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Women’s Struggles and Independence in Adichie’s <i>Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun</i>
Abstract
This study examines the extent of women’s struggles to overcome
marginalisation in a sexist and patriarchal society. Our texts of study have affirmed that peace will continue to elude us in the home front and at the world level if strong measures are not taken to tackle the violation and the continuous subordination of women. Love, war, conflict and the persistent inequality between men and women are among the dominant themes in Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun. Adichie, however, projects womanhood in a positive light. She upholds female potentialities which the patriarchal structure has repressed. She also makes role models out of her female protagonists. Women’s impassioned struggles to free themselves from the shackles of male brutality and dominance are what hold us spellbound to Adichie’s most alluring and extremely powerful novels. Adichie remarkably dramatizes in her works, women’s determination to survive in the face of violence, sexual assault, extreme starvation, senseless brutality and ceaseless threats to their lives and property. Through her main characters, Adichie reveals how the physical, psychological and mental
abuse of women can have negative effects on their well-being.The liberation of women from all strictures against their peaceful co-existence alongside men deserves the support of all humanity. This study concludes, therefore, that every African woman must face up to the realities of her sexist culture and assert her rights. This is undoubtedly a demanding choice fraught with its own dangers but a woman needs to burst the system and set up her own parameters within the society or risk being treated as a doormat for life.
marginalisation in a sexist and patriarchal society. Our texts of study have affirmed that peace will continue to elude us in the home front and at the world level if strong measures are not taken to tackle the violation and the continuous subordination of women. Love, war, conflict and the persistent inequality between men and women are among the dominant themes in Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun. Adichie, however, projects womanhood in a positive light. She upholds female potentialities which the patriarchal structure has repressed. She also makes role models out of her female protagonists. Women’s impassioned struggles to free themselves from the shackles of male brutality and dominance are what hold us spellbound to Adichie’s most alluring and extremely powerful novels. Adichie remarkably dramatizes in her works, women’s determination to survive in the face of violence, sexual assault, extreme starvation, senseless brutality and ceaseless threats to their lives and property. Through her main characters, Adichie reveals how the physical, psychological and mental
abuse of women can have negative effects on their well-being.The liberation of women from all strictures against their peaceful co-existence alongside men deserves the support of all humanity. This study concludes, therefore, that every African woman must face up to the realities of her sexist culture and assert her rights. This is undoubtedly a demanding choice fraught with its own dangers but a woman needs to burst the system and set up her own parameters within the society or risk being treated as a doormat for life.
