In the beginning of Purple Hibiscus there was a connection that I caught on to.
On page 16 the Hibiscus bush represents freedom, and on page 9 the two men working for the Government originally came to bribe the father. On their way out the two men were toying with the hibiscus bush. Jaja, in lack of better words throws himself into jail to protect his mother. The government accepts his claim and goes along with it. The whole time he is in jail, Kambili and her mother was bribing the police and lawyers to get Jaja out of jail faster.
- “But even the government agents, two men in black jackets who came some time ago, yanked at the hibiscus as they left. They came in a pickup truck with Federal Government plates and parked close to the hibiscus bushes.”(9).
- “Jaja’s defiance seemed to me now like Aunty Ifeoma’s experimental purple hibiscus: rare, fragrant with undertones of freedom, a different kind of freedom from the one the crowds waving green leaves chanted at Government Square the after coup. A freedom to be, to do.”(16).
On page 16 the Hibiscus bush represents freedom, and on page 9 the two men working for the Government originally came to bribe the father. On their way out the two men were toying with the hibiscus bush. Jaja, in lack of better words throws himself into jail to protect his mother. The government accepts his claim and goes along with it. The whole time he is in jail, Kambili and her mother was bribing the police and lawyers to get Jaja out of jail faster.
The government never took away the hibiscus bush from the family at all, they plucked at them. The two men from the government came to offer "Papa" money originally but they yanked at them before they left. "...yanked at the hibiscus as they left." (page 9)
ReplyDeleteThat's a good observation I did not see it that way. Thank you for pointing that out.
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