Dethroning The Infallible Father: Religion, Patriarchy and Politics In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus

摘要

In the novel Purple Hibiscus, the Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, examines issues of faith in the private and public domains. She highlights the devastating effects of patriarchal control and intolerance within the family, the Roman Catholic Church, education and the State. Her impulse is reformist, and she offers alternatives to absolutism by endorsing respect, tolerance, forgiveness and hybridity. She promotes a progressive view of religion, spirituality, culture and gender roles. Countering the presentation of the ‘infallible’ father in various guises, Adichie espouses values associated with femininity, and she includes a luminous epiphany of the Virgin Mary. While dark events are depicted in the novel, it also holds out the prospect of redemption and hope.