Purple Hibiscus Symbolism

Purple Hibiscus is a fictional and non-fictional book, written by an Nigerian author named Chimamanda Adichie. Chimamanda Adichie uses many different figurative languages throughout the whole book, but the one that caught my eye was symbolism. Symbolism is when authors use symbols to represent ideas and emotions without actually writing it. Authors mainly use symbolism to engage readers to keep reading. It gives readers a deeper thought, that urges them to continue on with the book. Symbolism is used often in Purple Hibiscus to demonstrate different ideas. Red is used in a bad way towards Papa when he is stressed and upset. Red is also used when Papa is outraged. The color red is a symbol, especially for Papa. Red is associated with Papa whenever he is feeling unsteady, fatigued, and upset. Red is used to show flaw or threat

Kambili and jaja have a portrait of their grandfather Papa Nnukwu, hidden in Kambili’s room without Papa knowing. They both know Papa wouldn’t want the portrait anywhere near the house, but they still kept it anyways. Kambili knew they were gonna get caught, she specifically said “I knew Papa would come in to say goodnight, to kiss my forehead. I knew he would be wearing his wine-red pajamas that lent a slightly red shimmer to his eyes. I knew Jaja wouldn’t have enough time to slip the painting back in the bag, and that Papa would take one look at it and his eyes would narrow.” (Adichie 209) While they were in there looking at the portrait papa walks in on them and sees the painting. Why is it that kambili know Papa’s pajamas and eyes were gonna be red? She knew something bad was bound to happen, which is them getting caught so she automatically knows red had to be involved. This shows that red is a symbol and it’s always affiliated with Papa when it’s an negative situation. There is no way Kambili can just guess that. It has to happen frequently enough for her to