AFRICAN PROSE ADICHIE CHIMAMANDA NGOZI: PURPLE HIBISCUS Examine the importance of the military in the novel.

Answer Details

The military is an important background presence in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus. Set in an unstable, post-independence Nigeria, the novel uses the military to link the private tyranny of Eugene's home to the public tyranny of the state.

The coup and the atmosphere of fear. Early in the novel a military coup overthrows the government, and the radio announcements of soldiers seizing power establish an atmosphere of instability, censorship and dread that hangs over the whole story. Ordinary life is shadowed by roadblocks, corruption and the threat of violence.

The military and the persecution of truth. Eugene owns the Standard, a newspaper edited by the courageous Ade Coker, which dares to criticise the corrupt regime. The military strikes back: Ade Coker is detained and tortured, and is finally assassinated by a parcel bomb delivered to his home while he sits at breakfast with his family. Through this, Adichie exposes the brutality of military dictatorship toward the free press.

A mirror of domestic tyranny. The oppressive military state parallels Eugene's oppressive rule over his household. Just as the soldiers silence and terrorise citizens, Eugene silences and terrorises his wife and children. The public and the private forms of dictatorship reflect one another, so that the military theme deepens the novel's study of oppression.

Corruption and its cost. Bribery of officials, fuel scarcity and the general decay under military rule form the social backdrop against which the family drama unfolds, reminding the reader that the Achikes' troubles are part of a wider national sickness.

The military is therefore important both as realistic setting and as a symbol: it dramatises the crushing of freedom in the nation and mirrors, on a national scale, the crushing of freedom inside Eugene's home.