Kambili's Purple Hibiscus

Shannon L. Alder once said, “Your perspective on life comes from the cage you were held captive in”. Kambili has lived in a “cage” her whole life. She has never experienced the different emotions she learns while staying with Aunty Ifeoma and her cousins. While, at Aunty Ifemoa’s house Kambili develops confusion with her feelings for her grandfather. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie demonstrates Kambili’s internal conflicts with her feelings for Papa-Nnukwu in Purple Hibiscus through the use of indirect characterization; she focuses the narrative on the internal and external conflicts Kambili faces to reveal how an individual needs to have outside interactions in order to grow in confidence.

Kambili’s thoughts about her father’s feelings toward Papa-Nnukwu

shows, her internal conflict about her grandfather. She needs outside interactions in order to grow her confidence and this limitation of not being able to interact with others causes a decrease in her confidence.

Kambili describes how Papa explains to her and Jaja they will visit their grandfather: “Kevin will take you. Remember, don’t touch any food, don’t drink anything. And, as usual, you will stay not longer than fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes” (Adichie 61). While Kambili listens to her father inform her that she must not touch the food or stay longer than fifteen minutes, reveals Kambili's initial doubts about Papa-Nnukwu. She wants to express her feelings; however, she knows her father would not accept her true thoughts and feelings. The external conflict exhibits the limitation her father places on, not just her but her entire family, demonstrates the internal conflict between her feelings and what she should do to satisfy her father. In addition to her not being allowed to visit her grandfather, Kambili’s father finds out that she had stayed in the same house as her Papa- Nnukwu. At

home her father calls her upstairs and into the tub, where he pours hot water on her feet: “And then I screamed. ‘That is what you do to yourself when you walk into sin. You burn your feet,’ he said. I wanted to say ‘Yes, Papa’, because he was right” (Adichie 194). This external conflict Papa is forcing on Kambili, by burning her feet, to intentionally obliterate her entire feelings toward Papa-Nnukwu. Due to this external conflict, Kambili’s internal conflict with her feelings, reveals the feeling that she has disobeyed her father by interacting with her grandfather. This limitation of restricting Kambili’s outside interaction with Papa-Nnukwu diminishes her confidence level to thrive.
Instead of Kambili upsetting her father, she chooses to obey her father’s rules and regulations. Due to her obedience to her father, her confidence is limited to excel. For instance, Kambili spends a day at a traditional festival with her Aunty Ifeoma, her three cousins and Papa-Nnukwu; knowing her father would see this as a sin she says, “Because Papa-Nnukwu is a pagan. Papa would have be proud that I said that. ‘Your Papa-Nnukwu is not a pagan, Kambili, he is a traditionalist, Aunty Ifeoma said [...] Pagan, traditionalist what did it matter? He was not a catholic” (Adichie 81). Kambili expressing her thoughts of what Papa-Nnukwu “is” reveals Kambili’s concern toward what her father would think and say. She wants to please her father; implying she is afraid of not being accepted by him. The internal conflict of her preexisting knowledge and what to believe religiously reveals her confused feelings for Papa-Nnukwu. Even though Kambili is given this outside interaction, it demonstrates how Kambili has difficulty understanding her father’s religious beliefs, as well as her own beliefs, restraining her confidence to continue to develop.
Kambili’s internal thoughts show the change in her feelings for Papa-Nnukwu.

However, she still fears and wants to be accepted by her father. Once her grandfather passed away, her Aunty Ifeoma and her cousin, Amaka, mourned his death. Kambili wished she would mourn with them; however, she thought about what her father would say: “I wanted to cry loudly, in front of her, with her. But I knew it might anger her. She was already angry enough. Besides, I did not have a right to mourn Papa-Nnukwu with her; he had been her Papa-Nnukwu more than mine” (Adichie 187). Although, Kambili doesn’t understand her true feelings for Papa-Nnukwu, she demonstrates through indirect characterization that she is sympathetic while still being realistic with herself. Kambili’s external conflict reveals she is more concerned about what others think rather than her own thoughts. Once Kambili and Jaja left their aunt's house, Amaka rushes to Kambili to give her a painting of Papa-Nnukwu. At home Kambili and Jaja look at the painting, when their father is not home, except he came home like an interloper, and crept up the stairs quietly seeing that they were looking at the painting of Papa-Nnukwu. Kambili thought, “The painting was gone. It already represented something lost, something I had never had, would never have. Now even that was gone, and at Papa’s feet lay pieces of paper streaked with earth-tone colors [...] I dashed to the pieces on the floor as if to save them, as if saving them would

mean saving Papa-Nnukwu” (Adichie 210). Kambili is indirectly characterized as brave for finally realizing her true self. This development in confidence reveals that the outside interactions from her Aunty, papa-Nnukwu and her cousins influenced her to find herself.
In conclusion, through the use of indirect characterization in Kambili’s internal and external conflicts, Adichie demonstrated how an individual needs outside interactions in order to develop confidence. The overall significance was to understand Kambili’s struggle with her feelings for her grandfather. As a reader, understanding that in order to be the person you are meant to be, involes rebellion, strength and knowing the sky is the limit. In the end, Kambili finds herself along with, the feelings she has for Papa-Nnukwu. Without being exposed to the outside interaction with her aunt, Kambili might not have broken through her shell and would still be obeying her father. Kambili is finally set free from the cage she was held captive in for almost her entire childhood.