Purple Hibiscus ch 4-6

1. Why was Ade Coker arrested?

He was the editor of the Standard which was very critical of the military coup.
2. Kambili gets her report card. Why will Papa not be proud?
She did not come in first place.
3. What events may have made it difficult for Kambili to concentrate in school.
The arrest of Ade Coker and the traumatising event of Yewande Coker crying about
it.
 From before… cleaning up the blood of her mother… trauma
4. Notice how the author has made Kambili a silent character, but how the reader is then
told what she wishes she could say. When her father asks “Did school go well?” How
does she respond?
She says yes, trying to deflect the inevitable.
How does she want to respond?
She wanted to just get it over with and tell her father the truth, but she was scared.
5. Papa tells Kambili to go upstairs. What does the reader think he is going to do?
She was going to get beaten for not coming in first.
What happens?
Phone rings and saves her.
6. Comment on the contrast of ideas that Kambili has had about Papa’s room in the past
and how she seems to feel now.
She described the room as heavenly, but she was so scared she needed comfort
from the rug to feel save.
7. Ade Coker is freed and writes that he “could not stop writing the truth” what does
Kambili notice is absent in the article?
Details about who arrested him and what he faced.
Who does he thank?
Papa for being the ‘bravest man [he] knew’
How does this make Kambili feel?
Discomfort as she knows something no body else does: the monster papa can
become at home.
What do we find out they did to Ade Coker?
Coker had been arrested.
8. Mama and the children go on their ritual trip to get new bags and sandals. Why is this
important?
Because it is the only time they can leave together without papa’s permission.
9. Why are the soldiers demolishing the vegetable shacks?
They were ordered to because they were ‘illegal’ structures.
10. What does Kambili wish about the woman in the dirt?
Kambili wished she could have gone and helped her.
11. Papa drops Kambili off at school on the first day of the new term. Why?
To prove that Kambili should have come ahead of Jideze.
12. How does Papa act towards Sister Margaret and the Religious in general?
Very British and proper.
13. What do the other girls call Kambili - why?
Backyard Snob because Kambili didn’t talk to anybody.
14. What did the family do every December?
They go to Abba, their hometown of heritage.

15. Comment on the paragraph: “Mud and thatch huts stood close to three-story houses
that nestled behind ornate metal gates. Naked and semi-naked children played with
limp footballs. Men sat on benches beneath trees, drinking palm wine from cow horns
and cloudy glass mugs.”
 This shows the immense contrast and juxtaposition of social classes and financial ability
within Africa.

16. What were they prepared to do every Christmas?

Visit Abba, their ancestral village and provide food for everyone.
17. Ade Coker visits and ask Jaja and Kambili if they like coming to the village? What is
their response?
Yes
Why does Papa seem proud of them?
Because of their polite manners.
18. What does Papa pray for Papa-Nnukwu?
That he will come back to god.
19. What instructions does he give his children when he sends them for the recently
instituted annual meeting with their grandfather?
To only stay for 15 minutes and to not consume food.
20. How does Papa treat his father?
With extreme disgust and disregard.
21. Why does he send Kevin with the children?
To make sure they stay on schedule and disciplined.
22. What does Kambili say the shrine in her grandfather’s yard looks like?
St. Agnes
23. Comment on Papa’s reaction to the children spending 25 minutes at their grandfather’s
house.
Outrage, anger at the fact they disobeyed his orders  pray for forgiveness
24. Comment on what Kambili thought Papa might do.
Physical punishment
25. Describe Aunty Ifeoma:
Very strong personality and boisterous, but also caring and not afraid of Papa.
26. Why does she call Mama nwunye m?
It shows their proximity in relationship and signifies ‘wife’ in Igbo.
27. Where is her husband?
Dead.
28. What does Aunty Ifeoma complain about back in Nsukka?
The poor living conditions and the university.
29. How is Aunty Ifeoma different from Mama?
She has a stronger, more resistant personality with a problem solving attitude when
faced with issues.
30. What are their cousins' names?
Amaka,
31. What does Amaka show that she thinks of Kambili’s life(lifestyle).

32. Aunty Ifeoma gets permission to take the children for a drive. What 2 things does she
do that could get the children in trouble?
Takes them to the heathen festival WITH Papa-Nwukku
33. Why does their grandfather say that he regrets letting Papa follow the missionaries?
It has consumed Papa so much he has distanced himself from his own father in the
name of a religion he has blind faith in.