AFRICAN PROSE
ADICHIE CHIMAMANDA NGOZI: Purple Hibiscus
Comment on the character of Jaja.
Explanation
Jaja, the first child of Eugene and Beatrice, is a very brilliant student. He is also very neat and he was declared the neatest boy in his school during the last academic session. Jaja is strong and courageous. He protects and defends his mother and sister. For instance, when kambili is caught by their father eating when they are supposed to be fasting, he claims that he has made the cornflakes for her so that she can take her medicine for menstrual cramps even though it is their mother who has urged Kambili to eat. He is also rebellious and challenges his father at times; he tells his father he does not feel like going to church because he does not like to take the communion. Knowing how strict Papa is, Jaja exhibits great courage in speaking his mind about the Holy Communion. He is self-willed and assertive. After their visit to Aunty Ifeoma in Nsukka, Jaja feels justified in his self-assertion. He dares to ask his father for the key to his room. The reason of privacy that he gives his father is unthinkable under the constitution of Papa’s “rule”.
This young man appears to yearn for change. Even though a little apprehensive, he brings a stalk of purple hibiscus from Aunty Ifeoma’s place to plant in their garden. He has a mature perception of human nature and understands the people around him and the environment in which he lives. He shows his last quality when he urges Papa to concede that Papa Nnukwu is a unique individual. He feels Papa Nnukwu has the right to believe what he chooses and so should be left to his faith.
When the policemen come to interrogate the family of Eugene regarding the murder, Jaja quickly cuts matters short by confessing to poisoning his father.’ His sense of responsibility is strong. During the mourning he laments his inability to have taken better care of her mother and the household. These qualities of Jaja’s show him as a young man obviously more mature than his age. Against the popular belief that it is deadly to defy the sacrament, he categorically states that he prefers death to the nausea that the communion causes him.