Author(s): Dr. N. Ravikumar, Mr. M. Inbaraj

Abstract: Man is a social animal and depends on others to fulfil his needs. Hence it becomes imperative that he maintains a proper relationship with others. It is indeed true that relationships cannot be created overnight. For building a relationship, one should have qualities like kindness, adaptability, understanding, tolerance, patience, and the like. Maintaining the relationship that is built is yet another challenging task. Since literature is a reflection of human life, many literary works focus on human bonding and the need and importance of maintaining a relationship through the portrayal of various characters. Purple Hibiscus is one such novel written by the African American writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, considered one of the 100 ‘Most Influential People.’ The novel brings out various aspects of human bonding and relationship through the incidents that occur in day-to-day lives. The present paper intends to analyse the struggles faced by the characters involved in different kinds of relationship and their realising the need of connectedness in the novel, Purple Hibiscus.

Keywords: Portrayal, Human, Patience, Dependence, Relationship

Article Info: Received: 31 Dec 2023; Received in revised form: 08 Feb 2024; Accepted: 17 Feb 2024; Available online: 23 Feb 2024

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.91.30