An Outsider

In the novel, "Purple Hibiscus", the author is trying to explore the feeling that Kambili is experiencing when she and Jaja go to their aunt Ifeoma's house. When Kambili goes to her aunt's house, she experiences a sense of awkwardness amongst her own cousins. Amaka knew that Kambili was very close to her father and did everything to please him. She tells Kambili that there was no place in Nsukka that was upto a level that Kambili was used to. It was almost that she was mocking Kambili beacuse of the fact that she belonged to a rich family. Kambili was experiencing a world that was totally different from Amaka's in every aspect. She was humiliated by Amaka at every instance when she is unable to perform a certain activity. Kambili is flabbergasted by the idea that there was always laughter in her aunt's house in contrast to her house where there was silence and people spoke only when they were spoken to. I want to raise a point about how Amaka constantly mocks and taunts Kambili about how she is living this luxurious life and dosen't know any chores. Was it more about how Amaka was living and content with whatever her mother provided to her or was it more about why she didn't have the same life as Kambili ?

Also, Kambili experiences the instance when her brother's name is questioned and how her aunt tells the story about why her brother's nickname was given as Jaja. Aunt Ifeoma tells the story about the king Jaja of Opobo and how he rebelled against the British. Kambili is almost taken by surprise when his brother Jaja says that "The British won the war, but they lost many battles". She had not experienced a male character other than her father to speak in an angry tone. She had always kept her voice back and this is shown in the book many times when she says that " I wish I had said that".