An Important Page in the "Purple Hibiscus"

Pg. 86

Aunty Ifeoma laughed and spoke in English. “Jaja, you’re not supposed to say there are people in there. Didn’t you know that?”

“No,” Jaja said.

She was watching Jaja. “You didn’t do the ima mmuo, did you? Obiora did it two years ago in his father’s hometown.”

“No, I didn’t,” Jaja mumbled.

I looked at Jaja and wondered if the dimness in his eyes was shame. I suddenly wished, for him, that he had done the ima mmuo, the initiation into the spirit world. I knew very little about it, women were not supposed to know anything at all, since it was the first step toward the initiation to manhood. But Jaja once told me that he heard the boys were flogged and made to bathe in the presence of a taunting crowd. The only time Papa had talked about ima mmuo was to say that the Christians who let their sons do it were confused that they would end up in hellfire.

We left Ezi Icheke soon afterward. Aunty Ifeoma dropped off a sleepy Papa-Nnukwu first; his good eye was half closed while his going-blind eye stayed open, the film covering it looked thicker now, like concentrated milk. When Aunty Ifeoma stopped inside our compound, she asked her children if they wanted to come into the house, and Amaka said no, in a loud voice that seemed to prompt her brothers to say the same. Aunt Ifeoma took us in, waved to Papa, who was in the middle of a meeting, and hugged Jaja and me in her tight way before leaving.

I think that this is a very crucial moment in the story for Jaja’s character development. Before this we have seen him go through a desire to break out of the control that his father has put upon him. This is very difficult for him and he faces the wrath of his father. However, when he comes to Aunty Ifeoma’s house he begins to learn more about the world outside of his family and a less restricted way of living despite Ifeoma’s involment in the Catholic Church. Jaja appears to be slightly ashamed by his lack of participation in this event, as if it makes him maybe less of a man. Adichie shows this by having Kambili observe Jaja’s reaction in this moment. She ponders if, “the dimness in his eyes was shame.” Jaja is also comparing himself in many ways to Ifeoma’s son, Obioro, who has participated in these traditions despite the fact that his father is deceased. However, this does not prevent Obioro from having a strong connection to his father’s family. This is in contrast to Jaja’s relationship with his paternal grandfather, who he is not allowed to spend a significant amount of time with. This stay with Aunty Ifeoma exposes both Jaja and Kambili to an entirely different way of life and I believe that this page has some critical insight into the change that Jaja will undergo.