Purple Hibiscus Pt. 3

Purple Hibiscus

Another huge theme in this book is silence.  Silence is the blanket that covers the family.  The silence of the abuse, mentally and physically.  Papa is the dominant in the household and he views everyone else as below him. Even at confession Kambili didn’t want to confess everything.  The more I read this book I question it more and more, I’ve never read a book that had so many problems all at once.  The one I feel most bad for is Kambili because he looks up to her father and her father is the one ripping the family apart, but keeping it around for show so he doesn’t seem like he’s breaking his wedding vows.  Everything just seems like an act, like he’s putting on a show for his reputation.  And what kind of man avoids his family, but pulls them close when he needs them?  The psychological factors that he’s doing to his family is horrible.  A catholic man is moral and is always giving.  The only thing he gives is a belt to his family when they do something he doesn’t like.  I think the book draws me in more because I want to see him fall in the end and see his family finally stand up to him.  I understand everyone is stereotyped by gender, but everyone is expected to be respectful, not powerful.  Papa’s sister was raised the same way he was, but she turned out to be a wonderful individual who puts her family first and loves him.  There’s two worlds split between Papa and Aunt Ifeoma.

Purple Hibiscus Pt. 2

Purple Hibiscus

A theme in this story, as cheesy as it sounds, is coming of age. Throughout the novel you see significant changes in both Kambili and Jaja.  You start to see Kambili have her own voice.  Being a grown up means making your own decisions, but for Kambili and Jaja the only choice is Papa’s decision.  Their Aunt opens up such a different and elaborate world that they love.  Their Aunt makes them reconsider things and helps them take a huge leap into adulthood.

Another theme in this story is religion.  The book even starts off with religion and most of the problems are religions based.  Kambili can’t talk to her own grandfather because her father calls him a heathen, his own father.  He values religion more than family and he has admitted that saying religion is always first.  Papa’s temper is based off of religion and the fact that not everyone follows the same one and he thinks it’s rebelling.  That’s why him and Jaja aren’t on good terms because Jaja finally showed he wants to rebel against the religion.  Papa can’t handle the thought of his children being individuals, he controls not only them but also his wife.  Religion is more of an excuse for him to control more and more.

The more and more I read this book the more and more it has a meaning.  This book brings up almost every subject a family might have to deal with.  It makes you look at life a little bit better.

Purple Hibiscus Pt. 1

Purple Hibiscus

This book is in the point of view by fifteen-year-old Kambili who lives in Enugu, Nigeria.  She lives with her mother, father, and brother.  Though this is not the most functional family, the father sets high expectations for everyone in the household.  One day her Aunt Ifeoma convinces her brother to have Kambili and her brother, Jaja, visit her.  They find a totally different world when they are with her and soon as they return home things are different after her mother commits a desperate act.

Archetype 1: The Fall

In the beginning of the book you get an idea of Kambili's parents relationship, which is abusive.  The mother being metaphorically in the father's cuffs, being a "housewife" with certain expectations.  You also learn that she has had many miscarriages and townspeople have told her husband to marry a fertile woman and leave her.  She discovers that she is pregnant and tells Kambili who is worried for the child because of her father.  After a couple of months being pregnant Kambili hears rumbling in her parents bedroom and emerges from her room to see her father carrying her mother downstairs and blood on the floor.  She is hospitalized, but loses the child and never mentions it again, acting as if it never happened.

Archetype 2: Father - Son Conflict

The book opens up with the family coming home from church and Kambili being nervous because Jaja didn't take communion in church, which is an expectation from their father.  After arriving home his father questions Jaja, but Jaja’s answer does not satisfy him.”He picked up the missal and flung it across the room, toward Jaja.”(pg 7).  And then later that night Jaja excuses himself from dinner and goes to his room.  Their father excuses them and that’s when they leave, but Jaja didn’t even finish his meal and he left.  You can clearly tell there is tension in the household and that’s why Jaja is slightly rebelling.

Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban

Character Analysis - Peter Pettigrew:

Peter Pettigrew is one of the characters Harry Potter fans tend to dislike.  Not only is he sneaky and evil, but he's so wimpy and pathetic that you just can't stand him.  We don't actually meet Peter until closer to the end of the third book, but we do meet Scabbers early on in the first book.  Scabbers was Ron's pet rat that was handed down to him from one of his older brothers.  What we don't know is that Scabbers isn't a rat at all, and that it's really Peter Pettigrew who's been in hiding for twelve years.  Peter is what they call an animagus, which means he has the ability to transform into an animal.  Very similiar to Serious Black who's animagus form is a black dog. Peter's animagus form is obviously a rat, and has been a rat for quite some time now as he has been named Scabbers and taken a role as a household pet for the Weasleys.  When we finally see the truth about Scabbers being Pettigrew, it's when Serious Black chases him through the womping willow tree and into the secret shack.  Apparently Serious has actually been hunting down Peter the whole time and not Harry like everyone thought he was.  It turns out that Serious, Peter, and Harry's dad James were all once friends when they were younger.  It was Peter who framed Serious and helped Voldemort locate the Potter's house that lead to the murder of Harry's parents.

Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban 

Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban is the 3rd addition to the Harry Potter series.  Harry is all set to go back to Hogwarts when he learns that the infamous Serious Black has escaped from the wizard prison known as Azkaban, and is supposedly out to get Harry.  In an attempt to protect Harry and the rest of the school, dementors are dispatched to Hogwarts to capture Serious Black.  Things don't go as planned as they usually don't, and the whole school lives in fear when word goes out that Serious has arrived.  Harry learns that the reason Serious is a criminal was because he was the one who betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort.  After hearing this news, Harry swears to kill Serious Black if they were to meet.  Later on in the story Harry gets his opportunity when he finds himself face to face with the man responsible for the death of his parents.  After a quick fight, Serious reveals himself as Harry's Godfather, and his father's best friend.  He explains to Harry who really betrayed his parents, Peter Pettigrew and that he was really after him, not Harry.  After hearing the true stories from Serious, Harry helps him escape the dementors who had tracked them down.  Harry's views on Serious changed drastically throughout the book.  He went from wanting to kill Serious on sight to wanting to live with him after the school year was over.  Unfortunately Serious was still on the run and so Harry couldn't stay with him, but he promises Harry that he will always protect him and come to him in a time of need.   

An interesting character introduced in this book was Professor Lupin.  He is the replacement defense against the dark arts teacher.  The first time we see him is on the train to Hogwarts.  Harry, Ron, and Hermione sit in the same train car as him as he sleeps.  While on the train, dementors come aboard and attack Harry.  Lupin wakes up and casts a patronus to dispel the dementors, showing the three students he has experience in fighting.  I think Lupin's character is a really good mystery to think about throughout the book.  Clues are presented throughout the story and by the end, you figure out that he's a werewolf.  He mysteriously isn't in class during full moons, his biggest fear is a full moon shown by the boggart,  Professor Snape gives a lesson on werewolves when Lupin is out "sick", and later on it's revealed that Snape has been making Lupin a potion designed to sustain his human form.  You finally see Lupin as a werewolf when he forgets to take his potion on the night of a full moon.  It makes you understand why Lupin keeps his "other side" a secret because when he transformed, he couldn't control himself and attacked every one including Harry and Hermione who just barely escaped.  So overall, Lupin is a very mysterious character who you learn more and more about throughout the book and that's what makes you love his character.  Lupin plays a major role in this book and is equally important throughout the rest of the series.

Have you ever read a book or watched a movie where there was a character who's life was a mystery?  How was their mystery solved and what did you find out about that character?

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the second installment of the Harry Potter series.  It continues the story of Harry Potter, who is now in his second year of Hogwarts.  Hogwarts is a wizarding school for boys and girls starting at the age of 11 years old to 18 years old, making it a seven year school.  Harry now being 12 years of age he is going through way more than any other person or wizard in fact.  Everyday he uncovers new mysteries and gets involved in heroic actions making him the bravest 12 year old I've ever heard about.  

Person vs Society

Harry has a persona of being "The Chosen One", so people put him on a pedestal.  They think he's great, but if anything weird happens he's the first to blame.  For instance when Harry went to the wizarding dueling club he started speaking snake that Malfoy, an enemy of Harry, unleashed on him.  Everyone claimed he was the one who is the heir of Slytherin and would open the Chamber of Secrets just because he could speak parseltongue, snake verbiage, and so did Salazar Slytherin.  So Harry has to constantly deal with people assuming he's one thing one day and another thing another day.  Since he survived Lord Voldemort and was labeled "The Chosen One" they have high expectations from him.  People observe the smile he wears everyday and hear the rumors of him being the one and assume he has such a wonderful lifestyle.  He dreads going home to his muggle, non-magic people, "family" who treats him like dirt and rather him not come home at all.  The Dursleys are his Mother's sisters' family, who took Harry in because no one else would.  And then Professor Snape loathes Harry in the sense that no matter what Harry does, he's wrong.  He gives no regards to Harry's feelings and kicks it to the side. 

Person vs Self

Harry has a lot of self conflicts through out this novel.  His own mather anf father died trying to save him, which is a huge burden to carry.  He didn't discover how they died and what he really was until he turned 11 years old.  So for Harry to discover all of these things changes his direction in life.  But what's even worse is that so many adults know things and conceal them from him for "his own good", except for Dumbledore.  He trusts Harry, thus why he tells him things because he wants Harry to trust him too.  For example, towards the end of the novel when you find out Tom Riddle, a former student of Hogwarts, is actually Lord Voldemort, Harry tells Dumbledore.  Dumbledore elaborates and tells Harry that the reason Harry can speak parseltongue is because when Lord Voldemort tried killing Harry he accidently put some of his soul into him.  This was a big action from Dumbledore because he knows he doesn't have to tell Harry, but he chooses to be on his side.  Harry has to live up to a lot and is only trying to get through school, but touble always seems to find him.

Think about Harry's expectations and what he has to go through everyday.  Put yourself in his position, a lost boy who is trying to figure out what his life really is and means.  The world he lives in is not a world familiar to us.  So what would you do? Would you choose the heroic route or the route that clearly leads to bad things?