AFRICA PROSE
ADICHIE CHIMAMANDA NGOZI: Purple Hibiscus
Consider Amaka’s view of Eugene.
Explanation
Eugene's character is baffling. Some of the people who have come into contact with him are hard put to affirm whether he is a good person or a bad man". Amaka, Eugene's niece, from what she has come to know about her uncle, is unwilling to say he is a had man, but must justify to herself that he truly is not a bad person, in the face of evidence of her uncle's cruelty to his immediate family; such as Jaja's finger. Aunty Ifeoma makes only a passing reference to it, but it is not discussed. Yet its effect on Amaka and the other children is strong and exposes Eugene to his niece and nephews as neither loving nor earing.
Amaka is scandalized by Eugene's hold over her cousins. She expresses her anger through a brutal game of teasing :Kambili about her deficiencies in domestic chores, in which her mother intervenes, urging Amaka to accommodate Kambili's very little exposure to the very ordinary things that she (Amaka) has grown used to and taken for granted: wearing shorts or lipstick, romance, music, etc.
Amaka can stretch her imagination to envision not ony the boredom imposed on her cousins but also the true nature of the harsh punishments they bear. They have no choice in anything they do and Amaka is very angry for her cousins.
Aware of Eugene's attitude towards his own father, whom she adores, Amaka cannot regard her under in a positive light. She simply cannot approve Eugene's relationship with Papa-Nnukwu.
Yet Eugene, in his own way, expresses love to all. On his visits home, he gives many people gifts, not to mention his endowment to the church. In a sense, too, he is protective of his family and provides for his home.
He cannot be a had man, really? Amaka wonders how such a generous and loving person can at the same time be cruel.
When Papa-Nnukwu dies, there arises a grave moment for the family at Nsukka. Taking the situation of the shortage of almost everything and Aunty Ifeoma's financial state together, times are hard. Then comes Eugene, who says he has sent the necessary things for his father's funeral to his sister, even though he himself will not attend nor have anything further to do with the burial of the old man.
For Amaka, the question of how to label her uncle in these circumstances becomes important and urgently needs an answer. She is impressed by the man's latest generosity. Despite her inclination to condemn the man who treats his family harshly, she relents in her condemnation. She sees Eugene's recent behaviour as positively mitigating, and so Eugene, she confesses, is not a bad man, really.