Silence, a Yell from Self towards Nothingness in Neshani Andreas’ The purple violet of Oshaantu and Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple hibiscus

Abstract

Beyond voice lies a sound laden with dread. Dread, as Heidegger points out, is encountered in a feeling of nothingness. But nothingness is not an automatic existent; it is built up through actions that gradually breed detachment of self from a whole. This paper explores the journey of self towards nothingness in Andreas’ The purple violet of Oshaantu and Adichie’s Purple hibiscus. This journey is undertaken by the characters, Kauna and Mama, as they communicate with their spirits—silence. The silence of these characters is so shrieking that its echo is strongly heard in the lives of those around them. But are these characters able to liberate themselves after identifying selves or did they drench further into the helpless state they were before discovering selves? This is one question this paper answers as it traces these characters’ journeys towards self-identification through nothingness.