Purple Hibiscus p 11

thick with chunks of boiled and dried fish and dark green Onugbu leaves. We ate silently. I molded my fufu into small balls with my fingers, dipped it in the soup, making sure to scoop up fish chunks, and then brought it to my mouth. I was certain the soup was good, but I did not taste it, could not taste it. My tongue felt like paper. "Pass the salt, please," Papa said. We all reached for the salt at the same time. Jaja and I touched the crystal shaker, my finger brushed his gently, then he let go. I passed it to Papa. The silence stretched out even longer. "They brought the cashew juice this afternoon. It tastes good. I am sure it will sell," Mama finally said. "Ask that girl to bring it," Papa said. Mama pressed the ringer that dangled above the table on a transparent wire from the ceiling, and Sisi appeared. "Yes, Madam?" "Bring two bottles of the drink they brought from the factory." "Yes, Madam." I wished Sisi had said "What bottles, Madam?" or "Where are they, Madam?" Just something to keep her and Mama talk- ing, to veil the nervous movements of Jaja molding his fufu. Sisi was back shortly and placed the bottles next to Papa. They 
had the same faded-looking labels as every other thing Papa's factories made--the wafers and cream biscuits and bottled juice and banana chips. Papa poured the yellow juice for everyone. I reached out quickly for my glass and took a sip. It tasted watery. I wanted to seem eager; maybe if I talked about
how good it tasted, Papa might forget that he had not yet pun- ished Jaja.


I chose this particular page because I felt that it expressed a great deal of info about the story as a whole. First of all, it really explained the family dynamics between Papa, Mama, Kambili, Jaja and Sisi. Right before this page occurs, Jaja talks back to Papa and Papa causes a violent scene. After such an erratic event, the real nature of the characters come out. This applies especially to Kambili, because we can read her thoughts on everything. We can see that Kambili wants the best for her brother Jaja, and is constantly looking out for him. She does not want him to be punished by Papa and tries to limit their interactions as much as possible. That is why she is the one who passes the salt to Papa when they both reach for it. Furthermore, this scene is testament to the culture of the family. I especially liked the descriptions of the food they are eating. It sounds as if it's from another planet.

Several times in this passage, Adichie uses spacing to highlight her point. For example, about a third of the way down, when Kambili describes how the silence stretched out, the last line of the paragraph is just the word longer. Because it stands alone on the line with a large space after it, it really stands out and further accentuates just how long the silence really was. Also, Sisi's question "Yes, Madam?" and then Mama's command, followed by Sisi's answer, "Yes, Madam." is very repetitive and stood out to me as showing the dynamic of respect shown by Sisi towards her employers.