IGCSE Literature Past Year Compilation

Purple Hibiscus Ms. Seelan

JUNE 2023 SERIES 1

Either 7 Read this passage, and then answer the question that follows it:

How does Adichie movingly convey Kambili’s thoughts and feelings at this moment
in the novel?

Or 8 Explore the ways in which Adichie strikingly portrays the differences between
 IGCSE Literature Past Year Compilation

Purple Hibiscus Ms. Seelan

Kambili’s mother and Aunty Ifeoma.

JUNE 2023 SERIES 2

Either 7 Read this passage, and then answer the question that follows it:

How does Adichie make this such a dramatic moment in the novel?

Or 8 Explore the ways in which Adichie vividly depicts Kambili’s school days.
 IGCSE Literature Past Year Compilation

Purple Hibiscus Ms. Seelan

JUNE 2023 SERIES 3

Either 7 Read this passage, and then answer the question that follows it:
 IGCSE Literature Past Year Compilation

Purple Hibiscus Ms. Seelan

How does Adichie make this such a sad moment in the novel?

Or 8 Explore the ways in which Adichie strikingly portrays the relationship between
Kambili and Jaja.
 IGCSE Literature Past Year Compilation

Purple Hibiscus Ms. Seelan

MARCH 2023

Either 7 Read this passage, and then answer the question that follows it:
 IGCSE Literature Past Year Compilation

Purple Hibiscus Ms. Seelan

To what extent do you think Adichie makes this a satisfying ending to the novel?

Or 8 In what ways does Adichie make Papa-Nnukwu such a memorable character?

Purple Hibiscus Ms. Seelan

NOVEMBER 2022 SERIES 1

Either 7 Read this passage, and then answer the question that follows it:
 IGCSE Literature Past Year Compilation

Purple Hibiscus Ms. Seelan

Explore the ways in which Adichie vividly portrays Papa-Nnukwu at this moment in
the novel.

Or 8 In what ways does Adichie movingly convey Kambili’s growing feelings for Father
Amadi?
 IGCSE Literature Past Year Compilation

Purple Hibiscus Ms. Seelan

NOVEMBER 2022 SERIES 2

Either 7 Read this passage, and then answer the question that follows it:
 IGCSE Literature Past Year Compilation

Purple Hibiscus Ms. Seelan

How does Adichie make this such a powerful moment in the novel?

Or 8 ‘Characters in the novel have different attitudes to Christianity.’ Explore how Adichie
vividly portrays this.
 IGCSE Literature Past Year Compilation

Purple Hibiscus Ms. Seelan

NOVEMBER 2022 SERIES 3

Purple Hibiscus Ms. Seelan

How does Adichie vividly convey the ways in which life at Aunty Ifeoma’s home
surprises Kambili and Jaja?

Or 8 Explore how Adichie memorably portrays Eugene’s power over Kambili.

Purple Hibiscus Ms. Seelan

JUNE 2022 SERIES 1

Either 7 Read this passage, and then answer the question that follows it:
 IGCSE Literature Past Year Compilation

Purple Hibiscus Ms. Seelan

Explore the ways in which Adichie vividly portrays Amaka and Kambili at this
moment in the novel.

Or 8 How far does Adichie make you feel sorry for Mama?
 IGCSE Literature Past Year Compilation

Purple Hibiscus Ms. Seelan

JUNE 2022 SERIES 2

Either 7 Read this passage, and then answer the question that follows it:

… I knew Papa would come in to say good night, to kiss my forehead. I knew he would be
wearing his wine-red pajamas that lent a slightly red shimmer to his eyes. I knew Jaja would
not have enough time to slip the painting back in the bag, and that Papa would take one
look at it and his eyes would narrow, his cheeks would bulge out like unripe udala fruit, his
mouth would spurt Igbo words.

And that was what happened. Perhaps it was what we wanted to happen, Jaja and
I, without being aware of it. Perhaps we all changed after Nsukka— even Papa—and things
were destined to not be the same, to not be in their original order.

“What is that? Have you all converted to heathen ways? What are you doing
with that painting? Where did you get it?” Papa asked.

“O nkem. It’s mine,” Jaja said. He wrapped the painting around his chest with his
arms.

“It’s mine,” I said.

Papa swayed slightly, from side to side, like a person about to fall at the feet of a
charismatic pastor after the laying on of hands. Papa did not sway often. His swaying was
like shaking a bottle of Coke that burst into violent foam when you opened it.

“Who brought that painting into this house?”

“Me,” I said.

“Me,” Jaja said.

If only Jaja would look at me, I would ask him not to blame himself. Papa snatched
the painting from Jaja. His hands moved swiftly, working together. The painting was gone. It
already represented something lost, something I had never had, would never have. Now
even that reminder was gone, and at Papa’s feet lay pieces of paper streaked with earth-
tone colors. The pieces were very small, very precise. I suddenly and maniacally imagined
Papa-Nnukwu’s body being cut in pieces that small and stored in a fridge.

“No!” I shrieked. I dashed to the pieces on the floor as if to save them, as if saving
them would mean saving Papa-Nnukwu. I sank to the floor, lay on the pieces of paper.

“What has gotten into you?” Papa asked. “What is wrong with you?”

I lay on the floor, curled tight like the picture of a child in the uterus in my Integrated
Science for Junior Secondary Schools.
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Purple Hibiscus Ms. Seelan

“Get up! Get away from that painting!”

I lay there, did nothing.

“Get up!” Papa said again. I still did not move. He started to kick me. The metal
buckles on his slippers stung like bites from giant mosquitoes. He talked nonstop, out of
control, in a mix of Igbo and English, like soft meat and thorny bones. Godlessness. Heathen
worship. Hellfire. The kicking increased in tempo, and I thought of Amaka’s music, her
culturally conscious music that sometimes started off with a calm saxophone and then
whirled into lusty singing. I curled around myself tighter, around the pieces of the painting;
they were soft, feathery. They still had the metallic smell of Amaka’s paint palette. The
stinging was raw now, even more like bites, because the metal landed on open skin on my
side, my back, my legs. Kicking. Kicking. Kicking. Perhaps it was a belt now because the metal
buckle seemed too heavy. Because I could hear a swoosh in the air. A low voice was saying,
“Please, biko, please.” More stings. More slaps. A salty wetness warmed my mouth. I closed
my eyes and slipped away into quiet.

How does Adichie make this such a disturbing moment in the novel?

Or 8 Kambili describes Aunty Ifeoma as ‘fearless’. Explore two moments when Adichie
makes this fearlessness very clear.
 IGCSE Literature Past Year Compilation

Purple Hibiscus Ms. Seelan

JUNE 2022 SERIES 2

Either 7 Read this passage, and then answer the question that follows it:
 IGCSE Literature Past Year Compilation

Purple Hibiscus Ms. Seelan

In what ways does Adichie make this such a disturbing moment in the novel?

Or 8 Explore the ways in which Adichie memorably portrays the relationship between
Jaja and his father.