AFRICAN PROSE ADICHIE CHIMAMANDA NGOZI: PURPLE HIBISCUS Examine the relationship between Eugene and his wife in the novel.

Answer Details

The relationship between Eugene Achike and his wife Beatrice in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus is one of tyranny and silent suffering that finally erupts into resistance. Adichie uses the marriage to expose how religious fanaticism and domestic violence poison even an outwardly respectable home.

Domination and abuse. Eugene, called Papa, is a wealthy, publicly admired Catholic industrialist, but at home he is a violent religious tyrant. He beats Beatrice for the smallest supposed lapse. On one occasion he assaults her so severely while she is pregnant that she suffers a miscarriage; on another he flings a missal and later beats her until she loses a second pregnancy. His wife bears these attacks in near-total silence.

Beatrice's submission. For most of the novel Beatrice is the model of the crushed, obedient wife. She defends Eugene to her children, polishes the etagere figurines as a way of composing herself after each beating, and endures because tradition and her love for her husband make her cling to the marriage despite the danger.

The imbalance of power. Eugene controls every detail of the household, dictating schedules, prayers and conduct, while Beatrice has no voice. The contrast between his charitable public image and his private cruelty is one of Adichie's sharpest ironies.

The turning point. Beatrice's endurance finally breaks. Unable to escape openly, she poisons Eugene gradually by adding poison to his tea, and he dies. Her son Jaja takes the blame and goes to prison. The wife who seemed powerless becomes, in the end, the agent of her own release, though at terrible cost.

The relationship therefore moves from oppression through long-suffering silence to violent liberation, and through it Adichie condemns the abuse that hides behind piety and respectability.