In the novel Purple Hibiscus, Kambili’s father, Eugene, is portrayed as a complex and compelling character rather than a simple villain. He violently abuses his family, unselfishly supports his community and thinks that what he does is justified in the eyes of religion and God. Eugene loves and cares for his family. He always wants what is best for his family but he requires them to live up to impossibly high standards which if not met will result in violent consequences. While Mama is pregnant she starts to feel sick after church and decides to stay in the car while the others go see Father Benedict. This results in Mama getting beaten by Eugene so badly that she loses her baby. Kambili states that she would count when she heard the thudding sounds from her parent’s room and that “Sometimes it was over before I even go to twenty.” When Kambili hears sounds that could be abuse she follows certain steps to make the time more bearable for her, indicating that abuse is a common occurrence. The abuse that Eugene inflicts upon his family ranges from minor things such as embarrassing Kambili in front of her peers to beating Mama …show more content…
Eugene runs the Standard which has been described as “the only paper that dares to tell the truth”. Through the Standard, Eugene influences hundreds of peoples opinions on political issues by ensuring that the public knows the truth about events occurring in Nigeria. Eugene donates copious amounts of money to both charity and individuals. Throughout his life, Eugene donates money to children’s hospital, motherless babies' homes and to disabled veterans.It is stated that “Eugene pays the school fees for up to a hundred of our people?”.Even after death, Eugene gives half of his estate to St Agnes. This proves that Eugene cares about his community and that he has a side that is not just violent and abusive, but why does Eugene care so much about the community yet abuse his
Aunty Ifeoma, wanting her niece and nephew, to experience something outside of her brother’s structured home, convinces Father, using religious reasons, to let Kambili and Jaja visit her home. Shocked by the schedules given to Kambili and Jaja to follow during the stay, Aunty Ifeoma takes them away and integrates them into her family, making them do shifts for chores. At a time when her cousin’s friends come over, Kambili “wanted to talk with them, to laugh with them so much...but my (her) lips held stubbornly together… and did not want to stutter, so I (she) started to cough and then ran out and into the toilet” (Adichie 141). Kambili, unfamiliar to the house full of light-hearted arguments and constant laughter, finds herself trapped inside her own emotions, incapable of expressing them. Just like any other hero enters a new place with different values, Aunty Ifeoma’s home had a set of completely different values, and Kambili initially has a hard time adapting to this
The first aspect of Willy's character that affected his failure was his pride. Willy's pride caused him to in many situations make very poor and unethical decisions, that affected both himself and his family. An example of this is through the conversation between Willy and Charley “CHARLEY: ‘You want a job?’ WILLY: ‘I got a job, I told you that. [After a slight pause] What the hell are you offering me a job for?’ CHARLEY: ‘Don’t get insulted.’ WILLY: Don’t insult me.”(DOAS: pg x) Willy does not take the offer which is an obvious example of a poor decision. He makes this decision because he sees this generous whole hearted gesture as a kind of pitiful handout that his pride restricts him from taking. By not taking this handout willy puts his self pride infront of
The naivete of a child is often the most easily subjected to influence, and Pearl of the Scarlet Letter is no exception. Throughout the writing by Nathaniel Hawthorne, she observes as Dimmesdale and the rest of the Puritan society interact with the scarlet letter that Hester, her mother, wears. Hawthorne tries to use Pearl’s youth to teach the reader that sometimes it’s the most harmless characters that are the most impactful overall. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Pearl has learned the greatest lesson from the scarlet letter through her innocence as a youth and her realization of the identity of both herself and her mother.
To begin with, Charlie Gordon experiences pain throughout the novel. “Those who want to reap the benefits of this great nation must bear the fatigue of supporting it,” (Paine). In the novel Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes Charlie Gordon is a thirty-seven year old man who is mentally impaired and has a I.Q. of sixty-eight. This quote relates to the novel because it is saying that if anyone wants the benefits they have to go through some bumps to get there. Even though Charlie did get his feelings hurt throughout the journey, his operation had more benefits than costs.
Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire is a overly dramatic play that concludes in a remarkable manner. The play takes off by introducing Stanley and Stella, a married couple whom live in New Orleans. They have a two-sided relationship, very loving but abusive. Then suddenly Blanche shows up, Stella’s sister, and informs Stella that their home in Belle Reve was lost. A few days later, Blanche meets and becomes attracted to Mitch, a friend of Stanley. Blanche sees Stanley as an abusive husband and contrasts him to Mitch. Blanche immediately begins to develop deep emotions for Mitch because he is very romantic and a gentleman. Blanche begins to talk to Stella because she does not want her sister to be abused.
Eugene seems very self centered and given his description of the book he seems to care much about his appearance and his place in society. While in Aunt Ifeoma's home Kambili thinks about an event in Jaja’s past after the Aunt asks Jaja what had happened to his small finger as it was devastated,”When he was ten, he had missed two questions on his catechism test...papa took him upstairs...came out supporting his left hand with his right”(Adichie 145). Here it is apparent just how much he cares for his self image. Jaja did not manage to get to the top spot in his class, thus would directly affect Eugene as his kids would not be just as revered as himself leading to his self image being lowered. He hates this, this feeling of second best. He feels
In the novel Oliver Twist, there are many examples of child abuse including when after Oliver asks for some more food, and then gets not only yelled at, but beaten. “Please, sir, I want some more. The master aimed a blow at Oliver’s head with the ladle, pinioned him in his arms, and shrieked aloud for the Beadle” (Dickens 34). This means that he hit Oliver and then grabbed him in between his arms. This is an example of physical child abuse. Also, later in the book, Oliver gets emotionally abused when he is at Fagin’s house. Fagin’s gang and Oliver are all encouraged by Fagin to drink gin and smoke cigars. This is a horrible thing to do on Fagin’s part. “Oliver ate his share, and the Jew then mixed him a glass of hot gin-and-water: telling him
In the beginning of the novel, Kambili is restricted by her father, abiding to every order he gives and is unable to express herself or act as she wants with out suffering punishment. The clear hold that her father has over Kambili’s life is seen through how she describes the schedule, in which she said, “Papa liked order. It showed even in the schedules themselves, the way his meticulously drawn lines, in black ink, cut across the day, separating study from siesta, siesta from family time, family time from eating, eating from prayer, prayer from sleep,” (23-24). Through this quote, the amount of restraint that Papa puts on Kambili is seen, showing how she is given no time to ponder what she would like to do or even participate in other activities. However, her desire to please her father is matched with her fear of his anger, leading to it...
may the God of vengeance now yield me His places to punish the wicked,” (Dumas 131).
But after not seeing any improvement from her father and noticing the bruises on her Uhmma, Young Ju knew that she had to take matters into her own hands. One night, her Apa began to attack her Uhmma. When she heard her mother’s wail and the clanging of pots and pans, she knew that she had to call the police. Although she was hesitant, she managed to say “Send help... my father is killing my mother” (Na 133).
We could see early on that all grown- ups aren’t equally immune to damage. My father wears his faith like the bronze breastplate of God’s foot soldiers, while our mother is more like a good cloth coat with a secondhand fit.” ( Book 1, Chapter 10) Monica Mclleland- 6 Before the Price family came to the Congo Orleanna Price gave up her personality and unique abilities, for a man who could never love her more than he does his religious beliefs. Once the Price family gets to the Congo Orleanna goes through a change and even the kids begin to notice because she threaten to beat them for the first time in their life.
The pain of contact was so pure, so scalding. I felt nothing for a second. And then I screamed.” Kambili was reluctant to going back home to Enugu with Papa.
Agnes church, father Benedict, who once mentions Papa’s donation to the church to use as a marketing tool to help raise funds for the church. Kambili also admires Papa greatly for his work in the Standard and his donations to the church and missionaries. Even though Kambili is abused by her father, she thinks of him as a godly image thinking he cannot be wrong. Mama also admires Papa for remaining with her even though Papa has also killed her baby. Her admiration for Papa slowly fades as the story progresses.
Motherhood is seen in our culture as a nurturing and loving role. It’s much more empathetic unlike the view of fathers. A strong and more independent individual with little emotions to speak of. A provider and a protector, a stark contrast to mothers who promote emotional and social growth for their children as opposed to mental or physical. However White Fang has a different take on the vanilla roles parents play and how they should or can function.
...eruption of violence. Though we do not see any abuse in this first chapter, Kambili’s fear is palpable. Her concern for the well-being of her brother signifies not only the punishments they have received in the past, but also that Jaja’s behavior is new. This is a coming of age story for Jaja as well.