Purple Hibiscus: List 4

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 182–250 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. teeter
    move unsteadily, with a rocking motion
    I had been teetering on that boundary that divides sleep and wakefulness, imagining Papa coming to get us himself, imagining the rage in his red-tinged eyes, the burst of Igbo from his mouth.
  2. loll
    hang loosely or laxly
    And I imagined our forebears a century ago, the ancestors Papa-Nnukwu prayed to, charging in to defend their hamlet, coming back with lolling heads on long sticks.
  3. grievous
    causing fear or anxiety by threatening great harm
    I closed my eyes then so that if Papa asked if I had seen Jaja touch the body of a heathen—it seemed more grievous, touching Papa-Nnukwu in death—I could truthfully say no, because I had not seen everything that Jaja did.
  4. sporadic
    recurring in scattered or unpredictable instances
    He let out sporadic choking sounds, crying deep in his throat. I knew that the reason he did not cry out loud was because he was the nwoke in the house, the man Aunty Ifeoma had by her side.
  5. mourn
    express grief after the death of a loved one
    Besides, I did not have a right to mourn Papa-Nnukwu with her; he had been her Papa-Nnukwu more than mine.
  6. judgment
    the determination by a court of competent jurisdiction
    “He has gone to face judgment,” Papa said, putting his glass of water down.
  7. omission
    leaving out or passing over something
    “It is the sin of omission, Lord,” he said, as though God did not know.
  8. lush
    characterized by extravagance and profusion
    Our furniture was lifeless: the glass tables did not shed twisted skin in the harmattan, the leather sofas’ greeting was a clammy coldness, the Persian rugs were too lush to have any feeling.
  9. malleable
    capable of being shaped or bent
    We always chose whistling pine because the branches were malleable, not as painful as the stiffer branches from the gmelina or the avocado.
  10. strive
    exert much effort or energy
    “You should strive for perfection. You should not see sin and walk right into it.”
  11. excruciating
    extremely painful
    I wanted to say “Yes, Papa,” because he was right, but the burning on my feet was climbing up, in swift courses of excruciating pain, to my head and lips and eyes.
  12. gingerly
    with extreme care or delicacy
    He wore thick socks and placed his feet gingerly one after the other, as I did.
  13. expensive
    high in price or charging high prices
    After prayers, as Mama dished out the food, Papa said, “These pagan funerals are expensive. One fetish group will ask for a cow, then a witch doctor will demand a goat for some god of stone, then another cow for the hamlet and another for the umuada. Nobody ever asks why the so-called gods don’t ever eat the animals and instead greedy men share the meat among themselves. The death of a person is just an excuse for heathens to feast.”
  14. activism
    a policy of action to achieve a political or social goal
    It was nothing like the first Standard feature I’d read about him, titled “A Saint among Us,” which had focused on his activism, on his pro-democracy rallies that filled the stadium at Surulere.
  15. bribe
    make illegal payments to in exchange for favors or influence
    It was that evening, before dinner, that the government agents came, the men in black who yanked hibiscuses off as they left, the men Jaja said had come to bribe Papa with a truckful of dollars, the men Papa asked to get out of our house.
  16. protest
    a formal and solemn declaration of objection
    During family time, while Papa and I played chess, Papa winning, we heard on the radio that Nigeria had been suspended from the Commonwealth because of the murder, that Canada and Holland were recalling their ambassadors in protest.
  17. furor
    a sudden outburst, as of protest
    The only time I heard him say anything about it was when Aunty Ifeoma called to find out how Papa was doing, because she had heard about the furor the Standard story had caused.
  18. parched
    extremely thirsty
    It rained heavily the day Ade Coker died, a strange, furious rain in the middle of the parched harmattan.
  19. crumple
    fold or collapse
    Papa was crumpled on a sofa in the living room, sobbing.
  20. delicate
    easily broken or damaged or destroyed
    Hollows appeared under his eyes during those weeks, as if someone had suctioned the delicate flesh, leaving his eyes sunken in.
  21. char
    burn to charcoal
    My nightmares started then, nightmares in which I saw Ade Coker’s charred remains spattered on his dining table, on his daughter’s school uniform, on his baby’s cereal bowl, on his plate of eggs. In some of the nightmares, I was the daughter and the charred remains became Papa’s.
  22. destined
    governed by fate
    Perhaps we all changed after Nsukka—even Papa—and things were destined to not be the same, to not be in their original order.
  23. sway
    move back and forth
    Papa swayed slightly, from side to side, like a person about to fall at the feet of a charismatic pastor after the laying on of hands. Papa did not sway often. His swaying was like shaking a bottle of Coke that burst into violent foam when you opened it.
  24. agony
    intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain
    Even taking a breath was agony.
  25. unction
    anointing as part of a religious ceremony or healing ritual
    They give extreme unction to anyone who is seriously ill,” Mama whispered, when Papa and Father Benedict left.
  26. topple
    fall down, as if collapsing
    I wished I could get up and hug her, and yet I wanted to push her away, to shove her so hard that she would topple over the chair.
  27. collapse
    fall apart
    “When a house is on fire, you run out before the roof collapses on your head.”
  28. rival
    the contestant you hope to defeat
    People have crushes on priests all the time, you know. It’s exciting to have to deal with God as a rival.
  29. sole
    not divided or shared with others
    “We cannot sit back and let it happen, mba. Where else have you heard of such a thing as a sole administrator in a university?”
  30. microcosm
    a miniature model of something
    “The university’s equivalent of a head of state,” Obiora said. “The university becomes a microcosm of the country.”
  31. politics
    the activities involved in managing a state or a government
    “And Mom will have her work recognized in America, without any nonsense politics,” Obiora said, nodding, agreeing with himself in case nobody else did.
  32. sabotage
    destroy property or hinder normal operations
    We are here to search your house. We’re looking for documents designed to sabotage the peace of the university.
  33. collaboration
    the act of cooperating traitorously with an enemy
    We have information that you have been in collaboration with the radical student groups that staged the riots.
  34. brazen
    not held back by conventional ideas of behavior
    “How you go just come enter like dis? Wetin be dis?" Obiora said, rising, the fear in his eyes not quite shielded by the brazen manliness in his pidgin English.
  35. prestige
    a high standing achieved through success or influence
    “Papa-Nnukwu used to say that the vultures have lost their prestige,” Amaka said. “In the old days, people liked them because when they came down to eat the entrails of animals used in sacrifice, it meant the gods were happy.”
  36. afford
    have the financial means to do something or buy something
    We cannot afford to give pocket money to our children. We cannot afford to eat meat. We cannot afford bread.
  37. potential
    the inherent capacity for coming into being
    The educated ones leave, the ones with the potential to right the wrongs.
  38. resist
    stand up to somebody or something
    The tyrants continue to reign because the weak cannot resist.
  39. quarrel
    have a disagreement over something
    I do not quarrel with your disagreeing with my friend. I quarrel with how you have disagreed. I do not raise disrespectful children in this house, do you hear me?
  40. possess
    enter into and control, as of emotions or ideas
    Mama’s eyes were still glazed, but she looked like a different woman from the one who had come out of the taxi that morning. She looked possessed by a different demon.
Created on Tue Jan 03 17:55:00 EST 2017 (updated Mon Oct 01 16:12:26 EDT 2018)

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