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Showing posts from November, 2021

Feeling the Pressure

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A recurring theme arises throughout the novel Purple Hibiscus, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, where a young girl in Nigeria named Kambili faces unachievable expectations and physical abuse from her father when she fails to reach them. Life is difficult for Kambili: she fails to connect with “normal” people for fear that they will not understand her, and she is reclusive and keeps to herself even when she wants to share. A modern take on the life of African children, I instantly related this novel to the song Pressure by Thutmose . Growing up in Lagos, Thutmose understands the life of an African child and the struggles of moving countries and cultures. He left Nigeria when he was 9 because of an explosion of a military armory, and Pressure details the struggles of being mistreated in Africa and the panic that ensues as military involvement gets more widespread and corrupt. The vivid imagery in Thutmose’s storytelling helps paint a picture of the dangerous situation in Nigeria at the time.