Before taking her bath, she picked it up, and “threw it in the toilet” (233) without flushing it, even though she knew Obiora was fascinated by worms. Whilst staying in Nsukka, Kambili discovers an earthworm “slithering in the bathtub”.
Throughout the novel, Kambili’s attitude towards nature changes as she matures, but it also reflects her inner turmoil and joy. As the purple hibiscuses start bloom, so does Jaja’s rebellion towards Papa, which reveals the way the flowers symbolize Jaja’s growth as a character. From that point on, the flowers “started to push out sleepy buds,” even though most were “still on the red ones” (9). Adichie foreshadows Jaja’s rebellious decisions from the moment he notices the rare flowers to him refusing to go to communion, which leads to Papa throwing a “missal across the room” (3). He takes a stalk of the flowers with him back home and plants them in the garden in hope that freedom will soon come through. To Jaja, the purple hibiscuses signify hope that something new can exist, such as a new life without Papa’s rules. By seeing how Aunty Ifeoma lives with Amaka and Obiora, Jaja and Kambili notice that their lives are strict and controlled unlike their cousins’, who have the freedom to do whatever they like. Not only did Kambili and Jaja discover a new flower when they arrive to Nsukka, they also find out what true freedom is. The children only see the purple hibiscuses when they visit Aunty Ifeoma in Nsukka, and they are surprised since “ didn’t know there were ” (128). As for the red hibiscuses, they symbolize the family’s oppression, since the only way Papa keeps his wife and children in control is through his violence. Kambili cannot focus after a long period of time afterwards and can only read with “the black typed blurred, the letters swimming into one another, and then changed to a bright red, the red of fresh blood”. Red, a color with a symbolism of anger and violence, haunts Kambili through her childhood as she has to clean her mother’s blood after an abusive episode. Before “things started to fall apart”, the hibiscuses were still a vibrant red color, showing that they have not fully bloomed and that freedom has not yet settled in the family. The purple flowers have been described as “rare, fragrant with the undertones of freedom” (16), which also conveys their importance and uniqueness. During many occasions in the novel, the red and purple hibiscuses play an important role in the eyes of Kambili and Jaja, but also in the novel as a whole.
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