This is the beginning of Jaja’s transformation. The only time Papa had talked about the ima mmuo was to say that the Christians who let their sons do it were confused, that they would end up in hellfire. But Jaja once told me that he heard that boys were flogged and made to bathe in the presence of a taunting crowd. I knew very little about it women were not supposed to know anything at all, since it was the first step toward the initiation to manhood. I suddenly wished, for him, that he had done the ima mmuo, the initiation into the spirit world. I looked at Jaja and wondered if the dimness in his eyes was shame. Though he is considered a hero for fighting against corruption, his actions as a disciplinarian in the home make him a monster. Papa believes it is his duty to deliver his country and his children to heaven. To Papa, being a good Nigerian entails two things – exposing corruption and strict adherence to faith. Though Papa and Ade Coker, through the Standard, seek to tell the truth about the government, the Achike children are not urged to tell the truth about their own lives. Jaja and I turned and went back upstairs, silently. Ade Coker was laughing so was his wife, Yewande.
’Imagine what the Standard would be if we were all quiet.’ Kambili’s misplaced sense of duty renders her mute. Even inside their home, Kambili cannot bring herself to blame Papa for the broken figures though the entire family witnessed his outburst. The Achike family must always keep up appearances, hiding the truth about Papa. If Kambili were not the narrator of the novel, her true feelings would not be understood. Everything she wants to say she translates into what she should say. I meant to say I am sorry that Papa broke your figurines, but the words that came out were, ‘I’m sorry your figurines broke, Mama.’ Kambili, Īs a victim of physical violence at the hands of father, Kambili is too frightened to speak the truth. The Achike family reflects both the roots of their ancestry and the impact imperialism has had on their traditions. Papa, the patriarch, was schooled in Britain and adopts and English-inflected accent when speaking in public. Purple Hibiscus is a novel about a culturally Igbo family who lives under strict Catholic mores. Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, chronicles the decline of an Igbo clan leader in the shadow of British colonial rule and Christian missionaries. “Things fall apart” is an allusion to one of the most well-known English-language books about Nigeria. Things started to fall apart when my brother, Jaja, did not go to communion and Papa flung his heavy missal across the room and broke the figurines on the étagère.
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