fela.” (Amaka’s influence is felt.)

Question 34

Quote for Amaka:

““I want to go too…”

Answer 34

"”I want to go too,” i said, smiling because the words i had just said, the whole conversation with Amaka, was dreamlike.”

Question 35

Quotes for religion:

“Pagan, traditionalist…”

Answer 35

“Pagan, traditionalist, what did it matter? [Papa Nnukwu] was not Catholic, that was all; he was not of faith. He was one of those people whose conversation we prayed for so that they did not end in the everlasting torment of hellfire.”

Question 36

Quote for religion:

“