Purple Hibiscus Part III Quotes
Page Number
Element
Quote
1. 206
Rain is a motif.
Mood.
Imagery.
“It rained heavily the day Ade Cooker died, a strange, furious rain in the middle of the parched harmattan.”
2. 209
Characterization of Jaja.
“ ‘O nkem. It’s mine,’ Jaja said. He wrapped the painting around his chest with his arms.”
3. 210
Fearful tone with a hint of pride. Characterization of Jaja.
“If only Jaja would look at me, I would ask him not to blame himself.”
4. 211
Mood.
Characterization of Kambili, observant and very observant of small things.
“When I opened my eyes, I knew at once that I was not in my bed. The mattress was firmer than mine.”
5. 211
Imagery of Mama. Metaphor of needles. Used needles because Kambili says earlier that she hates needles.
“Her face felt clammy with tears. Her touch was light, yet it sent needles of pain all over me, starting from my head.”
6. 213
Elaborate metaphor relating to Kambili’s life. Also foreshadows.
“‘When a house is on fire, you run out before the roof collapses on your head.’”
7. 217
Rain is a motif. The mood shows that a new tomorrow is approaching and the past is behind Kambili. It also shows the fresh atmosphere of Nsukka.
“Rain splashed across the floor of the verandah, even though the sun blazed and I had to narrow my eyes to look out the door of Aunty Ifeoma’s living room.”
8. 220
Characterization of Kambili.
“It felt easy saying that, letting the words roll off my tongue.”
9. 221
Repetition of “I wished.” Also shows characterization of Kambili.
“I wished…disappear for a while. I wished I were alone with him. I wished…fired-clay shade of his skin.”
10. 222
Characterization of Aunty Ifeoma. She wants to stand up for what is right.
“I am not paid to be loyal. When I speak the truth, it becomes disloyalty.”
11. 225
Characterization of Jaja. He is doing something he would never do in Enugu, and he is familiarizing himself with nature.
“Jaja was kneeling in the garden, weeding.”
12. 226
Characterization of Aunty Ifeoma and Kambili. Metaphor.
“It was what Aunty Ifeoma did to my cousins, I realized then, setting higher and higher jumps for them in the way she talked to them, in what she expected of them.
13. 231
Characterization of Obiora.
“‘How you go just come enter like dis? Wetin be dis?’”
14. 235
Characterization of Jaja.
“There was a precision in Jaja, a single-mindedness that was cold, clinical.”
15. 246
Simile. Kambili uses a simile to compare one thing to something else she is familiar with.
“Amaka took my hand in hers. It felt warm, like the hand of someone just recovering from malaria.”
16. 248
Imagery and character description of Mama.
“Mama sat carefully at the edge of a cane chair. Her eyes were glazed over as she looked around.”
17. 253
Purple hibiscus is a symbol for freedom. This quote has foreshadowing.
“‘See, the purple hibiscuses are about to bloom,’ Jaja said, as we got out of the car.”
18. 257
Metaphor and personification.
“Even the silence that descended on the house was sudden, as though the old silence had broken and left us with the sharp pieces.”
19. 258
Papa has a resigned tone.
“‘Jaja, Jaja,’ Papa said, pushing the door. ‘You must eat with us this evening, do you hear me?’”
20. 261
Surprised tone.
“I did not ask what he meant, or how he would convince papa to let us go.”
21. 264
Characterization of Amaka.
“Without her still eyes bearing down on me, I did not pour in too much hot water, and the garri turned out firm and smooth.”
22. 268
Man vs. self conflict of Kambili.
“I did want to talk to papa, to hear his voice, to tell him what I had eaten and what I had prayed about so that he would approve…”
23. 269
Repetition and characterization of Kambili.
“I laughed. I laughed because…so yellow. I laughed…had really sucked them. I laughed…reflection in them.”
24. 271
Characterization of Amaka.
“I told you I am not taking an English name, Father.”
25. 276
Conflict. Man vs. self.
“Yet I knew that I would not, could not, pray that she get the visa.”
26. 279
Sympathetic tone.
“Finality hung in the air, heavy and hollow.”
27. 284
Nostalgic tone.
“Running made me think of Father Amadi, made me remember the way his eyes had lingered on my bare legs.”
28. 287
Characterization.
“He was different from Ade Coker, from all the other people they had killed. He had seemed immortal.”
29. 291
Characterization.
“Jaja did not wait for their questions; he told them he had used rat poison, that he put it in Papa’s tea.”
30. 307
Metaphor. Rain is a metaphor for a cleanser, meaning a new tomorrow and a forgotten past.
“The new rains will come down soon.”