Sarah Y.

Ali
TEXT WORLDS IN ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS: A
FEMINIST STYLISTIC APPROACH
Sarah Y. Ali
Assistant Lecturer
Helwan University

Abstract
Feminist movements took place at different stages across different
cultures. These movements targeted at changing the sexist attitudes against
women, gendered social practices still exist in distinct forms either directly
or indirectly. Fiction is and will always be a means for female writers to
portray the hegemonic practices in their societies. Through fiction,
ideologies and writers’ points of view can be revealed since language is a
perfect tool employed to express latent beliefs. This study investigates some
extracts from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple hibiscus which tackles
female oppression in Nigeria. It intends to apply feminist CDA and
cognitive stylistics. Therefore, text world theory is employed as a tool to
depict the psychological states, emotions, and beliefs of characters. Thus,
the sexist practices against the characters are discussed to show how they
influence them. In addition, the different types of worlds are differently
interpreted due to their significance.
Keywords: fiction, ideologies, feminist CDA, cognitive stylistics, text
world theory

I. Introduction
Nigeria is one of the countries where women have suffered from
patriarchy, and oppression over years. Adichie is a feminist writer who
attempts to portray this suffering through her debut novel, Purple Hibiscus.
She manages to introduce the extreme from different perspectives either
through characters or themes: dependent woman and independent woman,
dominant man and supportive man, surrender and resistance, and finally
silence and hope. Moreover, the vivid narration portrays character’s
feelings, thoughts, gestures, and even silence. Thus, the present study
intends to apply feminist CDA, and cognitive stylistics to show how
women are portrayed through a female eye. It also seeks to manifest how
the sexist practices against women could affect them, and their actions. To
reach these objectives, the study attempts to answer these two questions:
How can the Text World Theory assist in describing the psychological
states, emotions, and ideologies of characters? What do the different types
of worlds signal about the characters?

(403)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 TEXT WORLDS IN ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS: A FEMINIST STYLISTIC APPROACH

2. Related Studies
2.1 Feminism
Hooks (1984) sums up the word feminism stating that it is
[t]he struggle to end sexist oppression. Its aim is not to benefit solely
specific group of women, any particular race or class of women. It
does not privilege women over men. It has the power to transform in
a meaningful way all our lives. (p.27)

On the other hand, Cameron (1992) argues that definition of

feminism has no consensual meaning as she views it from two different
perspectives: political and intellectual. Politically, it is “a movement for the
full humanity of women” (p.4). Feminists seek absolute change which
prevents a certain gender from setting the standards of human value.
Intellectually, feminism is in pursuit of comprehending “how current
relations between women and men are constructed” (p.4).
Moreover, Pauwels (1998) explicates that feminism seeks to
eradicate gender discrimination for the sake of establishing equality
between women and men. Thus, the definitions of the notion of feminism
may differ in words, but the beliefs of its opponents are almost the same
seeking equality and independence for women.
2.1.1 Waves of Feminism
Women were not allowed to vote, or own property; they were totally
marginalized before the emergence of the social movement of feminism.
Feminism was to pursue the legal, and social rights for women. American
feminism passed through three waves: first wave (late 19th century),
second wave (1960s), and third wave (1990s onwards).
The First Wave of Feminism
According to Madsen (2000), the first wave of feminism started in
1840s and was obviously known by “the first Women’s Right Convention,
held in Seneca Falls in 1848” (p.4). It signaled the fight for women’s rights
and aimed at gaining the suffrage constitutional amendment. Krolokke and
Sorensen (2006) add that
suffragists confronted stereotypes of women and, in particular,
claims of proper female behavior and talk. First, they engaged in
public persuasion which in those days was considered most
unwomanly…. Second, their very activity challenged the “cult of
domesticity” which in those days dedicated that a true woman’s
place was in the home, meeting the needs of husband and children.
(p.5)

Though this wave made some advances in terms of education, and property
rights, job opportunities for women were still limited to teaching and

(404)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 Sarah Y. Ali
nursing till the constitutional amendment was fulfilled in 1972 (Madsen,
2000).
The Second Wave of Feminism
Krolokke and Sorensen (2006) state that “the term second wave
feminism refers mostly to the radical feminism of the women’s liberation
movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s” (p.7). This wave is largely
concerned with some issues like the discrimination in the workplace and
the educational system, in addition to equal pay, and sexism. This wave led
to the emergence of research on women’s issues. According to Mills and
Mullany (2011), the second wave of feminism
presupposes that there are differences between women and men, and
it takes the notion of difference as a starting point of research.
Feminist linguistic research thus started to produce empirical
evidence of differences between women’s and men’s language use,
alongside explanations as to why these differences had been found.
(p.15)

Hence, it is apparently clear that this stage witnessed some progress

for women on various levels either in society or research.
The Third Wave of Feminism
Krolokke and Sorensen (2006) point out that a common American
term for third wave feminism is “grrl feminism”, and in Europe it is known
as “new feminism”. This wave deprecated sexist language and created
“new self-celebrating words and forms of communication” (p.6). It adopts
issues of race and class. This new feminism is characterized by local,
national, and transnational activism in areas such as violence against
women, trafficking, body surgery, self-mutilation, and the overall
“pornification of the media” (p.17). For Mills and Mullany (2011), the third
wave of feminism advocates the diversity of studies concerning gender
identities among groups of women and among groups of men.
2.1.2 Feminist Approaches
Gender and language researchers determine the linguistic
differences between males and females according to three main
approaches. These are the deficit, the dominance and the difference
approaches. First, the deficit approach views women as powerless and
subordinate to men (Lakoff, 1975). Second, the dominance approach
considers that language is dominated, and controlled by men (Spender,
1980). Third, the difference approach assumes that differences between
men and women are a result of their different cultural background (Tannen,
1990). Nevertheless, there is a new emerging approach known as the
dynamic approach which focuses on the “dynamic aspects of interaction”

(405)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 TEXT WORLDS IN ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS: A FEMINIST STYLISTIC APPROACH

in which “gender identity is seen as a social construct rather than as a

‘given’ social category” (Coates, 2004, p.6).
2.2 Post-feminism
The term post-feminism was first used in the 1970s to demonstrate
that feminism became unnecessary since equality between men and women
was fulfilled. Alice (1995, p.7) adds that this term "denoted the successful
outcome of struggles by women for the right to vote, hold public office and
the choice to occupy many more personal spheres" (as cited in Brooks,
1997, p.2). Brooks (1997) adds that
[p]ost-feminism also occupies 'critical' position in regard to earlier
feminist frameworks at the same time as engaging with patriarchal
and imperialist discourses in doing so, it challenges hegemonic
assumptions held by second wave feminist epistemologies that
patriarchal and imperialist oppression was a universally experienced
oppression. (p.2)

On the other hand, Mills (1998) argues that there is a great need for
what is called post-feminist text analysis that is “one which recognized that
the context in which the texts are produced and interpreted has been
profoundly changed by the impact of feminism and any form of analysis
developed must be aware of the context of words rather than analyzing
words out of context” (p.241).
Mills (1998) justifies her argument by stating three main reasons.
The first is that feminism has changed the nature of sexism which made it
more latent and indirect. “The form which feminist text analysis takes must
reflect the fact that sexism has clearly become a much more complex entity
which cannot be simply reformed or eradicated” (p.238). Secondly,
“feminist theory and feminist linguistic analysis have recently undergone
a critical thinking which has not been reflected in feminist text analysis”
(p.237). Moreover, critical linguists argue that CDA should direct its
attention to indirect sexism and more complicated methodological and
analytical forms. Furthermore, she adds that post-feminist text analysis
must be conscious of different levels of sexism and to account for gender
in terms of race, class, and other variables.
In addition, she believes that there are several “interpretations of
terms and discourses as a whole” (p.241). Mills (1998) maintains that
sexism has not disappeared, but it became subtler in form. Thus, a new
approach for feminist analysis capable of analyzing complex form of
sexism is required. In her opinion, several texts appear to be non-gender-
specific addressing both men and women; however, there are still latent
ideologies and implications. She concludes that

(406)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 Sarah Y. Ali
a post-feminist text analysis would move away from a concentration
on words and phrases which are processed by all readers in a similar
way to a more pragmatic concern with mapping out the discursive
structures and pressures which lead to contradictions within texts,
and indeed, within readers themselves. (p.248)

Thus, post-feminist text analysis could assist in tracing the subtle

sexist discursive practices in a more effective way.

2.3 Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis

In accordance with Lazar (2005; 2007), feminist critical discourse
analysis aspires to construe the intricate underpinnings of power, and
ideology in gendered context of discourse. She explains that feminist CDA
aims to “show up the complex, subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, ways
in which frequently taken-for-granted gendered assumptions and
hegemonic power relations are discursively produced, sustained,
negotiated, and challenged in different contexts and communities” (2007,
p.142). Lazar demonstrates that there is a need for an obvious “feminist
label” (2007, p. 143). First, several studies of gender in CDA account for a
critical feminist perspective of gender relations to make a significant
change in the current relations. Moreover, “not all studies that deal with
gender in discourse are necessarily feminist in this critical sense” (p.143).
Secondly, CDA must be directed by feminist principles in laying down the
theoretical, and analytical framework to investigate the intrigue nature of
gender which is a prevalent feature in many social practices. Finally,
despite the increasing number of feminist CD analysts, they are not
adequately unified since they work without labeling the field.
Besides, Lazar (2005; 2007) expounds that dealing with gender from
a political perspective makes feminist CDA involved in manifesting the
inextricable relations of gender, power, and ideology. Researchers in CDA
are clearly distinguished by analyzing language as refined by other
semiotic forms “like visual images, layouts gestures, and sounds, which
make[s] for an enriching and insightful analysis” (2007, p.144). In
addition, feminist CDA is concerned with critically accounting for
discourse that reinforces patriarchal social systems.
As for analysis in feminist CDA, it not only involves overt forms of
power, but it also pays heed to latent forms to reach the covert and involute
ideologies, and power relations. Moreover, the analytical frameworks
embrace fields like pragmatics, semantics, social semiotics, systemic
functional linguistics, narrative structures, ethnomethodology, and
conversation analysis.

(407)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 TEXT WORLDS IN ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS: A FEMINIST STYLISTIC APPROACH

Consequently, there is a necessity for a critical awareness among

groups of women. For instance, women should cooperate to reject forms
of discrimination, and stop perpetuating sexist social practices against
themselves and other women. Thus, analysis in feminist CDA aims at
achieving “social transformation of structures of gender oppression,
awareness and attitudinal change by both men and women” (Lazar, 2007
p.150).
2.4 Cognitive Stylistics
Cognitive stylistics or cognitive poetics, as it is sometimes called, is
a fast-growing area of research which amalgamates linguistics, literary
studies, and cognitive science which are used interchangeably. Freeman
(2000) employs Tsur’s term of cognitive poetics to refer to studying
literature under the realm of cognitive linguistics. Tsur (1983) employs this
term “to characterize his personal cognitive approach to literary texts”
(Freeman, 2000, pp. 17-18). Freeman (2000) explicates that cognitive
poetics is “a powerful tool for making explicit our reasoning processes and
for illuminating the structure and content of literary texts” (p.253).
Brône and Vandaele (2009) point out that cognitive poetics is
interested in “the construction of (text) worlds, characterization, narrative
perspective, distancing discourse (including irony), humor, emotion, poetic
imagery and others” (p.4). Furthermore, Semino & Culpeper (2002) add
that
[c]ognitive stylistics combines the kind of explicit, rigorous and
detailed linguistic analysis of literary texts that is typical of the
stylistic tradition with a systematic and theoretically informed
consideration of the cognitive structures and processes that underlie
the production and reception of language (p.ix).

According to them, traditional stylistic analysis employs linguistic

theories so as to find an explanation, or interpretation. However, cognitive
stylistics depends on frameworks which link linguistic choices to mental
representations offering “more systematic and explicit accounts of the
relationship between texts on the one hand and responses and
interpretations on the other” (p.ix).
Moreover, Stockwell (2002) believes that cognitive stylistics gives
the clues to have a comprehensive view of “text and context, circumstances
and uses, knowledge and beliefs” (p.4). Cognitive poetics comprises both
a linguistic aspect which enables the analyst to carry an accurate analysis
of text and style, and a cognitive aspect which defines the distinct kinds of
knowledge and belief in a systematic way. Besides, Gavins and Steen
(2003) add that one of the basic principles of cognitive poetics is that
people construct their understanding of the language of literature according

(408)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 Sarah Y. Ali
to their own background, and experiences. One of its aims is also to relate
between the literary text, and its psychological impact on the reader. In
short, Stockwell (2002) argues that cognitive poetics provides the analyst
with the linguistic means to reach an accurate stylistic analysis and also to
account for distinct forms of cognition and belief via a wide consideration
of context. Hence, this study employs Text World Theory as a model of
analysis involved in cognitive stylistics.
3. Methodology
3.1 Data
Purple Hibiscus is a novel written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,
and was published in 2003. She is a Nigerian writer, and this is her first
novel. It is shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. In addition, it is
long listed for the Booker Prize, and was awarded other prizes. It tells the
story of Kambili, a fifteen-year-old-girl, who is the narrator of the story,
and her elder brother, Jaja, under the severe power of their Father, Eugene.
They live a life full of fear, oppression, and violence. Their father is a
wealthy businessman, and a religious fanatic. He practices all forms of
patriarchy, and surveillance upon them and their mother. First, the novel
involves two models of female characters: the dependent, and the
independent. On the one hand, Beatrice, Kambili’s mother, who is silent,
marginalized, and dependent on her husband in everything, represents the
traditional/stereotypical condition of the African woman. On the other,
Aunty Ifeoma, Kambili’s aunt, who is rebelling, resisting, and supporting
her family alone, represents the woman who looks for resistance, and
freedom. Moreover, Kambili is a silent, and dependent character on either
her father, or brother. She is greatly influenced by her father even in her
beliefs. Later, when she stays at her aunt’s home in Nsukka, her character
witnesses a great change, and she starts to view life from a realistic
perspective. In other words, she begins to resist by taking part in school
activities. During her stay in Nsukka, she falls in love with Father Amadi,
a priest, and her aunt’s friend. His appearance in her life gives her hope for
a new life. It was her first time to feel her sense of self. Furthermore,
Kambili, Jaja, and Mama are all exposed to being beaten by Papa. He is so
oppressive in dealing with them, and was the reason for his wife’s
miscarriage several times. Finally, his violence and oppression lead Mama
to poison her husband to end their suffering. In analyzing certain texts
employing the text world theory, the researcher resorts to categorizing the
texts to five main themes in the novel: silence and surrender, hope,
subordination and domination, domestic violence, and finally resistance.

3.2 Theoretical Framework

(409)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 TEXT WORLDS IN ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS: A FEMINIST STYLISTIC APPROACH

3.2.1 Text World Theory

Paul Werth is the founder of the text world theory who started
developing this framework in the late 1980s, and early 1990s through a
number of published articles. He affirmed that he developed an approach
which can probe into the cognitive processes underlying all forms of
human communication which can be produced and interpreted such as
telephone calls, plays, sermons, news reports, or any other type of
discourse.
Gavins (2007) believes that this theory seeks to present a discourse
framework which can be applied to any context whether social, historical,
or psychological. She adds that “it is not just concerned with how a
particular text is constructed but how the context surrounding that text
influences its production and reception” (p.8).
Werth (1999) classifies any type of discourse into three
interconnected levels: the Discourse World, the Text-World, and Sub-
worlds. The discourse world represents the immediate context in which
people communicate with each other. There should be at least two
participants for a discourse world to be. In addition to involving the
participants, it encompasses their personal and cultural background which
they refer to in discourse called text-driveness. Text-driveness is activated
so that one can select certain areas of our own knowledge, and experiences.
It can occur either in a face-to-face conversation or any type of written
discourse. The discourse world is considered to be split since participants
occupy different spatial and temporal settings. Examples of split-discourse
are telephone conversations, audio books, and novels.
During their communication, human beings form “mental
representation of the discourse in their minds” to discern the language
produced. These mental representations are called “text-worlds” (Gavins,
2007, p.10). All text-worlds are established from a mixture of world-
building elements (WB) and function-advancing propositions (FA).
World- building elements represent the deictic and referential elements
which define the time, location, and characters. On the other hand,
function- advancing propositions are the events, actions and states which
drive discourse forward. “In literary narratives, for example, actions and
events often take prominence once the initial deictic boundaries of the text-
world are established” (Gavins, 2005, p.81). Gavins (2007) adds that
vertical arrows are always a means to purport Material processes
expressing actions and events; however, horizontal ones always show
Relational Processes indicating states of being.
Text-worlds embrace entities which are called characters by Werth
(1999), and enactors by Gavins (2007). “Enactors are simply different

(410)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 Sarah Y. Ali
versions of the same person or character which exist at different conceptual
levels of discourse” (Gavins, 2007, p.41). Werth (1999) distinguishes
between what he calls participant-accessible worlds, and character-
accessible worlds, that is to say a world created by a participant can be
accessible to him/her because he/she has the adequate information to judge
its truth; on the other hand, worlds formed by characters are not accessible
to participants as they do not exist at the same level (Gavins, 2000). The
final layer is what Werth (1999) calls a sub-world. He classifies these
words into participant worlds, and character worlds depending on whether
they are created by participants, or characters respectively.
Werth (1999) divides sub-worlds into three types: deictic,
attitudinal, and epistemic. Deictic sub-worlds demonstrate shifts in time,
place, or entities; for instance, flashbacks, direct speech (since it involves
a change in the tense of the original text), and ‘windows’ to other scenes.
Attitudinal sub-worlds are categorized into three main areas of
conceptualization: desire (want worlds), belief (believe worlds), and
purpose (intend worlds). Want worlds are those which have world-building
elements related to desire such as wish, hope, want, and dream. Belief
worlds are composed when participants, or characters show different
degrees of confidence in certain propositions. On the other hand, intend
worlds are propositions revolving around the notion of intentions like
promises, offers, commands, and requests. Finally, epistemic sub-worlds
are those which express remoteness, such as indirect speech, conditionals,
hypotheticals, and forms of politeness.
3.2.2 Gavins Modifications of Werth’s Model
First, Gavins (2007) argues that the term sub-world indicates a world
which is dependent on the original text-world, which is not the case. Gavins
justifies that it involves any deictic shift during a narrative “causing the
discourse participants to construct a new text world through which the
distinct time-zone can be conceptualized” (2007, p.48). Hence, she uses the
term world-switch instead, and divides worlds into two types: world-
switches, and modal worlds.
Furthermore, Gavins (2005) refers to Simpson’s (1993) model of
modality which classifies attitudes in language into three main areas:
deontic, boulomaic, and epistemic. She modifies Werth’s classification
according to Simpson’s to overcome the overlap in Werth’s model. She
believes that Werth’s intend worlds can be appropriate under Simpson’s
deontic category which reflects a degree of obligation. Boulomaic modality
expressing linguistic cues of desire would involve Werth’s desire world.
Moreover, Simpson’s epistemic modality indicates the speakers’
confidence, or lack of confidence in a particular proposition, and they can
embrace Werth’s belief worlds and epistemic sub-worlds. Gavins (2005)
(411)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 TEXT WORLDS IN ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS: A FEMINIST STYLISTIC APPROACH

stipulates that “epistemic remoteness involve the speaker attempting to

create some degree of psychological distance between themselves and their
propositions”, adding that Werth’s attitudinal sub-worlds and epistemic
sub-worlds (including politeness forms, Free Indirect Discourse,
conditionals and hypotheticals) would all come under the umbrella of what
she calls modal worlds (MW). In addition, Gavins (2007) includes deictic
shifts (flashbacks, direct speech), negation, question, and metaphor as
categories of world-switches (WS).
Moreover, Gavins (2005) argues that Werth (1999) did not account
for a key literary feature in narratives, which is the focalizer, i.e. “the entity
through whose perspective the text is being filtered through at any
particular moment” (p.127). She points out that “[f]ocalized narratives
represent only what one character believes to be the case and, as such, can
be seen to constitute an epistemic modal world, which, furthermore, is only
character-accessible in nature” (2005, p.89). Consequently, it is extremely
obvious that Gavins’ modifications to Werth’s framework are significant
and make it more comprehensive and applicable.
To sum up, Whiteley (2011) believes that text world theory is an
entirely applicable model to the analysis of emotions. It is bound to provide
a thorough linguistic analysis showing how the text itself induces the
mental representations of the readers. “Text World Theory systematically
combines close stylistic analysis with wider contextual concerns, and
offers a holistic approach to discourse which is particularly valuable in
examination of complex emotional and experiential issues” (p.25). Thus,
Gavins’ (2007) model is applied to the analysis of the data of this study.
4. Analysis and Discussion
4.1 Silence and Surrender
1) I meant to say I am sorry Papa broke your figurines, but the
words came out were, “I’m sorry your figurines broke, Mama.” (p.10)

(412)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 Sarah Y. Ali
Kambili begins with free indirect thought (FIT) which is an
epistemic modal world (MW), then immediately turns to a deictic world
switch (WS), direct speech (DS) which comes out spontaneously
contrasting her FIT. She has not got the courage to say that her father broke
her mother’s figurines, especially that her father is a very strict and
dominating character, and she does not dare to face him with his fault of
breaking her mother’s figurines.
2) She nodded quickly, then shook her head to show that the
figurines did not matter. They did, though. (p.10)

In the previous extract, the text world begins with her mother’s
gesture towards breaking her figurines, showing her pretense and
suppression of emotions. It is obvious that she employs her gestures of
nodding and shaking, not a verbal reply as a response. The text world
involves a negative world-switch (NEG WS) implying that breaking the
figurines is not worthy of notice. Then the narrator shifts to FIT, an
epistemic MW, as a resort to contrast her mother’s pretense.
3) I waited for him to ask Jaja and me to take a sip, as he always did.
A love sip, he called it …. The tea was always hot, always burned my
tongue, my tongue suffered. But it didn’t matter, because I knew that
when the tea burned my tongue, it burned Papa’s love into me. (p.8)
Kambili is narrating the situation after the clash which occurred
between Papa and Jaja on Palm Sunday since Jaja did not attend the Mass
Communion, which is considered a sin by his religiously fanatic father. In
this extract, Kambili resorts to the boulomaic modal world (BOUL MW)
to express her eagerness for the usual sip of tea she got from her father.
Then, she employs her FIT, an epistemic MW to show her thoughts.
Although she finds the tea hot, she finds pleasure in having it and burning

(413)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 TEXT WORLDS IN ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS: A FEMINIST STYLISTIC APPROACH

her tongue. It is obvious that even the act of love their father did to them
causes suffering and hurts them. Kambili uses the negative WS to deny the
importance of this suffering, to which she is being surrendered.
4) “There was an accident, the baby is gone,” She said. (p.20)
These words are Mama’s direct speech (DS) which are considered a
deictic WS. These are her words when she returns from hospital after
abortion. Beatrice is a character who does not talk, and these are one of the
few times in which she talks. She does not even mention that her husband
was the reason for this accident when he had beaten her. She insists on
hiding her suffering, and does not even express herself in words.
5) I wondered why I did not tell her that all my skirts stopped
well past my knees, that I did not own any trousers because it was
sinful for a woman to wear trousers. (p.80)

The extract begins with the epistemic MW of Kambili’s indirect

thought (IT), then she uses the negation WS twice. Kambili is thinking
about the reaction she did not do when her aunt suggested that it is better
for her to wear trousers. The thoughts which came up to her mind are all
affected by her father’s religiously fanatic beliefs. She adopts all her
father’s ideologies as she has totally surrendered to his beliefs.
6) “I haven’t seen you laugh or smile today, Kambili,” he said,
finally. I looked down at my corn. I wanted to say I was sorry that I did
not smile or laugh, but my words would not come, and for a while even
my ears could hear nothing. (p. 139)

(414)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 Sarah Y. Ali

Kambili’s boulomaic MW “want” and “would” are negated (WS),

and surrounded by the DS of Father Amadi, and Aunty Ifeoma. She has the
desire to speak, and answer Father Amadi, but she cannot to the extent that
Aunty Ifeoma answered instead of her. Kambili appears to be controlled
by the silence to which she used to at her father’s home.
7) I stood there, staring at her, wishing Aunty Ifeoma was there to
speak for me. (p.141)
These words show Kambili’s state after Amaka, her aunt’s daughter,
mocks her way of washing the dishes. Kambili stands still saying nothing
to defend herself. She has just employed her wish world using boulomaic
MW to hope for Aunty Ifeoma’s existence to answer instead of her. She
has not got the courage to even answer.
4.2 Hope
1) I had felt as if I were not there, that I was just observing a table
where you could say anything at any time to anyone, where the air was
free for you to breathe as you wished. (p.120)
This text first begins with the epistemic MW of hypothetical “as if”
to express remoteness, followed by Kambili’s FIT to describe her state
when she was sitting at the dining table with Aunty Ifeoma, and her
children. Her own thoughts embrace the freedom she feels in everything
around her in contrast to the restricted life at her father’s house. She feels
that even the air at her aunt’s home is free, which is not the case at her
father’s. This signals the beginning of her awareness of freedom during her
stay in Nsukka at her aunt’s home.
2) Didn’t he know that I did not want him to leave, ever? That I did
not need to be persuaded to go to the stadium, or anywhere, with him?
(p.180)

(415)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 TEXT WORLDS IN ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS: A FEMINIST STYLISTIC APPROACH

In her epistemic MW of FIT presented in a pending form about

Father Amadi, Kambili embeds the negation WS three times and
boulomaic MW two times. This intricacy in her thoughts and feelings
reflects the complex state of her mind. It also reveals the development in
her character regarding her feelings towards Father Amadi. Father Amadi’s
appearance in her life awakens her sense of self, and gives her hope for a
change in her life.
3) I joined the group of girls on the volleyball field on the second
day of school. I did not hear the whispers of the “backyard snob” or the
ridiculing laughter. I did not notice the amused pinches they gave one
another…. I saw only Father Amadi’s clay-colored face and heard only
“You have good legs for running”. (p.205)
This extract portrays Kambili’s change at school, and how her
colleague reacts to this transformation in her character. She employs the
WS of negation to deny the old treatment she used to receive from her
colleagues before staying at her aunt’s home. Then, she also flashbacks
Father Amadi’s FDS (a deictic WS) to her. The fact that his speech emerges
in her thoughts manifests her emotional attachment to him.

5) I watched the ripples in his throat as the water went down. I

wished I were the water, going into him, to be with him, one with him.
(p.226)

(416)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 Sarah Y. Ali

Obviously, whenever Kambili’s epistemic MW of FIT is about

Father Amadi, it must include a boulomaic MW to manifest her wishes
about him. Her emotional attachment for him is rising. He is like a spring
of love found out by accident. His care stimulates her feelings, and she is
in a bad need for this love and hope.
6) I wanted to add that he was the one whose voice dictated my
dreams. (p.237)
This boulomaic MW of Kambili also involves Father Amadi. Here,
she describes her point of view towards Father Amadi. She is even
influenced by his voice. He is the one who portrays and draws the hope for
a new life for her.
6) I carry them around because they remind me of my
worthiness, because they tug at my feelings (p.303)
In her epistemic MW of FIT, Kambili thinks about Father Amadi’s
letters for her. Despite the fact that three years passed, they are still in
contact with each other. Father Amadi’s psychological influence on her is
still the same. She also believes that his letters show that she is worthy
since they represent his care for her.
7) His eyes are full of guilt to really see me, to see his reflection in
my eyes, the reflection of my hero, the brother who tried always to
protect me the best he could. (p.305)
Kambili employs the epistemic MW of FIT to show her point of
view towards her brother, Jaja. She considers him her hero, and protection.
It is noteworthy that he always takes the responsibility of committing any
mistakes in front of his father to protect Kambili, and finally he protects
his mother from being put into jail. Jaja, for her, is the remaining hope to
continue life after he is released from prison.
8) Silence hangs over us, but it is a different kind of silence, one that
lets me breathe. I have nightmares about the other kind, the silence
when Papa was alive. (p. 305)

(417)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 TEXT WORLDS IN ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS: A FEMINIST STYLISTIC APPROACH

In her epistemic MW of FIT, she describes her state after Jaja’s

release from jail. She depicts the new type of silence she is living in now
which is a state of silence out of hope, different from that which was out of
fear, when her father was alive. Portraying her state of silence during her
father’s life as a nightmare would manifest the awful impact she endures
due to her father’s atrocious practices.
4.3 Subordination/ domination
1) Mama had greeted him the traditional way that women were
supposed to, bending low and offering her back so that he would pat it
with his fan made of the soft, straw-colored tail of an animal. (p.93)

In this extract, the narrator depicts women’s status in the

Nigerian society by narrating a situation involving her mother. Her mother
came to greet the ruler of their town who came to visit them. The narrator
makes use of the deontic MW to reveal the greeting duty of women in
Nigeria. Such greeting of bending low and offering her back manifests the
stereotypical image of women being submissive and controlled. The ruler,
by patting on her back, expresses approval, or satisfaction. Women, here,
are portrayed as entities looking for being approved from men.
2) But I knew Papa would not be proud. He had often told Jaja and
me that he did not spend so much on Daughters of the Immaculate Heart
and St. Nicolas to have us let other children come first. I wanted to make
Papa proud…I needed him to touch the back of my neck and tell me that I
was fulfilling God’s purpose. I needed him to smile at me, in that way that
lit up his face, that warmed something inside me. But I had come second.
I was stained by failure. (p.39)

(418)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 Sarah Y. Ali

In this extract, Kambili depicts her feelings and thoughts after her
father knew she did not come first but came second. First, she begins with
her father’s IS, an epistemic MW, which expresses his point of view
towards spending too much money on their schools as maintained by the
negation WS. He deals with them in a way which is too materialistic doing
something for the sake of another. After that, she starts to show her
emotional states of desire and need using boulomaic MW. She needs her
father’s affection, and love represented in simple matters like a touch,
motivating word, a hug, or a smile. However, all her dreams were in vain
since she had come the second, and this is considered a failure by her father
as revealed in the epistemic MW of free indirect thought “but I had come
second. I was stained by failure”. This is clearly manifested in her FIT
which displays her psychological distance between her and her father.

3) “Imagine what the Standard newspaper would be if we were

all quiet”. It was a joke. Ade Coker was laughing; so was his wife,
Yewanda. But Papa did not laugh. Jaja and I turned and went back upstairs,
silently. (p.58)
Ade Coker is the editor of the Standard newspaper owned by
Eugene, Kambili’s father. This paper is considered to be opposing the
political regime looking for democracy and freedom which is not the case
at Eugene’s home. Ade Coker, here, addresses Eugene in the deictic world-
switch of DS. Eugene was telling him that his children are quiet, and
different from the other ones. The joke told by Ade is ironical in nature, in
which he embeds the epistemic MW of hypothetical “if” to imagine a
situation which does not exist. Ade means that if all people were quiet, then
who resists what is wrong. After that, a negative WS comes to express
Eugene’s state as the joke did not make him laugh because it touches the
wrong way of bringing up his children. In the meantime, as their father did

(419)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 TEXT WORLDS IN ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS: A FEMINIST STYLISTIC APPROACH

not accept the joke, they left. Thus, it is apparent that they are even
controlled by their father’s reaction.
4) “Kambili and Jaja, you will go this afternoon to your
grandfather’s house and greet him. Kevin will take you. Remember, don’t
touch any food, don’t drink anything. And, as usual, you will stay not
longer than fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes.” (p.61)
In this deictic WS of DS, Papa is giving his children the instructions
before their visit to his father’s house. Papa is very fierce in his feelings
even on his father whom he considers as pagan, so he barred him from
coming to his house. He uses the negation WS three times using the
imperative form as these orders are fanatically religious ones which reflects
the fearful and intolerant atmosphere they live in.
5) I waited to hear Jaja say no, that we did not mind sitting at the
dining table before I nodded in agreement. (p.123)
Here, Kambili employs two embedded world-switches of negation
in an epistemic MW of IT. Kambili, obviously, revealed her subordination
to him as she does not possess the will to control her own actions. She,
thus, tends to wait for either her father’s reaction or her brother’s.
6) I had never thought about the university where I would go or
what I would study. When the time came, Papa would decide. (p.130)
Kambili uses the usual epistemic MW of IT involving a negation
WS followed by an epistemic MW of FIT. She believes that when the
university time came, she would wait for her father’s decision about her
university. This could show her total subordination and dependence on her
father for even choosing her university and her major of study.
7) I felt myself go warm all over, with pride, with a desire to be
associated with Papa. I wanted to say something to remind this handsome
priest that Papa wasn’t just Aunty Ifeoma’s brother or the Standard’s
publisher, that he was my father. (p.137)
In this extract, Kambili expresses her wish to speak using the
boulomaic MW. She wishes to talk, but she does not have the courage for
this. She also wants to be related to her father in her aunt’s and Father
Amadi’s speech about her father. Her subordination to her father is also
manifested in this situation.
8) “Your father has been by your bedside every night these past three
days. He has not slept a wink “It was hard to turn my head, but I did it
and looked away” (p.214)
This deictic WS of Mama’s DS is one of the few situations that she
speaks in. She addresses Kambili after she becomes conscious at hospital,
after being brutally beaten by her father, trying to improve the husband’s
image in front of his daughter. Despite all the violence practiced by him
against her and her children, she attempts to defend him and save his image.

(420)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 Sarah Y. Ali
9) I had never considered the possibility that Papa would die, that
Papa could die. (p.287)
Kambili mixes between the WS of negation and the epistemic MW
of remoteness. She denies the fact that her father would die. Her belief
shows that she is emotionally attached to her father. She believes in his
power and domination to the extent that she thinks he is immortal.
4.4 Domestic violence
1) Years ago, I used to wonder why she polished them each time
I heard the sounds from their room, like something being banged against
the door. Her slippers never made a sound on the stairs. (p.10)

In this text, Kambili embeds in her text-world an epistemic MW in

IT form to wonder why her mother tends to polish the figurines after every
time the narrator hears her parents’ loud voices in their room. Then, she
realizes that these sounds are because her father beats her mother. Her
mother’s act of polishing is a silent means to channel the oppression from
which she is suffering. Afterwards, the narrator moves to the world-switch
of negation to refute the fact that her mother’s slippers make any sound.
The narrator throws the responsibility of making sound to the slippers and
not to her mother despite negating it. This shows that her mother is not
capable of making any sound at home expressing her anger fat her father
even if it was the sound of the slippers.
2) He did not call me the next day, or the day after, to talk about my
report and, to decide how I would be punished. (p.42)
In this narrative, Kambili employs the negative world-switch to
negate the fact that her father called or talked to her about her results in
school. Following this, she resorts to her thoughts using the IT in “how I
would be punished” which is an epistemic modal world. Even in her
thoughts, she is engaged with the type of punishment she would receive
from her father, causing her suffering. It is clearly obvious that she is
affected by her father’s attitudes and actions towards her, hence, her
thoughts reveal her worries.
3) “Why do you always run, anyway?” “I just like running,” I
said, and wondered if I would count that as a lie when I made confession

(421)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 TEXT WORLDS IN ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS: A FEMINIST STYLISTIC APPROACH

next Saturday… Once, Kevin told Papa I tooka few minutes longer, and
Papa slapped my left and right cheeks at the same time, so his huge palms
left parallel marks on my face and ringing in my ears for days. (p.51)
marks on my face and ringing in my ears for days. (p.5)

This extract begins with Kambili’s colleague DS (a deictic WS) at

school as she was telling her that other colleagues think that she sees herself
too big. They do not know that she is shy, and timid when she deals with
others. When her colleague asks her about the reason why she runs quickly
after school, she does not have the courage to answer her honestly. She
moves to an epistemic MW using both the hypothetical “if”, and IT. She
also remembers a situation employing a flashback, a deictic WS to
illustrate the reason for her escape since she is afraid of being late for
Kevin, her father’s driver. Her father slapped her face when she kept Kevin
waiting for her for a few minutes. This situation refers to her father’s
violent reaction towards her simplest faults.
4) Papa crushed Jaja and me to his body. “Did the belt hurt you? Did
it break your skin?” He asked, examining our faces. I felt throbbing on my
back, but I said no, that I was not hurt. (p.102)
This extract describes the situation after Kambili, Jaja and her
mother were beaten by her father with his belt. Her father beat them after
he saw her eating ten minutes before Mass, which is forbidden. Kambili
had got period cramps, so her mother told her to take Panadol, and Jaja told
her to take corn flakes before taking Panadol. Then, her father became
enraged since he believes that they are led by the devil in these deeds. After
all this violence, he hugged his children. Moreover, the text comprises
Papa’s DS, a deictic WS, and Kambili’s IS, an epistemic MW involving a
negation WS. It is apparent that Kambili expresses her words in an IS, and
not DS like her father, negating the fact that she feels pain by his beating.
This demonstrates her fear to express her feelings even pain in front of him,
or to use a direct way to reply.

(422)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 Sarah Y. Ali
5) When he was ten, he had missed two questions on his catechism
test and was not named the best in his First Holy Communion class. Papa
took him upstairs and locked the door. Jaja in tears, came out supporting
his left hand with his right, and Papa drove him to St. Agnes hospital. Papa
was crying, too, as he carried Jaja in his arms like a baby all the way to the
car. Later, Jaja told me that Papa had avoided his right hand because he
writes with. (p.145)
The text begins with Kambili’s deictic WS of flashback when her
cousin asks Jaja about his little finger. Jaja did not answer, but Aunty
Ifeoma answered that he had an accident. This situation shows Papa’s
severe violence to the extent that he had caused a deformation in Jaja’s
finger. In spite of being that hard, Papa was crying while carrying Jaja to
hospital; this shows the contradiction in his personality. Then, Kambili
ends with an epistemic MW of IS by Jaja which also reveals Papa’s
incomprehensible character that he is very conscious while beating them
choosing a certain hand to beat.
6) He lowered the kettle into the tub, tilted it toward my feet. He
poured the hot water on my feet, slowly as if he were conducting an
experiment and wanted to see what would happen. He was crying now,
tears streaming down the face. (p. 194)

Kambili depicts one of her father’s torturing instances directed

against her. This happened after he knew that she and Jaja stayed at her
aunt’s home with her pagan grandfather. Kambili employs the epistemic
MW of hypothetical “if” reflecting the remoteness between her and her
father and boulomaic MW “wanted” showing her father’s desire.
4.5 Resistance
1) “It was not the missionaries. Did I not go to the missionary
school, too?” “But you are a woman. You do not count.” “Eh? So, I don’t
count? Has Eugene ever asked about your aching leg? If I do not count,
then I will stop asking if you rose well in the morning.” (p.83)

(423)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 TEXT WORLDS IN ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS: A FEMINIST STYLISTIC APPROACH

This deictic WS of DS is used between Aunty Ifeoma and Papa-

Nnukwu, her father. Her father believes that Eugene is tough with him and
does not ask about him because Eugene went to the missionary school; and
although Eugene is very wealthy, his father has nothing to eat. Aunty
Ifeoma uses the negation world-switch to refute the truth of his belief. Her
father’s reply reveals the society’s ideology about women. He also embeds
the negation WS to deny the valuableness of women. On the other hand,
Aunty Ifeoma severely answers his belief reminding him of her good
actions towards him. Aunty Ifeoma appears to be resisting her society’s
beliefs about women.
2) “I want a new car, nwunyne m, and I want to use my gas cooker
again and I want a new freezer… But I will not ask my brother to bend
over so that I can lick his buttocks to get these things.” (p.95)
In this deictic WS of DS, Aunty Ifeoma shows her desires using
boulomaic MWs in the verb “want”. Then she moved to the negation of
WS to deny the fact that although she needs all these requirements, she will
not beg her brother to give her back his money. This situation maintains
her independence and resistance for her brother’s control over her. She
does not wait for somebody to support her; she gets power from herself.
3) Perhaps it was what we wanted to happen, Jaja and I, without
being aware of it. Perhaps we all changed after Nsukka – even Papa – and
things were destined to not be the same, to not be in the same order. (p.208)
The epistemic MW is expressed twice by the word “perhaps” as
Kambili tries to interpret their situation after their stay in Nsukka. Although
she and Jaja knew that her father could open the door and see them holding
the painting of their grandfather, they insisted on looking at their painting.
This situation marks their rebellion as they start to ignore their father’s
presence at home, and they did what he rejects. Employing the boulomaic
MW “wanted” indicates their desire for change.
4) “Get up! Get away from that painting!” I lay there, did nothing.
“Get up!” Papa said again. I still did not move. He started to kick me. The
metal buckles on his slippers stung like bites from giant mosquitoes….
Perhaps it was a belt now because the metal buckle seemed too heavy.
(pp. 210-211)
The deictic WS of Papa’s DS is addressed to Kambili who lies on
the floor hugging the precise pieces of her grandfather’s painting cut by her
father. Although he keeps urging her to get away from the painting, she
defies him despite the pain she feels from his kick. Then, she switched to
epistemic MW of FIT to express the remoteness and uncertainty of
“perhaps” which could also refer to distancing herself from obeying her
father’s rules, and orders.

(424)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 Sarah Y. Ali
5) I wished I could get up and hug her, and yet I wanted to push her
away, to shove her so hard that she would topple over the chair. (p.213)
By her two boulomaic MWs, Kambili manifests her contradicting
feelings towards her mother as she wants to push her away hard. She
reaches this dichotomous state of mind after the horrible beatings she
received from her father when she got the painting of her grandfather.
Perhaps, she has become aware of her mother’s total silence, surrender and
subordination to her father.
6) I did not want to leave the hospital. I did not want to go home.
(p. 215)
Here, Kambili reveals her boulomaic MWs using the negation WS
attached to her desires. Her wishes signal the ultimate degree of her
rejection to return home due to the cruel treatment of her father.
7) “I got back from the hospital today. The doctor told me to rest,
but I took Eugene’s money and asked Kevin to take me to the park I
hired a taxi and came here.” ... “You know that small table your father
broke it on my belly.” … “My blood finished on the floor even before
he took me to St. Agnes.” My doctor said, “There was nothing he could,
he could do to save it.” (p.248)
These words represent the deictic WS of Mama’s DS. Her DS
represents the onset of her resistance and rebellion. She describes the last
miscarriage caused by her husband’s violence. It is the first time for her to
take an action without referring to her husband. By this situation, she is
getting rid of the patriarchal domination of her husband.
8) “I started putting the poison in his tea before I go to Nsukka.
Sisi got it for me; her uncle is a powerful witch doctor.” (p.290)
This extract includes the deictic WS of DS between Mama and
Kambili. Mama is admitting her crime of poisoning her husband in front
of Jaja and Kambili. Her action of murdering her husband is considered to
be the means for her resistance. She tried to get rid of him totally because
of the frequent brutal practices against her and her children. She wants to
free them from his domination, and severe dictatorship.
In conclusion, it is found that silence and surrender are mainly
portrayed through boulomaic MWs, perhaps to focus more on the wish
world of the characters, to which they resort to express what they cannot
fulfill in their real world due to their silence. Moreover, hope is vividly
depicted via epistemic MWs which help in creating a psychological
distance between the characters’ beliefs and reality. For instance,
Kambili’s FITs usually manifest her being distant from the outer world
around her. However, the other themes comprise a mixture of different
types of MWs and WSs, probably to convey the intricate life of the
characters and the struggle between domination and resistance.
(425)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 TEXT WORLDS IN ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS: A FEMINIST STYLISTIC APPROACH

5. Conclusion
Through the texts analysed, it is obvious that text world theory can
help in depicting the emotional states, thoughts, and beliefs of characters
in the light of the feminist approach. The sexist and oppressing practices
against the characters are traced through the analysis revealing their
influence on the characters. Also, change witnessed in characters is shown
through the extracts exposed to analysis.
On the text world level, the following remarks can be observed.
First, epistemic MWs are employed by characters as a way to escape
reality. They represent a means to vent their feelings and thoughts and are
resorted to when characters are indirect in order to avoid their father’s
oppression and violence, for instance. Moreover, boulomaic MWs assist
characters to show their desires and hopes; however, most of the time they
are embedded in the epistemic MWs due to the difficulty of their
accomplishment.
In addition, deictic WSs are used when characters want enough to
express clearly some aspects of what they want to say or to emphasize their
power through their words. For example, Beatrice or Mama is very silent
most of the time; she hardly speaks, and when she does, she does not say
what she really feels. She does not express her suffering till the end when
she starts to resist after her last miscarriage of her baby. Furthermore,
negation WSs are helpful for characters in showing their denial of either
the truth or their inability to take the action they want/need. They are also
a means for them to manifest their silence. Hence, text world theory has
proved to be an effective tool in analysis; it is crucial in uncovering the
characters’ mental, and emotional states. It triggers the feminist approach
to be helpful in identifying the sexist practices against female characters.
References
Primary Sources:
Adichie, C. (2004). Purple hibiscus. Great Britain: Fourth Estate.
Secondary Sources:
Alice, L. (1995). What is postfeminism? Or, having it both ways, in L.
Alice (Ed.). Feminism, postmodernism, postfeminism: Conference
proceedings, Massey University, New Zealand, pp. 7-35.
Brooks, A. (1997). Postfeminisim: Feminism, cultural theory and cultural
forms. London: Routledge.
Brône, G., & Vandaele, J. (2009). Cognitive poetics: A critical
introduction. In G. Brône, & J. Vandaele. (Eds). Cognitive poetics:
Goals, gains and gap, pp.1- 29. Berlin & New York: Mouton de
Gruyter.

(426)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 Sarah Y. Ali
Cameron, D. (1992). Feminism and linguistic theory. New York: St.
Martin’s Press.
Coates, J. (2004). Women, men and language: A sociolinguistic account
of gender differences in language. (3rd Ed). England: Pearson
Longman.
Freeman, M. (2000). Poetry and the scope of metaphor: Toward a
cognitive theory of literature. In Antonio Barcelona (Ed.),
Metaphor and Metonymy at the Crossroads, pp.253-281. Berlin:
Mouton de Grutyer. Retrieved from
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1427868
Gavins, J. (2000). Absurd Tricks with bicycles frames in the text world
of The Third Policeman. The Nottingham Linguistic Circular, 15,
pp 17-33.
Gavins, J. (2005). Rethinking modality: A text-world perspective.
Journal of Literary semantics, 34, 2, pp. 79-93.
Gavins, J. (2007). Text world theory: An introduction. Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press.
Gavins, J., & Steen, G. (2003). Contextualising cognitive poetics. In J.
Gavins, & G. Steen. (Eds.). Cognitive poetics in practice, pp. 1-12.
London: Routledge.
Hooks, B. (1984). Feminist theory from margin to center. Retrieved from
www.mcc.osu.edu/posts/documents/sexism-bhooks.pdf.
Krolokke, C., & Sorensen, A. (2006). Gender communication theories
and analyses: From silence to performance. Retrieved from
www.sagepub.com
Lakoff, R. (1975). Language and woman’s place. New York: Harper &
Colophon.
Lazar, M. (2005). Politicizing gender in discourse: Feminist critical
discourse analysis as political perspective and praxis. In M. Lazar
(Ed.) Feminist critical discourse analysis: Gender, power and
ideology in discourse. New York: Palgrave Macmillan
Lazar, M. (2007). Feminist critical discourse praxis. Critical discourse
studies, 4, 2, pp.141-164. DOI: http://dx.doi.org
Madsen, D. (2000). Feminist theory and literary practice. London: Pluto
Press.
Mills, S. (1998). Post-feminist text analysis. Language and literature, 7,
pp.235-252. Retrieved from http://lal.sagepub.com/content/7/3/235
Mills, S., & Mullany, L. (2011). Language, gender and feminism: Theory,
methodology and practice. London: Routledge.
Pauwels, A. (1998). Women changing language. London & New York:
Longman.

(427)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)
 TEXT WORLDS IN ADICHIE’S PURPLE HIBISCUS: A FEMINIST STYLISTIC APPROACH

Semino, E., & Culpeper, J (2002). Foreword. In Cognitive stylistics:

Language and cognition in text analysis, E. Semino, & J. Culpeper.
(Eds.). pp. ix-xvi. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Spender, D. (1980). Man made language. London: Routledge.
Simpson, P. (1993). Language, ideology and point of view. London:
Routledge.
Stockwell, P. (2002). Cognitive poetics: An introduction. Routledge:
London and New York.
Tannen, D. (1990). You just don’t understand: Women and men in
Conversations. New York: William Morrow.
Tsur, R. (1983). What is cognitive poetics? Katz Research Institute for
Hebrew Literature: Tel Aviv University.
Werth, P. (1999). Text worlds: Representing conceptual space in
discourse. London: Longman
Whiteley, S. (2011). Text world theory, real readers and emotional
responses to The Remains of the Day. Language and literature 20,
1, pp. 23-42. Retrieved from
http://lal.sagepub.com/content/20/1/23

(428)
ISSN 1110-2721 Occasional Papers
Vol. 63: A (2017)