Purple Hibiscus

Thirty-one months later, and despite Jaja’s confession, Mama has told everyone in town she killed Papa. They ignore her, thinking she is consumed with grief and denial. After many visits to see Jaja in prison, Kambili and Mama go once again, this time to deliver the happy news that Jaja will soon be free. Mama and Kambili arrive at the prison; the conditions there are deplorable. Jaja is hardened, angry, bitter, and rebels against authority.

While waiting to see Jaja, Kambili thinks of the letters she receives from her cousins in America; Amaka says they’re getting fat, and the power is on, but they don’t laugh anymore because they work so much and rarely see each other. Obiora’s letters are the happiest, as he has a scholarship and is not chastised for challenging his teachers. Kambili also receives letters from Father Amadi and confesses: “I no longer wonder if I have a right to love Father Amadi; I simply go ahead and love him” (303).

Upon hearing the news of his freedom, Jaja eats in silence, what Kambili calls “a different kind of silence, one that lets [her] breathe” (305), although she still has nightmares about the other kind of silence from when Papa was alive.