Purple Hibiscus: List 3

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Kambili and Jaja's life among the elite in Nigeria isn't so easy under the thumb of their oppressive father. When the country becomes mired in political turmoil, they are sent to stay with their aunt, where they learn a different way of life.

This list covers pages 107–181 in the 2012 Algonquin edition.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5

Here is a link to our lists for Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. erosion
    the process of wearing or grinding something down
    When we came to a point just past the market where the road had narrowed, eaten away by erosion at the sides, he stopped for a while to let other cars go by.
  2. frayed
    worn away or tattered along the edges
    The seams of the cushions were frayed and slipping apart.
  3. patronizing
    characteristic of those who treat others with arrogance
    Amaka smiled into the mirror, a thin, patronizing smile that seemed to say I should not have bothered lying to her.
  4. conscious
    showing realization or recognition of something
    She said “teenagers” as if she were not one, as if teenagers were a brand of people who, by not listening to culturally conscious music, were a step beneath her. And she said “culturally conscious” in the proud way that people say a word they never knew they would learn until they do.
  5. purpose
    an anticipated outcome that guides your planned actions
    We always spoke with a purpose back home, especially at the table, but my cousins seemed to simply speak and speak and speak.
  6. banter
    light teasing repartee
    I did not say anything else until lunch was over, but I listened to every word spoken, followed every cackle of laughter and line of banter.
  7. lecture
    deliver a talk
    “Mom, please don’t lecture now,” Amaka said.
  8. schedule
    a list of times at which things are planned to occur
    So now rich people can’t decide what to do day by day, they need a schedule to tell them.
  9. administration
    the group of people who manage or direct an institution
    Aunty Ifeoma prayed for the university, for the lecturers and administration, for Nigeria, and finally, she prayed that we might find peace and laughter today.
  10. bewildered
    extremely confused and uncertain what to do
    As we made the sign of the cross, I looked up to seek out Jaja’s face, to see if he, too, was bewildered that Aunty Ifeoma and her family prayed for, of all things, laughter.
  11. barbed
    having or covered with protective points, spines, or thorns
    “That’s a hibiscus, isn’t it, Aunty?” Jaja asked, staring at a plant close to the barbed wire fencing. “I didn’t know there were purple hibiscuses.”
  12. tend
    have care of or look after
    She then pointed to the vice chancellor’s lodge, to the high walls surrounding it, and said it used to have well-tended hedges of cherry and ixora until rioting students jumped over the hedges and burned a car in the compound.
  13. superficial
    of little substance or significance
    “Putting up walls is a superficial fix, anyway,” she continued.
  14. dignity
    the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect
    To restore the dignity of man. Obiora was reading the plaque, too. He let out a short cackle and asked, “But when did man lose his dignity?”
  15. proper
    marked by suitability or rightness or appropriateness
    Amaka looked at her mother with her lips turned down and her eyebrows raised, as if she could not believe that anybody had to be told how to peel yam slices properly.
  16. sacrilegious
    grossly irreverent toward what is considered holy
    It felt almost sacrilegious addressing this boyish man—in an open-neck T-shirt and jeans faded so much I could not tell if they had been black or dark blue—as Father.
  17. pilgrimage
    a journey to a sacred place
    After all, I had to use a pilgrimage to Aokpe to get him to say yes to the children’s visiting us.
  18. betray
    deliver to an enemy by treachery
    I pressed my lips together, biting my lower lip, so my mouth would not join in the singing on its own, so my mouth would not betray me.
  19. opinion
    a personal belief or judgment
    Amaka, you are free to have your opinions, but you must treat your cousin with respect.
  20. oracle
    a shrine where a prophet is consulted
    “Aja means sand or oracle, but Jaja? What kind of name is Jaja? It is not Igbo,” he finally pronounced.
  21. exile
    expel from a country
    He did not sell his soul for a bit of gunpowder like the other kings did, so the British exiled him to the West Indies.
  22. catechism
    an elementary book summarizing the principles of a religion
    When he was ten, he had missed two questions on his catechism test and was not named the best in his First Holy Communion class.
  23. meditation
    contemplation of spiritual matters
    I paused then, in my meditation, to pray that Papa would never find out that Papa-Nnukwu had visited and that I had shared a room with him.
  24. typhoid
    infection marked by intestinal inflammation and ulceration
    Aunty Ifeoma stared at the middle distance and said she would have to find a private lab in town and, in a lower voice, said the private labs jacked up their fees so much that a simple typhoid fever test cost more than the medicine for the fever.
  25. bitter
    causing a sharp and acrid taste experience
    “He says tablets are bitter, but you should taste the kola nuts he chews happily—they taste like bile.”
  26. feature
    have as a prominent attribute
    “I would like to know why the tortoise features so much in our people’s stories,” Obiora said in English.
  27. longing
    prolonged unfulfilled desire or need
    They understood each other, using the sparest words. Watching them, I felt a longing for something I knew I would never have.
  28. innocence
    the state of being unsullied by sin or moral wrong
    Aunty Ifeoma was silent as she ladled the thick cocoyam paste into the soup pot; then she looked up and said Papa-Nnukwu was not a heathen but a traditionalist, that sometimes what was different was just as good as what was familiar, that when Papa-Nnukwu did his itu-nzu, his declaration of innocence, in the morning, it was the same as our saying the rosary.
  29. prosperity
    the condition of having good fortune
    “Chineke! Bless my son, Eugene. Let the sun not set on his prosperity. Lift the curse they have put on him.”
  30. disregard
    give little or no attention to
    “It is good, my son. But you must never lie to them. Never teach them to disregard their fathers.”
  31. mingle
    be all mixed up or jumbled together
    She seemed so happy, so at peace, and I wondered how anybody around me could feel that way when liquid fire was raging inside me, when fear was mingling with hope and clutching itself around my ankles.
  32. vanity
    feelings of excessive pride
    Vanity was a sin. Jaja and I looked in the mirror just long enough to make sure our buttons were done right.
  33. implicate
    bring into intimate and incriminating connection
    I would not implicate Papa, since Father Amadi obviously disagreed.
  34. abandoned
    forsaken by owner or inhabitants
    I kept my eyes focused on the bleak, unpainted spectator stands, abandoned for so long that tiny plants had started to push their green heads through the cracks in the cement.
  35. elusive
    skillful at evading capture
    Father Amadi was like blue wind, elusive.
  36. reconcile
    make compatible with
    I could not reconcile the blond Christ hanging on the burnished cross in St. Agnes and the sting-scarred legs of those boys.
  37. retrench
    make a reduction, as in one's workforce
    His father was a driver here in the university. But they retrenched him, and Ekwueme had to drop out of Nsukka High School.
  38. complicated
    difficult to analyze or understand
    “It’s a lot more complicated than that, Kambili. I had many questions, growing up. The priesthood came closest to answering them.”
  39. eccentricity
    strange and unconventional behavior
    Aunty Ifeoma shook her head as if the way Papa felt were just a minor eccentricity.
  40. outraged
    angered at something unjust or wrong
    Papa would be outraged that neither Jaja nor I had mentioned it when he called.
Created on Tue Jan 03 17:36:10 EST 2017 (updated Mon Oct 01 16:10:58 EDT 2018)

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