85 pages • 2 hours read
Chimamanda Ngozi AdichiePurple Hibiscus
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Introduction
Purple Hibiscus
- Genre: Fiction; historical
- Originally Published: 2003
- Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 920L; grades 9-12; college/adult
- Structure/Length: 4 parts; approx. 307 pages; approx. 11 hours on audio
- Protagonist and Central Conflict: Fifteen-year-old Kambili Achike lives in pre-civil war Nigeria in the 1960s; she must weather not only the political turmoil of her nation but also the physical and emotional abuse from her controlling father at home.
- Potential Sensitivity Issues: Physical and emotional abuse of family members; race and gender conflicts
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Author
- Bio: Born in 1977 in Enugu, Nigeria; lost family members and family possessions during the Nigerian Civil War; attended the University of Nigeria before arriving in the US to study at Drexel University in Philadelphia and the Eastern Connecticut State University; later attended Johns Hopkins University for creative writing; awarded 16 honorary degrees from prestigious colleges and universities and earned the Macarthur Fellowship “Genius grant” honor (2008); inspired and influenced by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe; has given several TEDx talks on cultural understating, feminism, and the influence of background and history on individuals
- Other Works: Half of a Yellow Sun (2006); Americanah (2013); We Should All Be Feminists (2014)
- Awards: Hearst-Wright Legacy Award (2004); Commonwealth Writers Prize (2005)
CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:
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