AFRICAN PROSE
ADICHIE CHIMAMANDA NGOZI: Purple Hibiscus
Examine the relationship between Kambili and father Amadi.
Explanation
The relationship between Kambili and Rev. Father Amadi shows that real love does not only engender happiness and peace of mind, but it can also be a durable bridge between social and spiritual values.
Father Amadi is a Roman Catholic priest at Nsukka and a friend of the Ifedioras while Kambili is the daughter of Eugene Achike in Enugu. The relationship between the two begins when Kambili is on a holiday with the Ifedioras in Nsukka. When she sees the priest during a visit to the Ifedioras, she quickly recognizes him as the one that conducts an Igbo worship on Palm Sunday in Enugu – a thing described by her father as a sin. From that moment, she begins to develop a secret love for him for one major reason; he unlike her father, is not a religious bigot.
Kambili’s love for Father Amadi rapidly develops. She wears Amaka’s shorts and tries to use the lipstick to please him while he also eagerly takes her to the stadium and accompanies her to her hairdresser’s place. Kambili sees Father Amadi as someone rightly filling the vacuum created by her high-handed father, whose love for her only leads to ‘fear and submission. On the contrary, she sees Father Amadi’s love for her giving her hope and happiness and an opportunity. to break from her father’s rigid moral code.
Kambili sees in Father Amadi a friend and an equal in whom she can confide. She does not hide her admiration of his handsomeness and wonders why he should remain a priest. She is also unhappy that Father Arnadi may leave her behind on his mission to Germany.
Father Amadi’s love for Kambili is in a manner ambivalent. He grows fond of her. But Father Amadi has enough self-control to hold back his passion and lift his relationship up onto a finer plane befitting his status as a priest. His leaving for Germany serves as a relief to him, which leaves Kambili distressed.