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Abuse Of Children’s Rights: An Appraisal Of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus And Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street
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Existentialism sheds light on the vulnerability of children in the
world. Heidegger’s concept of throwness sheds light on how beings are
thrown into the world, without any choice of theirs, and as children;
they are totally dependent on other beings around them for their
survival. These other beings can sometimes become predators to these
vulnerable beings newly thrown into the world, as is the case for
Kambili and Jaja, who become preys to the frequent violent outbursts of
their father, Eugene in Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus while Ama in Unigwe’s
On Black Sisters’ Street falls prey to the animalistic desire of one
whom she calls father. That been said, the pre-occupation of this
project will be to investigate the violated states of these children and
how it prevents them from being their own self and also to explore the
process of their self-discovery which opened the way for the attainment
of their total freedom.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The
thrust of this project is to study cases of child abuse using an
existentialist perspective. Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus is a widely read
book that have mostly been studied for its depiction of domestic
violence, most times a bulk of the study is usually centred on the woman
which falls in line with womanist or feminist criticism while some
other works that have studied the text using the bildungsroman concept
often allegorize the oppression in the home, of the children
specifically, as a representation or show glass of the nation. The
concentration of the studies of Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street on the
other hand, has mostly been based on diaspora or psychoanalytic
theories. This project will focus on the abuse of children in toto, not
as a show glass for something else; the reason for the unveiling of
existentialist thoughts unto the issue of child violation is in order to
acutely observe the vulnerability of children and also to see how
freedom from the psychological effects of violation comes only after
self-discovery has taken place.
1.3 Significance of the Study:
These
two books, as far as personal research is concerned, are yet to be
juxtaposed for a study of their depiction of child abuse. While Purple
Hibiscus has been studied for child abuse, the studies have been based
on theories like trauma theory, psychoanalytic theory, identity theory
etc. This project is significant in that it applies existentialist
thoughts to the treatment of child violation in both books. This allows
one to be acutely aware of the extent of children’s vulnerability and
how violating children’s rights lead them to live an “inauthentic
existenceâ€, which they can be free from only when they discover
themselves.
1.4 Objective of the Study:
The general
objective of this study is to investigate the abuse of children’s
rights. Looking into the effects that these abuses have on the identity
or mineness, according to Heidegger, of these children; journeying down
to the moment of self realization and the process of self-discovery that
resulted in the attainment of total freedom.
1.5 Scope of the Study:
Narrowing
the abuse of children’s rights to the domestic sphere, the childhood
lives of the characters to be studied are that of Kambili and Jaja in
Purple Hibiscus and Ama in On Black Sisters’ Street. Using specifically,
Heidegger’s concept of the nature of human existence.
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