When I use the below, I cannot get the jQuery this
to hide the element.
$(\'.purplePanda\').click(function(e){
this.hide();
});
Modify your code from that :
$('.purplePanda').click(function(e){
this.hide();
});
To This:
$('.purplePanda').click(function(e){
$(this).hide();
});
Should work now.
Replace
this.hide();
with
$(this).hide();
Thus your function should be like
$('.purplePanda').click(function(e){
$(this).hide();
});
See the official documentation here