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Purple Hibiscus Character Analysis

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The Significance Of the secondary characters Obiora, Amaka and Chima in the lives of Jaja and Kambili in the novel The Purple Hibiscus

In the novel the Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie the main protagonist Kambili and her brother Jaja’s perspectives are significantly impacted by the secondary characters of Obiora, Amaka and Chima in that these secondary characters serve as a medium by which Kambili and Jaja come of age in this novel. The evaluation of specific utterances or actions made by each secondary character will be employed in order to showcase how a change in perspective was sparked in the main protagonist and her brother as well as indicating the effectiveness of the use of secondary characters as catalysts for change within the novel. Specifically, Obiora’s words citing a form of rebellion and defiance within Jaja, Amaka’s outspoken nature and confidence and its impact on Kambili and finally Chima’s …show more content…

Lastly, the secondary character of Chima while perhaps not playing as significant a role in changing either Kambili 's or Jaja perspective the young character does spark a feeling or protectiveness from both of the aforementioned characters. In other words this secondary characters creates an idea that his elder cousins are a form of role models for him and as such can perhaps then be considered to spark a change in that Kambili and Jaja in their perceived roles as role models to this young child present another form of coming of age for the characters as they are no longer looking up to others for guidance but are being looked up to for guidance. Furthermore the use of this young secondary character to spark a change within more central characters again indicates a larger theme of the significance of those viewed as not being central to the story in the larger scheme of things made more effective by not only Chima 's role as a secondary character but his young age as well as those who are younger are not held in as high esteem as

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