Domestic violence in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus

Abstract

Gender-based violence is an issue that has become a part of modern society, cutting across cultures, race, ethnicity and status. In Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, gender-based violence manifests in the form of domestic violence, projected through the Eugene Achike family around whom the story, set in the eastern part of Nigeria, revolves. Clearly, the domination of women is the most fundamental form of female subjugation in the African society. This is largely due to cultural influences for, the patriarchal culture, inherent in the African society, encourages prejudices against women, and accepts the battery of wives (and, by extension, children) by husbands as normal. Domestic violence is therefore a regular feature in many African homes, a situation which is portrayed by Adichie in her debut novel, Purple Hibiscus, as she advocates change in the attitude of society to this anomaly. The success of her advocacy is the focus of this article.