Index IntroductionTheme of Silence in Purple HibiscusConclusionWorks CitedIntroductionSilence is never the answer when abuse is involved. Purple Hibiscus is a novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie about a very religious Nigerian father who controls his families life. In Nigeria, a woman is not allowed to speak unless she is also spoken to. Most people in Nigeria take their religious beliefs too far and start doing really bad things, like Eugene. Silence about the family leads to other family members not knowing what is going on until they actually start observing and finding out. Women in most cases are unable to express their feelings and let other family members or other people speak for them. In the novel Purple Hibiscus, Kambili shows how her silence causes her to be unable to express her feelings and makes her let other people do the talking for her. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The Theme of Silence in Purple Hibiscus At first, Kambili does not speak at all, but only speaks when spoken to. He begins to describe the silence between the family on certain occasions. “We all got the salt at the same time. Jaja and I touched the crystal shaker, my finger touched it gently, then he let go. I passed it to dad. Silence extended the room. While dad asks for salt, Jaja and Kambili take salt. Silence still reigns throughout the room. Kambili manages to hand the salt to Dad while silence still extends across the room. Later in the novel, Ade Coker quips, “Imagine what the Standard would be like if we were all quiet.” Even Ade Coker says, “I'm not like those noisy kids.” Dad didn't find this statement funny, but Ade Coker and his wife Yewande did. Dad believed that speaking loudly was very disrespectful. Dad trained his kids not to be loud and obnoxious. How though? There are a few ways to handle your children without abusing them. Dad makes a statement saying, “I am not like those rowdy children that people raise nowadays, with no home education and no fear of God.” Basically telling them that he disciplines them, but they don't know exactly how. Midway through the novel, Kambili makes a comment stating, "That night I dreamed that I was laughing, but it didn't sound like my laugh, even though I wasn't sure what my laugh sounded like. Kambili never felt a sense of humor in her life. Her life is based on her father but he also doesn't have much happiness in his life. This shows how his Kambili is influenced by Eugene. Kambili also can't think of anything in his moments of random silence. She states: “For a long silent moment I couldn't think of anything. My mind was blank, I was empty. Then I thought about taking a sip of dad's tea, sips of love, the boiling liquid that she burned her love on my tongue.Kambili couldn't find the words but she thought of dad's 'sips of love' Kambili thinks her hot tea is dad giving her love time, Kambili is influenced by her father and her father influences her by making her think that the "love sips" of her hot tea are dictated by love. He doesn't express his "sips of love" to his family, but Aunt Ifeoma eventually finds out that Eugene is abusive. At the end of the novel, Amaka says to Kambili, "Why do you lower your voice?" Amaka also describes this by saying, “You lower your voice when you speak. You speak softly." This tells us how Kambili speaks to people. She doesn't speak very loudly, basically, 46(2), 127-142.