Purple Hibiscus - Pleasing Papa

Papa is not just strict with religion, he is strict about his family's whole life. He likes order. He makes written schedules for his children of what they will exactly do each day and how much time they will spend doing it. Papa made sure there was time for studying, clothe washing, family time, eating and sleeping. He never allowed them to watch tv and if he did it was only for a little.


Papa was especially strict when it came to school. He expected Jaja and Kambili to come first in their class. On page 39, Kambili says, "He had often told Jaja and me that he did not spend so much money on Daughters of the Immaculate Heart and St. Nicholas to have us let other children come first.". Unfortunately Kambili ended up coming in second in her class and she felt like a failure. She was scared to tell her father because she knew what was going to happen. When Kambili ended up telling her Papa, her Papa went with her to school the next day. Kambili was embarrassed to have her father there with her and knew the other children were talking about her.

It is sad that Kambili is forced to feel like a failure for only coming in second. I think her father should be happy that she even got her grades up to the highest in the class.

Do you think it is wrong that Kambili feels like such a failure for only coming in second? What would you do is your father was as strict as Papa and you came second in the class instead of first?

Purple Hibiscus - Religion

Religion means a lot to Papa. Growing up, unlike himself, Papa did not have strict religious parents. He converted to a different religion then his father and actually stopped speaking to his father because of it. Papa is looked up to in his church because he donates so much money. He lives his life and his family's life around their religion. Papa requires his family to pray and go to church all the time. One day the family went to go visit Father Benedict and Mama didn't want to go in the house because she wasn't feeling good. She wasn't feeling good because she was pregnant and felt like she was going to throw up. When Mama told Papa that she didn't want to go in, he made her. Then later on that night he basically beat the baby out of her stomach because she could not go to visit Father Benedict. That is how serious Papa takes his religion. Papa calls his father a "heathen" and only allows his children to spend 15 minutes with him because of it. When Kambili and Jaja went to go visit their aunt, their grandfather had to stay there because he was sick but Papa didn't know. When he found out he drove to pick them up then poured boiling hot water on their feet because Kambili and Jaja didn't tell their Papa he was staying there.

Every time Papa abuses Kambili, Jaja, or mama, he cries while he does it. On page 194 and 195, Kambili says, "He was crying now, tears streaming down his face. Papa put the kettle down, wiped at his eyes.". Then on page 196, Papa says to Kambili, "Everything I do for you, I do for your own good.". It is almost like Papa does not want to hurt them but feels like he has to to teach them.

Why do you believe Papa cries while he hurts his family? Do you think Papa's religion would accept that he is hurting his family to obey it?

Purple Hibiscus

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a novel that has two different wars going on. One war is outside the home that has to deal with the new government that took over the country Nigeria. The other war is inside the home that 15 year old Kambili, has to struggle with everyday because her Papa has impossible expectations of her, her mama, and her brother, Jaja. Papa is a very strict religious man. He expects his family to do the things he likes or else he becomes abusive. Growing up Kambili thinks this is normal until her and her brother go to visit their aunt's home and live there for a few days. 

Growing up Kambili is a very shy girl. She rarely talks because at home she has to watch what she says to Papa or when she is around him. So when Kambili visits her aunt's home, she is not used to everyone speaking freely to one another, hearing laughter or even seeing smiles. On page 120, Kambili says, "We always spoke with purpose back home.". She gets scared when someone speaks to her because she doesn't know how to speak back. Kambili often stutters or just stays quiet. When someone else says something that she wanted to say she says "I wish I could of said that". She is scared to speak up and speak for herself.

Do you believe that Papa scarred Kambili? Why do you think Kambili is still scared to speak when she is not even around her Papa?

Outcome of Writing the Teenage Advice Column

Kim decides to continue writing the teen advice column in the newspaper. She actually starts to like helping people out and giving advice. Sometimes when Kim gets stuck in a problem, she asks herself what she would write "Just Ask Jamie" if she could and how she would answer it. This usually helps her solve the problem. So the "Just Ask Jamie" column does not just help other teen's life, it helps Kim's as well. Kim was blindsided one day when she find out her mother was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer. Her mother has been sick for a couple weeks now but Kim and her dad didn't think it was going to end up that serious. The doctor gave her mother six months to a year to live. On page 242 she says, "Everything in me is hurting now. I honestly don't know when I've ever felt so bad. So hopeless. So frightened.". When Kim says this, I can feel her emotions and pain through the words on the page. When Kim leaves the hospital, she tries to distract herself by reading a new letter from "Just Ask Jamie". The letter ends up asking "Jamie" why good things happen to bad people because the writer's grandmother got hit by a car and died. Kim immediately connects to it because of her mother and writes her back. She doesn't know if her answer is the perfect answer but she has the impression that it is coming from God so she continues to write. In the letter, Kim writes how she has to have faith as she follow God's direction and trust him. Writing this letter ends up helping Kim with her emotions as well and makes her feel better.

Kim and her writer from "Just Ask Jamie" are similar because they are both going through similar problems. The writer is going through her grandmother's death and Kim is going through her mother dying of cancer. Both characters have similar feelings.They feel as though this shouldn't be happening to their loved one because they're both good people. If I had to add myself to the story I would become in contact with this writer so we could help each other go through the same process.

What are your impressions of Kim? Do you agree or disagree with any of her decisions? Do you think turning to God is the right decision to look at the problem?

Process of Writing Teenage Advice Column

Writing the teen advice column for the newspaper is becoming harder and harder for Kim. The questions in the letters have been becoming harder too. So hard that Kim doesn't know how to answer them. Especially because a classmate was recently killed instantly in a car accident. When her classmate was killed, Kim got pretty bummed about it herself. Even though they were not great friends, it made her question a lot. She started questioning her life, her death, and her belief in God. But Kim wasn't the only one freaking out about her classmate's death, her whole school was. Now Kim is starting to get letters about life and death. All the questions kids have been writing her, were the same questions she was asking herself. Kim is stressing because she doesn't know if what she writes back is the wrong or right thing. So she ends up throwing the letters she can't answer into a big box under her bed that she calls, just forget it. But the stress really comes down on Kim when her dad's boss wants "Jamie" to write back his daughter. Kim's dad asks her to write her back so he can keep his boss happy. But the daughter's letter ends up being about her classmate's death and Kim is forced to write about it. On page 82, Kim says, "I wanted to ask how he imagined that I was capable of answering questions like this when I didn't even have the answers for myself". The next day in school, everyone was talking about her latest post about death, which was to the daughter. "Just Ask Jamie" this and "Just Ask Jamie" that. People were saying "Jamie" was basically saying to just be cool with it, it was no big deal, and giving the reader no hope. Kim had to listen to it all day in school and couldn't say a word about it because little do they know, Kim is "Jamie". Kim has to decide if she can continue to put up with the stress or not.

I would solve Kim's problem of putting the letters she can't answer into a box, differently. Instead of not answering and have people wondering, I would tell my father that the topics of some of the letters are too touchy for me to answer. I would get help from him instead of ignoring the situation. If I had to make up a rating system and rate this book, I would rate a 8 so far. There is tons of conflict and what is a good book without a lot of good conflict?

If you were in Kim's position would you solve her problem the same way I would, or differently? Do you think you would continue to do the teen advice column and deal with all the stress that comes with it? If you had to rate this book on what you read, what would you rate it?

The Diary of a Teenage Girl

My first SSR novel for the year is called, Diary Of A Teenage Girl. This novel is about a teenage girl, Kim. When Kim was six months old, she was adopted from Korea because her mother had health problems which made it an issue to get pregnant. Kim is the only child in the Peterson family. Now, she is a junior in high school and got her license last year. Since then, Kim has been saving up her money to buy a car. Her parents said they would chip in for the car and match however much she saved only if she kept a clean driving record. Clean driving record includes no tickets of any kind. But one day, Kim was running a little late to her last day of work and had to drive her mother's car. She was driving 72 in a 55 mile zone. A cop ended up pulling her over and giving her a speeding ticket. Kim, knowing if she wanted her own car she could not get tickets, started freaking out and tried thinking about how she was going to break the news to her parents. She went to her dad first and told him everything that happened. Kim cried and apologized over and over again. Her dad finally gave in but with one catch. He told Kim he would keep the ticket between them two only if she wrote the advice column for Teen Beat in his newspaper. On page 7 Kim says, "I never would've guessed that my own father would resort to using blackmail against me.". Kim thinks that it is completely stupid but has to agree to it if she still wants to buy her car. Kim starts the column anonymously and calls it "Just Ask Jamie". She starts answering some kids' letters. Some were about parents, dating, depressions, and people that are users. So far Kim has been able to handle every letter she gets and finally gets her car, a yellow Jeep Wrangler.

The most important character in the story is Kim. Kim is the character in the story that has to deal with the most conflict. If I was in Kim's situation, I would definitely do the advice column so I could get a car. But the advice column is a lot of responsibility. I predict that Kim is going to get a letter about something she can not handle. I predict after she gets this letter she is going to be scared how to answer it.

Would you agree to do the advice column if you were in Kim's situation or would you pay the fine and not be able to get a car? Do you think it was right of Kim's father to keep the speeding ticket between them two and allow her to buy a car? How do you think Kim's mother would react if she found out about the speeding ticket?