Many Western African contries have been influenced by the British colonization and imperialism. Nigeria is one of the countries that has transformed from imperialism to independence. British. In addition, Purple hibiscus is a novel written by a Nigerian writer named Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She implicates that the presence of white people in Nigeria had economic, political and religious effects to the Nigerian. One of the impacts on religion is that it can change and manipulate the definition of modern and tradition. Furthermore, adding to the manipulations between modern and tradition meanings, I will talk about polygamy in Indonesia.
In purple hibiscus, Eugene, Kambili's father, is an ideologue, a religious maverick and his prejudice is anchored on theological Catholicism. He works extra hard to make sure that his family has everything they need. Eugene is the living symbol of masculinity and, therefore, he is the main character in the novel. Moreover, he forces his family to live under the deep strain of Catholicism and discard the traditional African faith of his own father’s religion aspect representing the modern period using Purple Hibiscus. His loyalty to catholicism and the western colonialism have made him reject his family’s traditional beliefs. His determination that the wife and children should follow the catholic doctrine makes him oppress his family especially Kambili who is her daughter. He forbids them from holding onto the Igbo traditional values.
The Purple Hibiscus explains two cultures which are modernity versus traditional culture. The males in the novel value modernity while the females value traditional culture. Kambili’s father value Eurocentric culture while the mother and grandfather insist on the Igbo traditional culture. Kambili’s home culture is defined by modernism since the father preaches to them that Catholicism is the right way of life and they should do away with the Igbo traditional and religious cultures and conform to the modern culture. Eugene’s family was to choose between tradition and modernity but he continuously forced them to conform to modernity and do away with tradition. This is seen where he mistreats them and beats them up and when he disagrees with the father papa Nnukwu (Adichie 68). Kambili’s father valued the Christianity brought about by the British colonizers which was a distorted interpretation of the Christian religion. He considered other people to be ungodly as long as they were not Catholics.
In Purple Hibiscus, Kambili is divided between the Catholicism doctrine and the Igbo culture with its religious practices. She looks for ways to combine both modernity and tradition without giving one of them an advantage. In this novel, Kambili the protagonist tries to confront being a colonized child of both the catholic teachings and the Igbo customs. She looks for ways on how to cope up with the two cultures and this brings problems between her and her father.
Eugene represents modernity in the Purple Hibiscus. He supports modernity over traditional values through valuing Catholicism over Igbo religious traditions. He values the catholic doctrine over the Igbo religious beliefs. He gives Western education a first priority over the native African languages. His modernism is also seen where he changes his speaking to a British accent (Adichie 46). In addition, he forbids his children from speaking Igbo in public and forces them to speak English. Eugene wants his children to embrace modernity by speaking English and assimilate the colonizers culture. He embraced modernity by promoting the English language through his newspaper.
The British colonialism in Nigeria mostly affected the traditions and religious beliefs of the Nigerian people. It affected the cultural heritage like dressing and language. In purple Hibiscus, it highly affected the language as we see Eugene promoting the English language through the newspaper and setting tight rules to his children to speak English. It is also clearly seen today as English is the main language used in Nigeria. The European colonizers used religion to control and repress the native African population’s minds and this is what happened to Eugene in the novel, he was controlled by views and values of the colonizers and he forced them to his family (Adichie 113). He never gave them a chance to follow what they feel is good for them. Modernity came to Nigeria through colonization by the British. Eugene believed that Catholicism is modernism and everyone had to adapt to it and forget about the Igbo culture and this is clearly shown the Adichie’s novel Purple Hibiscus.
Difference from purple hibiscus, Islam came in to Indonesia as part of globalization. In Indonesia, Islam is the major religion among the people in there. It's true that Islam allowed them to practice polygamy because it was written in Quran. In addition, polygamy has existed in Middle East since thousand years ago. Polygamy is a sensitive issue in Muslim society, particularly in Indonesia. Studies done have shown that polygamy is a practice that strongly exists in Indonesia. This is a trend in the muslim community which is being practiced even with the muslim elites like Hamzah Haz who has three wives and is Indonesia’s vice president periode 1999-2004. This issue becomes more popular in 2002-2003 when a famous entrepreneur who has successfully married four wives and was presented a Polygamy Award in 2003. Additionally in 2004, a writer named Habiburrahman El shirazy,wrote a book about polygamy which turned out to be a best-seller.
Polygamy is the trend in Indonesia and most Muslims value it thinking that it is modernism. Polygamy is a culture that embraces tradition and many Indonesians fail to understand this. Most Indonesian Muslims embrace tradition through polygamy. Polygamy is a practice that started a long time ago and even though it is recorded in the Quran, many groups are lobbying for its ban since the rules set in the Quran about it are not followed. Most Muslims support it arguing that it helps in increasing the numbers of ummah which is the number of the Muslim community. The Indonesian Muslims want Islam to be the main religion and they believe that they can only reach this by embracing polygamy whereby many children can be born through multiple marriages compared to single marriages, this are some of the reasons that makes them think that polygamy is modernity. They also want to have an increased number of representations in Indonesia and they believe they can only make it through polygamy and that is why they think that polygamy is modernity and through it they can rule.
In Indonesia, polygamy has been legalized and men are allowed to take up to four wives as it is recorded in the Islamic laws. Polygamy is a traditional culture which many Muslim women want it to be banned since it is considered as a source of domestic violence and abuse. They argue that this tradition humiliates Muslim women. Modernity has not been embraced in Indonesia since they still follow ancient Islamic laws of polygamy. Indonesian Muslims have failed to embrace modernity by sticking to traditional cultures.
Some Muslims in Indonesia support polygamy arguing that it is modernism. They argue that it helps men not to sleep around as men in other cultures do. Moreover, they argue that polygamy makes men responsible since they will have the responsibilities to provide both financial and emotional support to their families. Most women see polygamy as favorable because they feel that it offers the widowed and divorced women another chance for family life. Through these arguments, they still stick to tradition.
Indonesia has failed to embrace modernity by legalizing polygamy since it is an ancient Islamic law which was put forth initially in the Quran but it has been misunderstood. Islam has been incompatible and against modernity in Indonesia since most of the Muslims have opted to stick to tradition by practicing polygamy. Women are the main figures in denoting the transition from tradition to modernity by fighting against polygamy. Men in Indonesia still value traditions because they still practice polygamy yet it is an ancient Islamic tradition. Even though many Muslims in Indonesia try to respond and conform to modernity, they still hold onto the Islamic traditional foundations since they still embrace polygamy.
Works Cited
Adichie, Chimamanda, Ngozi. Purple Hibiscus. New York: Random house, 2003. Print.
