Purple Hibiscus: The theme of Religious Abuse
I just finished reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus for perhaps the fourth time. I have a thing for re-reading books I've previously read before cover to cover, maybe to pick for points I'd previously missed.
Adichie's writing style is simple, yet makes an interesting read. I've once commented on how her style is very similar to that of Achebe's. Her books, Half of a Yellow Sun and Purple Hibiscus will remain some of my favourites.
Purple Hibiscus is a story narrated from the point of view of Kambili, a fifteen year old teenager, brought up in a wealthy, albeit strict catholic home, by a religious and 'abusive' father. Kambili was a slowly budding teen, brainwashed under the illusions of religion, that never made her admit she was being abused till her father was poisoned by her mother.
The murder of Eugene Achikie is not entirely justified, as nothing could justify taking an human life you did not create. But perhaps Beatrice Achikie saw it as the only way for redemption, having endured years of abuse from the hands of her husband who never quite saw it as abuse, both emotionally and physically; he was simply doing the work of God. Imagine intentionally scalding the feet of a 15 year old girl with a kettle of hot water, simply because she stayed in a house with an 'heathen' man who happened to be her Papa Nnukwu / grandfather. Imagine beating a teenager till the point of unconsciousness because she kept a gift given to her by her cousin, a gift which happened to be the painting of her dead 'pagan' grandfather. Imagine hitting your pregnant wife till she lost the baby simply because...
Imagine...
I think divorce might have been a better option, but I did not live in the 1960s, the period which the book was set. I can only see in Beatrice a brainwashed and helpless woman, a woman living in denial, wanting to save herself and her children from her husband, deciding murder was better alternative than separation, or perhaps fearing the society's dictates and 'what people will say'.
I see a woman weakened by indecision, to choose between her children and her freedom, I say this because I do not believe she would have been allowed to leave with her children, afterall the 'ummuna' believes children belonged to the father.
I look at Beatrice and I see fear.
Fear is one of the forces holding back the average woman. Fear that you are nothing without a husband. Fear that a divorced woman is a outcast. Fear that a woman without sons is nothing. Fear that you cannot achieve anything without a man in your life.
A man's greatest enemy is himself. Not himself per se, but what lives in him. The limiting force, the inferiority complex, the feeling of never being enough.
I think this is what feminism should be about.
Women are abused not because they are weak, but because they have been taught to believe they are weak. Women are abused not because they are seen as nothing, but because the society led them to believe they are nothing. The society feeds on this fear and eventually on the woman. It is like the monster clown in Stephen King's bestseller, IT.
IT feeds on the fear of it's victims, and eventually the victims. IT cannot feed on you if you do not fear.
The beginning of breaking free is getting rid of the fear and inferiority complex, disregarding the society's dictates. You are not weak because you are weak, you are weak because you believe you are weak.
Article Dedicated to; Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, on her birth anniversary.
© Adetomiwa Oyedotun
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