In the novel, Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie utilizes the purple hibiscus as a symbol of Jaja’s free life without his commanding father. She demonstrates, with the use of this symbol, that often times when one is in a hard situation they will find the courage to face it. When Jaja sees a purple hibiscus for the first time he says “That’s a hibiscus, isn’t it, Aunty…? I didn’t know there were purple hibiscuses.” (Adichie 128). His awe for purple hibiscus is during the period where he isn’t with his father. The author does that on purpose to foreshadow that later it will have greater meaning and change the path of the character’s life. It sets up that he will call on this object later to find courage when both of his world’s met, the one with father and the free life with Aunty.…show more content… After, the author writes “The next day was Palm Sunday, the day Jaja did not go to communion, the day Papa threw his heavy missal across the room” (Adichie 254). Chimamanda associates Jaja’s interest with the flowers to Jaja’s rebellion against communion. She emphasizes the connection to show that the purple hibiscus is more than a flower. It pushes him to do get his message across to his father, even if it means aggression towards him, such as father throwing a book at him. He wants to live without his strict father like he experienced with being at Aunty’s house and the purple hibiscus reminded him of
