A Feminist Stylistic Analysis of Resisting Patriarchal Hegemony in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus

Abstract

This study identified the forms of language of resistance in Purple Hibiscus. The feminist tools employed by the writer to portray resistance to patriarchal hegemony were examined and the writer’s representation of women characters which depict resistance was described. The study aimed primarily to examine the writer’s utilisation of feminist tools to defy hegemonic control.
The study employed Mills’ concept of feminist stylistics, which is based on the analysis at the word, phrase or sentence level, and discourse level. The data for this study were obtained from primary sources. The primary data were derived from the hardcover edition of Purple Hibiscus, with relevant excerpts carefully selected and analysed, in addition to insights from five respondents who participated in the research study. The selected excerpts were analysed using specific nuances at the levels of analysis, which accounts for relevance to the thematic preoccupation of the study. The study showed that feminist tools used to resist hegemony are assertively visible, daringly bold, and brazenly defiant through the writer’s creation of women characters as bold, daring, and defiant. Additionally, the study also highlighted a contrast in the writer’s predisposition on the varied resistance strategies to patriarchal hegemony revealing that resistance does not always have to be visible and daring rather it could also manifest through subtle and non-confrontational ways, conveyed similarly through the representation of women characters. In all, the study filled some gap in the prevailing dearth of feminist stylistic research on resistance. It also indicated the need for further study to be conducted on children’s resistance to hegemonic control in the selected text by researchers.