AFRICAN PROSE ADICHIE CHIMAMANDA NGOZI: Purple Hibiscus What aspect of Kambili's character are revealed during the children's visits to Aunty Ifeoma?

Answer Details

In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus, the visits that Kambili and her brother Jaja make to Aunty Ifeoma's flat in Nsukka are the turning point of Kambili's development. Away from the terror of her father Eugene's house, several aspects of her character are gradually revealed.

Her deep repression and timidity. At first the visits expose how thoroughly her father has crushed her. She is painfully shy, stammers, struggles to speak at meals, and cannot join easily in the free, laughing conversation of Ifeoma's household. Her difficulty even in laughing shows the extent to which fear has silenced her.

Her capacity for warmth and love. As the visits continue, Kambili's suppressed capacity for affection surfaces. She responds to the love and freedom of the household and develops her first, tender feelings of love for the young priest Father Amadi, revealing a warm, romantic and yearning inner self hidden beneath her silence.

Her growing self-expression and confidence. Under Ifeoma's encouragement Kambili begins to open up: she learns to smile, to laugh, to run at the stadium, and to speak her mind more freely. Her transformation from a mute, fearful girl into one who can express joy shows a latent liveliness and strength that her home had stifled.

Her sensitivity and capacity for jealousy. Her feelings for Father Amadi and her uneasy relationship with her outspoken cousin Amaka reveal a sensitive, self-conscious nature capable of jealousy, longing and wounded pride, the ordinary emotions of a maturing adolescent.

Her budding independence. The freedom of Nsukka plants the seeds of quiet rebellion against her father's tyranny, so that the visits reveal a girl capable of growth, questioning and eventual independence.

Conclusion. The visits to Aunty Ifeoma reveal Kambili as a naturally warm, sensitive and intelligent girl whose true self, long buried by fear, blossoms into affection, confidence and the first stirrings of independence once she is given love and freedom.