External Pressure In Purple Hibiscus And Siddhartha

Despite the endless years of wear and tear, the school playground is as bustling as it once was. The sounds of giggles and shouting echoed through the school. The aged swings creaked and the see saws squeaked. Without a single care in the world, bright eyed children laughed and played. But far in the back, a little girl rubbed her cloudy blue eyes, as tears streamed down her face. The older children poked jabs and called her names. All the while, her best friend watched, in fear of what the others will say if she does stand up. Even as children, individuals’ behaviors are already being affected by external pressure. Novels, Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie and Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, explores the difficulties of behaving based on personal

In the earlier scenes of Purple Hibiscus, Kambili was a shy and timid girl who obediently followed her father’s requests, even though his conservative ideologies often put her and her family members at risk of violence. Kambili lived an oppressed childhood caused by her authoritarian father. His stringent ways limited her experiences growing up. Yet, even with all of these issues, she still perceived her father as faultless. But, Kambili’s perspective is contorted when she visits her aunt and cousins in their hometown, Nsukka. New experiences and the exposure of other beliefs and values help Kambili to foster her own set of opinions, which led to a drastic change in her behavior. “Perhaps we all changed after Nsukka” Kambili states later in the novel “- even papa -and things were destined to not be the same, to not be in their original order” (Adichie 209). External factors changed Kambili’s outlook and made her realize that her behavior has been clouded all this time by her domineering father. She acknowledges that her beliefs and morals have strayed from the teachings she grew up with. And that her behavior contradicts the expectations and beliefs set by her father. Her change of values and morals shows that she is no longer overshadowed by external pressure. This new outlook Kambili adopted ultimately changed her behavior. Adichie implies that even though external factors can easily affect

Siddhartha, alters his beliefs multiple times throughout his journey, and each time he does, his behavior also changes. Earlier in the novel, Siddhartha’s belief system was formulated by other people like his family and friends. Siddhartha strives for more, and ends up leaving the comforts of his home to seek enlightenment. He ended up following different groups and leaders like the Samanas and the Buddha. After following different leaders, Siddhartha concluded “I have become distrustful of teachings and learning and that I have little faith in words that come to us from teachers” (Hesse 22). After a longer time spent following different teachers, he realized that he was starting to question their teachings. He no longer wanted to follow a leader but rather make his own path to enlightenment. After this realization, Siddhartha begins his journey to develop his own personal beliefs. Leaving the teachers helped Siddhatha on his journey, but, it also led him to confusion. Confusion led him to the point of self-hatred and loathing. At the brink of self-hatred, Siddhartha states, “-I have now put an end to that self-detestation, to that foolish empty life” (Hesse 97). He came to terms with the fact that in order to reach enlightenment, he needed to develop his own personal beliefs. Through Siddhartha’s thoughts and actions, the reader can infer that his behavior changed