Critics

Question 1

Ngugi Wa Thiong’o - Language

Answer 1

Language as culture is the collective memory bank of a people’s experience in history

Question 2

Onyemaechi Ugumukwu - patriarchy

Answer 2

Purple hibiscus is a paradigm for demystifying forms of patriarchal violence

Question 3

Dr Julie Ellam - public sphere

Answer 3

Adichie’s postcolonial writing about nigeria demonstrates a capacity to look at the family and the wider public sphere with equal regard

Question 4

Ogaga Okuyade - Ifeoma

Answer 4

Ifeoma becomes a symbol of the iconoclastic identity and demystifier of patriarchal and despotic establishments

Question 5

Ogaga Okuyade - Eugene’s home

Answer 5

Eugene’s home becomes microcosmic of the entire NIgerian nation

Question 6

Andrew Nernstein - Eugene

Answer 6

Eugene is “an excellent example of the principled mind-body integration”

Question 7

Daria Tunca - violence and effects

Answer 7

Kambili doesn’t physically escape her father’s blows, but she nevertheless manages a metaphorical flight

Question 8

Daria tunca - Language

Answer 8

Language is regarded as a prism through which understanding of reality is conveyed

Question 9

Linda Strong-Leek - Patriarchy

Answer 9

While reading as a woman, one must acknowledge that women are also indoctrinated to envision the world from a patriarchal perspective

Question 10

Madhu Krishnan - Patriarchy

Answer 10

The portrayal of women in Achebe’s women is seen as a sign of the barbarism and patriarchal cruelty of igbo civilisations

Question 11

Bryce, 2008 - Eugene’s authority

Answer 11

Kambili has internalised her father’s authority to such an extent that it has become an unquestioned part of the way she experiences and interacts with the world