Flowers of Freedom: Voice, Defiance, and Coming of Age in Purple Hibiscus

Lesson 19
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ELA

Unit 2

10th Grade

Lesson 19 of 24

Objective


Analyze how Adichie uses mood and motifs to depict the aftermath of Papa's death.

Readings and Materials


  • Book: Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie  — pp. 288 – 291, "The Pieces of Gods: After Palm Sunday" and pp. 295–307, "A Different Silence: The Present"

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Target Task


Discussion & Writing Prompt

Why does Adichie title the final section of her novel "A Different Kind of Silence"? In what ways is the silence that Kambili, Jaja, and Mama are dealing with different from the earlier silence in the novel? What trauma do all of the characters share? How are their struggles different from each other?

Sample Response

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Key Thinking


Close Read Questions

Jaja questions God's choice to sacrifice Jesus: "Why did He have to murder his own son so we would be saved? Why didn't He just go ahead and save us?" (289). What parallels does Adichie make between Papa and Jaja, and God and Jesus?  What is the significance of Jaja ultimately choosing to sacrifice himself to save his mother from prison?

What is the significance of Kambili and Jaja no longer being able to communicate with their eyes?

What have Aunty Ifeoma and her family gained by moving to America? What have they lost? What differences does Adichie point out between Nigerian and American culture?

Why do you think Adichie chose to end her novel with the line "The new rains will come down soon" (307)? How do you interpret this line in relation to the future of the Achike family? 

Homework


Prepare for a Socratic Seminar on Purple Hibiscus by completing the graphic organizer in the Purple Hibiscus Socratic Seminar Packet. In preparation for the first socratic seminar question, review that a coming-of-age story is a genre that focuses on a character's growth from childhood to adulthood, as they go through a series of important changes. 

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Standards


  • RL.9-10.3 — Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
  • RL.9-10.4 — Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
  • RL.9-10.5 — Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.

Supporting Standards

L.9-10.1
L.9-10.6
RL.9-10.1
RL.9-10.2
RL.9-10.6
SL.9-10.1
SL.9-10.6
W.9-10.9
W.9-10.10

Next

Engage in a Socratic seminar about Purple Hibiscus by supporting arguments with strong textual evidence.

Lesson 20
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