Category: Americanah

Both Americanah and The lost continent are novels where the main protagonists travel to America and tell anecdotes of their separate experiences while there and the struggles they have at times with their identities. It also shows the very contrasting experiences both have when navigating America due to factors like gender and race. In this essay, I will be analysing the similarities and differences in the rekindling of their identities as they return home reminiscing on their past at times ironically.

Adichie and Bryson use Irony a lot throughout the novels especially when the narrators are reflecting on the past. Bryson particularly uses a lot of obvious ironies when discussing his experiences with his home town and the people there. This is showed when he says at the beginning of the book ‘Eventually I grew up and moved to England’ and then he later writes ‘And now when I came home it was to a foreign country, full of serial murders and sports teams in the wrong towns.’ Although he makes humour out of the situation when he describes the changes being ‘sports teams in the wrong towns’, this could be a subtle metaphor for the significant changes that have happened since he had been gone, such as the development in urbanisation and modernisation that had occurred ‘no more milk bottles delivered to the doorstep’ and the changes in the places he had vacationed to as a child in general. These changes could be what makes him feel like he is in a ‘foreign country’ and make it difficult when he reminisces over his childhood to identify it with the Des Moines he left. It is ironic because he was so desperate to leave when he could that when he moved to England and came back that he found his country in a way unrecognisable. Particularly with the anecdotes of his vacations where he talks a lot about his father whose death is what makes Bryson want to return home in the first place.

Similarly, Adichie also shows how Ifemelu experienced a change in life in Lagos on her return when her friend Ranyinudo was telling her about the wedding she had just attended where she says, ‘All the bridesmaids had to wait outside because our dresses were indecent.’ This makes Ifemelu question if it was like this when she was living in Lagos. It says in the novel ‘she was no longer sure what was new in Lagos and what was new in herself’ This shows Ifemelu contemplating on whether there were changes in Lagos between tradition and westernisation or if the change has been in herself since she left for America. This relates to earlier in the book when in Baltimore Ifemelu meets an Ethiopian taxi driver who says she doesn’t seem like an African as ‘her blouse is too tight’ and that America is ‘corrupting her’ which angers her. This further reinforces the change in Lagos and Ifemelu herself on her views on tradition and westernisation. The changes in her identity coming back to Lagos is also shown when she snaps at the tile man doing work in her house. It says ‘She surprised herself. Where had that come from, the false bravado.’ This action made her think back to a memory of her aunty Uju ‘A memory came to her, undiminished after so many years’ This presents how coming back to Lagos has allowed her to remember memories of her past that she wouldn’t otherwise have thought of. When she later told Ranyinudo about what had happened she says, ‘you are no longer behaving like an Americanah!’ This puts into perspective just how much Ifemelu had changed that even her friend had thought she had lost her real self as when she was younger she was much more outspoken but America had changed that. While living in America Ifemelu also puts on an American accent for a lot of her time to adapt and in a way fit into the lifestyle there. However, after on the phone with a boy from a call centre It then later says ‘And despite herself, Ifemelu felt pleased to hear this’ In a way we see Ifemelu being more connected with her different sides of her identity as she is ‘pleased’ that she isn’t acting so much like an ‘Americanah!’

Death is also shown in both books to be somewhat of a driving force for both Bryson and Ifemelu to return home. However, it is more significant in the lost continent as Bryson throughout the book tells anecdotes of his father and their family vacations where he describes him in detail so that the reader can get a strong sense of his character like when he writes ‘His idea of holiday heaven was a museum without an admission charge’ which summarises well what all the family vacations were like. We also notice that Bryson doesn’t talk about his mother as much or describe her in as much detail. This may be because his father’s death is the main reason for his return to America. Bryson writes quite early on in the book in chapter one ‘when you have reached the middle of your life and your father has recently died and it dawns on you that when he went he took some of you with him.’ He says that his father died he took some part of him this could show him struggling with his identity when his father died because of the grief and the nostalgia of the past that was he was feeling which motivated him to return home to reminisce over this and the memory of his father.

Similarly, before Ifemelu leaves to return for Nigeria she experiences two accounts with death of those around her the first one being Obinze’s mother. She discovers her death through emails between Obinze who she hasn’t spoken to in many years he tells her how she hadn’t liked his new wealth and was also disappointed about the education system in Nigeria. Finding out this news makes Ifemelu upset as she says like aunty Uju ‘she treated me like a person with an opinion that mattered.’ Comparing Obinzes mother to Auty Uju is significant as she is probably one of the closest people to Ifemelu so she is saying that his mother meant a lot to her growing up in Nigeria. Around this time Ifemelu’s cousin Dike also tries to commit suicide which is quite shocking for the reader as he is also shown to be outgoing and charismatic. However, soon Ifemelu realises that like herself at one point Dike may have been unhappy because he was struggling with his identity as he was confused and divided due to the racial issues that he experiences growing up in America. Later, on his birthday the two of them are in Miami for Dikes birthday where he tells Ifemelu she should no longer postpone her trip to Nigeria because he is better now and she agrees. she also offers to show him around Nigeria if he wants to visit when she is there. Both of these encounters of death help encourage Ifemelu to go back home to see Obinze and also because later Dike joins her in Lagos where he is able to see where he lived as a child which I think helps him and Ifemelu in a way to heal from their struggles with their identity in America.

On the contrary, both texts have some differences when discussing race. Adichie goes more in-depth in her novel talking about racial political issues within America as a running theme from the very beginning. She does this particularly through the blog which Ifemelu writes called “Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks by a Non-American Black”. Some of the titles of the blog posts include ‘A Michelle Obama shout out plus hair as race metaphor’, ‘Travelling while black’ and ‘What academics mean by white privilege’. I think that the blog is what helped Ifemelu stay in touch with her identity as a non-American black as she could give her perspective on what she has experienced and that it was an outlet for her to talk about how race became an issue for her in America. However, outside of her blog, Adichie shows the subtle and sometimes obvious racism that all the significant characters in the novel like Dike, Aunty Uju, Obinze and Ifemelu herself faced when adapting to a new country. Some examples of this are when in London Obinze scraps his knee and is made fun of by being called a ‘Knee – grow ‘. Also, when Aunty Uju had patients who were ‘refusing to have her as their doctor’. We also see Ifemelu struggle within her relationships with Blaine and particularly with Curt because of race. I think that all of these characters experience some type of hopelessness while living in America and London because of racial issues.

Bryson also discusses race in his book but not as often and in a different way because travelling through America is not an issue for him compared to Ifemelu who writes a blog post titled ‘Travelling while black’ where she talked about how difficult it can be to travel as a black person in certain areas around the world. Bryson talks about one memory he had when he was a child in Washington on vacation when he saw a black man who killed ‘He was a black man and he was lying among a crowd of legs’ he then later goes on to say, ‘It seemed such a strange thing to do, to stop someone’s life because you found him disagreeable’. This shows the contrast in how racism is shown in both books as both share their experience witnessing and receiving racism. Bryson also talks about the change in racism in the south of America especially in Mississippi where he sees ‘blacks and whites’ living in harmony’ which he hadn’t seen as a child. Overall, Bryson talks about the change it racism he has seen upon his return to America which is the only change he really appreciates in the whole novel. Whereas, Adichie addresses the ongoing issue of racism in America and other parts of the world through the blog posts and the anecdote from different characters.

In conclusion, the way in which Bryson and Adichie use irony and anecdotal memories are similar. As they both struggle with their identities in a way through the changes they have faced as people and the changes in America and Lagos. America changes more in the way of urban development which Bryson doesn’t like whereas Lagos changes more in terms of everyday life there. However, in contrast both novels discuss the issues of racism in America as Bryson shares Anecdotes of the racism he saw as a child and how upon returning there has been some change in that. On the other hand, Adichie shows the racism that still happens in America through the experiences of different characters. Also, Adiche makes Race an ongoing theme throughout the novel from the very beginning till the end which Bryson does not. Both writers narrate their novels in different ways, Bryson only has one narrative voice throughout the whole book which is himself. Whereas, Adichie uses several different character’s perspectives and also uses a blog post.

Ifemelu’s hair is one of the most important motifs in the book Americanah as a remark on her adaptation to American social norms. Her hair links all of her interactions presented in the book together. And it also has a hair-identity connection that is closely related. Throughout the text, she goes through various hair cuts and styles. At one point in the novel she has afro styled hair, and then she changes to braids. Braids and twists are incredibly popular in Nigeria but not used quite as often in the United States, where the norms of social beauty emphasize straight-styled hair.

Hair is used most of the time in the novel to reflect on Ifemelu’s transition as well as the rebellion against American society’s standards. And for Ifemelu, hair is basically representing her struggles and the difficulties for finding her identity as a Nigerian immigrant in America. Throughout Ifemelu’s life, she has been using her hair in a natural afro or braided. However, after a long time in America, she agrees to straighten her hair and follow the american social standards in order for Americans to take her seriously. This becomes clear to Ifemelu when Aunty Uju tells her “If you have braids, they will think that you are unprofessional” (Adichie, 146). Therefore, she relaxes her hair by using chemicals and a flat iron. When she is relaxing her hair at the hair salon in Trenton, she smells her hair being burned and with that Ifemelu feels that a part of her is also burning. After all of the process to relax Ifemelu’s hair, the hairdresser says “But look at how pretty it is. Wow, girl, you’ve got the whith-girl swing!” (Adichie, 251), meaning that when Ifemelu’s hair did not meet the american social standards it was not pretty, but now that it is straightened it is finally lovely. “Her hair was hanging down rather than standing up, straight and sleek” (Adichie, 251), this has a mournful feeling after Ifemelu changed her hair. Ifemelu was also not liking the new hair so much, she wanted her original hair back. She said that she was not recognizing herself at that moment after the transformation (Adichie, 251). After this big alteration in her hair, Ifemelu still made a few more changes.

At one point in the novel Ifemelu cut her hair, symbolizing freedom. Previously she straightened her hair, which symbolized the loss of her identity and confidence. However, with her cutting it, would represent her recovering that identity and confidence she once lost. After cutting her hair, Ifemelu did not like it and she even said, “I look so ugly I’m scared of myself” (Adichie, 258). She was so insecure that she didn’t even go to work, and also when she was talking to Curt through email, she started to trigger and wonder if Curt will accept her new hair.

In Americanah, Adichie talks a lot about hair and the meaning behind every hair style for Ifemelu. In this novel hair represents many different things, but the main ones are identity, freedom and confidence. The author also talks about race and racism through hair. Adichie talks a lot about the american social standards and how everyone should follow it or else society will not respect or take the person seriously, as shown when Aunty Uju tells Ifemelu that if she does not straighten her hair she will look unprofessional and will probably not get a job (Adichie, 146).

In Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, she writes about Ifemelu, a Nigerian woman who comes to the United States for a better future. The story continues to discuss identity and how Ifemelu and Obinze find their place in the world. Because of their life experiences, identity is also connected to racial identity for both of these characters. Adichie presents a common theme in the story that our search for who we are is fuelled by a need to find a place in a world where we belong.

Hair is one very important Ifemelu’s understanding of Nigeria and America as it can show someone’s social and individual identity. When a white woman touches her hair and says” why don’t you have a relaxer? How do you comb it.”( Adichie 23), ifemelu was quick about saying something. She doesn’t let those kinds of comments come at her without a response. She then responds by saying “ I like my hair just the way God made it.”( Adichie 23) Back in Nigeria, ifemelu would always braid her hair. However, when she comes to America she discovers that she should fix her hair by making it straighter.. The author symbolizes the fact that ifemelu straightening her makes her look more like a white woman. She tries to change who she is and tries to fit in with the rest of the world.

To feel less like an outcast, Ifemelu starts faking an American accent. A couple of years go by and ifemelu has perfected her American accent by now as she learns when a young male telemarketer calls her. He is surprised that she is Nigerian, as she sounds “totally American.”( Adichie 200) When she closes the phone, she then starts to feel ashamed of this. She has forgotten her roots and that she is and always will be Nigerian and she can’t just throw that away. Ifemelu decided to stop faking the accent. “ she had perfected it from carefully watching friends and newscasters. The blurring of the t, the creamy roll of the r, the sentences starting with so, and the sliding response of oh really, but the accent creaked with consciousness, it was an act of will.”( Adichie 212) The way Adichie investigates identity through accent here is intriguing on the grounds that it features how the very way we talk is imperative. We may all communicate in English yet the manner in which we articulate words prompts certain recognitions and biases. Accents decide the manner in which others see you and how we see ourselves.

In Obinze’s first couple of months in England, he finds a job as a janitor and makes money by cleaning toilets. There was this woman that came from Ghana that worked at the same company as him, however, she would always overlook Obinze and would only be nice and to the white workers that were there. “ She ignored his friendly gestures, saying only good evening as formally as she could, but she was friendly to the white woman who cleaned the offices upstairs.”( Adichie 292) Adichie shows the troublesome battles confronting an African migrant to Europe, as the accomplished and refined Obinze is compelled to go as far as the most humble of occupations just to survive. Obinze perceives that each outsider, regardless of their group in their nation of origin, needs to develop another personality when they move to a new environment. Obinize has a relatively hard time adapting to a new identity in England. His visa expires and he is forced to take on other identities to find work. “Everywhere there is a fear of immigrants, and Obinze feels invisible and worthless.”( Adichie 315) Obinze’s time in England isn’t as great as Ifemelu’s in America. This area centers around the subject of identity, as Obinze feels unseeable as an undocumented immigrant. He is finally caught and is sent back to Nigeria having to give up on his American dream.

A sense of belonging comes from a sense of identity. The book switches back and forth between two stories, just as in the over a significant time span, yet the composing is so impeccable this all works flawlessly. In any case, more than all else, ‘Americanah’ is a book about existence and expectation. Love and lament. Bigotry, equality, and most importantly, identity. Venturing out from home and returning. It is a book that states significant and clever facts. It is a book to be valued.

The relationship between a mother and her child can definitely be complicated, as it is prominent throughout the novel Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Although the two individuals may be similar in many ways, the differences can make the journey through life’s ups and downs a little more difficult. Every parent has a different bond with their child, which in turn affects the ability for a child to develop their identity and maintain a strong sense of self. Adichie presents several differing mother-child bonds, especially between Ifemelu and her mother and Obinze and his. Obinze’s mother granted warmth and support throughout his life, leading him to remain strong, unconforming and comfortable with his identity. In contrast, Ifemelu’s mother was less involved, so her identity kept transforming as she moved through different phases in her life. Although some individuals may believe the main theme of Americanah is the pursuit of the American dream, the theme of mother-child relationships is more important within the novel. It seems as if a supportive, strong relationship between a mother and her child develops a sense of identity in her child that remains stable throughout life, even during hardship.

In Ifemelu’s case, she was raised by a mother who was unsupportive and minimally involved in her life, though she still loves her. Her mother’s crazy obsession with religion lead her to participate in extreme fasting, in order to distract her from the difficulties of reality. Ifemelu was lucky to have other women in her life that acted as mother figures, Aunty Uju and Obinze’s mother specifically. In a particular instance, her mother rushed home with a confused, unfocused look in her eye and asked Ifemelu “Where are the big scissors?” and “raised it to her head and handful by handful chopped off all of her hair” (Adichie 49). Her mother’s act of cutting off her hair represents her giving up a part of herself for the sake of religion and in turn, focusing most of her attention on God, rather than staying involved in her daughter’s life. That same day, her mother began collecting all Catholic objects in the house, put them in a bag and burned the objects in their backyard to ashes. “Ifemelu began to cry because she sensed that something had happened, and the woman standing by the fire… was not her mother, and could not be her mother” (50). This situation sparked a separation between Ifemelu and her mother, since she began lacking support, direction and an overall presence in her daughter’s life. Her mother was turning into someone unfamiliar, which will last throughout her lifetime.

In addition, during Ifemelu’s fifteen years residing in America, her parents visited just once for three weeks. Ifemelu stated, “They seemed like strangers. They looked the same, but the dignity she remembered was gone..” (Adichie 372). Obviously she wanted her parents to visit her, it just did not feel the same anymore, due to their lack of connection and the amount of time they’ve been apart. In America, she stated, “She was not sure she would be able to be their daughter, the person they remembered” (372). America shaped Ifemelu into someone completely different and someone who was not her true self. Furthermore, Jack Taylor states in “Language, Race, and Identity in Adichie’s Americanah that the novel reckons with the “tension between individual and collective identity vis-à-vis blackness in the United States” (Taylor). With an identity that can easily adapt and assimilate to its’ surroundings, the American culture has the ability to change an individual to conform to society’s norms. Ifemelu moved from Nigeria to America, then back to Nigeria again, started different schools, and started various new relationships with different men and her parents knew little about what was occurring in her life through these transitions. The way her mother raised her growing up, in a distant, unsupportive manner may correlate to her unstable and undeveloped identity presented throughout the novel.

Obinze’s mother is very warm and supportive towards him and most importantly, in times of hardship and struggle. After Obinze was deported, “ His mother’s voice on the phone was almost unfamiliar, a woman speaking a crisp, Nigerian English, telling him, calmly, to be strong, that she would be in Lagos to receive him” (Adichie 347). Although Obinze made a mistake, his mother did not hesitate to help him and forgave him. This example perfectly portrays how Obinze’s mother possesses the traits of a supportive mother, making Obinze feel cared for no matter what. Obinze was raised in a Nigerian household, like Ifemelu, but his family practiced their culture with no shame, teaching him “to be a man meant to be domineering and strong” (Bonvillian 32). The way Obinze was raised created a more developed and stable identity, since he had his mother to lean on throughout his life who offered love, support and direction when needed. His mother was also a mother-figure to Ifemelu and even gave her advice about personal things, like sex, being a strong woman and being responsible in her relationships.

Along with Ifemelu’s relationships with different mother figures, I am also eager to analyze the relationship between Aunty Uju, who was prominent in Ifemelu’s life as well, and her son Dike. Aunty Uju caused Dike to become depressed and attempt suicide because of her desire to strip him of his Nigerian identity, in order to take on a new “American” identity that she felt was best for him. She did not believe it was even necessary to find a way to integrate both. After his suicide attempt, Ifemelu asked Aunty Uju, “Do you remember when Dike was telling you something and he said ‘we black folk’ and you told him ‘you are not black?” (Adichie 470). Ifemelu was struck by Aunty Uju’s comment, since Uju was certain that depression was common in teenagers and did not consider the experiences that could have led him to try to take his life. Dike being stripped of his identity left him feeling lost in the American culture that he was expected to adapt to. It seems as if both Dike and Ifemelu did not want to acknowledge that they were becoming mentally unhealthy, due to the fact that it is an American thing to label everything as an illness. It seems as if Ifemelu and Dike’s childhood with Aunty Uju may have led to their poorly developed, unstable identity.

Overall, a supportive, strong bond between a mother and her child develops a sense of identity in her child that remains stable throughout life, even during difficult times. Two of Americanah’s main characters, Ifemelu and Obinze, both grew up with very differing bonds with their mothers. Ifemelu’s mother possessed qualities of an unsupportive mother who lacked an overall presence in her daughter’s life. She failed to provide direction and did not provide her a shoulder for her to lean on during tough situations. Ifemelu developed an ever changing sense of identity that was unstable through moves from Nigeria to America and back, different schools, and various new relationships with different men. On the other hand, Obinze’s mother offered love, support and direction when needed, especially during his struggles, resulting in a well-developed, unconforming identity. The comfort you possess in your authentic identity is influenced by the mother-child bond created throughout a lifetime.

Works Cited

1. Bonvillain, Mary Margaret, ‘Shifting intersections: Fluidity of gender and race in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah’ (2016). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 16435. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/16435.
2. Ngozi Adichie, Chimamanda. Americanah. Anchor Books 2013.
3. Taylor, Jack. “Language, Race, and Identity in Adichie’s Americanah and Bulowayo’s We Need New Names.” Research in African Literatures, vol. 50, no. 2, Summer 2019, pp. 68–85. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2979/reseafrilite.50.2.06.

One’s identity is what makes them stand out from society; without identity the world’s population would be able to fit into one common mold. At the same time, individuality is one of the numerous challenges faced by youth today. While the idea of acceptance is spreading continuously, everyone faces a period in life in which they are told by society or peers that it is inappropriate to be different. The novels, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey and Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie challenge this issue and discuss the effect society has on a person’s identity and individualism. Ken Kesey uses two of the main characters, Nurse Ratched and Randle Patrick McMurphy, to represent the battle for one’s unique personality as one portrays the power society has in manipulating an individual into believing that one should alter themself into societal views of the conventional whereas the other represents the counterbalance to society’s views. McMurphy is strong, aggressive, and with his undoubtedly unique personality he reaches out to the patients to undo the damage inflicted upon them by society. Likewise, in Americanah, several characters undergo transitions, shedding their old made up personalities and eventually accepting their true identity. Thus, Ken Kesey and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie explore the ideas of conformity and identity in their books One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Americanah by discussing the way people change certain elements of their identity to meet the approval of a dominant force, culture, race, or social class, but with time, this adjustment feels unnatural, and eventually they grow and establish a relationship with their true identity.

In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Americanah, the society is depicted as one to strip of each person’s individuality by establishing rules for living life, enforcing conformity upon all individuals and by creating challenging situations for ones who have distinctive race, social class or even opinions. The Theory of the mental institute in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest implies that the goal of the ward is to shape the inmates to better blend into society. The entire system for creating individuals that fit better into the societal puzzle begins with the ‘Theory of the Therapeutic Community’ which is a speech given by Dr. Spivey to each new admission; it is summarized for the reader by the narrator, Bromden, who has heard it repeated numerous times. Bromden explains the theory to ‘help the guy by showing him where he’s out of place; how society decides who’s sane and who isn’t’ (Kesey, 48). According to this theory, the group can help one by pointing out how they are different and to reduce those differences so everyone can be the same, without any identities. It is believed that in this way they can all “fit” into society. The theory also states that it is, “…working towards making worthwhile citizens to turn back Outside onto the street” (Kesey, 38). It is implied that society is the one to decide what a worthwhile citizen is composed of, which does not include any individuality. In Americanah, as teenagers Ifemelu is already smart and outspoken, and Obinze is calm and thoughtful. But as they grow up, these qualities are then affected by outside cultural forces and racism. Ifemelu experiences racism when she moves to America to chase her dreams and deals with it by neglecting her identity. She begins adopting an “American accent … and straightening her hair” and even creates a fake identity to find work (Adichie, 56). Ifemelu’s struggle to find a job even at fast food establishments causes severe harm to her self worth. Her inability to find a job forces her to sell her body in order to pay rent, pushing her into a bout of depression that destroys her relationship with Obinze. Ifemelu’s racialized experience in the U.S. further goes on to influence other aspects of her identity like when Christina Tomas talks in a “slow and patronizing voice” to her, under the assumption that she can’t understand English (Adichie, 43). Ifemelu’s transformation is reflected in that of Auntie Uju and Dike as well. Auntie Uju, beaten down by the struggles she faces upon coming to America, becomes merely a shade of who she used to be, passionless, dispirited, and willing to marry a man that treats her terribly. Dike grows up in America yet still experiences racism through microaggressions, where “a camp counselor tells him he doesn’t need sunscreen” and his “classmates jokingly asking him for weed” (Adichie, 77). That contributes to a sense of confusion and alienation that ultimately causes him to attempt suicide. Coming into a country where the majority race tells them their race is inferior, Ifemelu, Auntie Uju, and Dike, along with other African immigrants, actually begin to believe that they are worthless. Likewise, even “Obinze has a difficult experience adapting to a new cultural identity” in England (Adichie, 87). His visa expires so he is forced to take on other people’s identities to find work, and to partake in fake marriage to obtain his green card. In the developed nations, there is a fear of immigrants which makes him feel invisible and worthless. Therefore, the society is displayed as one to dismantle of all traces of individuality by establishing rules for living one’s life, enforcing conformity, and constructing disputes making one feel uninvited at a new place.

Furthermore, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Americanah demonstrate the many forces like cultural, racial, economics, and determined nature all engaging to create one’s identity. Nurse Ratched and McMurphy engaged in an extensive battle to control the patients’ views of themselves. While the nurse worked to deceive them into an idea of isolation and unconventionality, McMurphy reached out to them and taught them that being different is not always a negative characteristic. The narrator of the story, Bromden, exemplifies this battle between society and McMurphy’s balance of acceptance. Bromden’s contrived “mental illness” was merely an effect of society (Kesey, 184). It can be argued that he did not possess any physical or mental flaw, but it was merely his imagination instilled by the institution. Throughout the novel, he described his ability to see occurrences that the other patients did not notice. McMurphy tries to show the patients that the only way to fight the system is to beat the routine and win back their identity. Similarly, in Americanah Ifemelu embraces her Nigerianness by giving up on her American accent and growing her natural hair, and at the same time is dating a rich white man and later winning a fellowship to Princeton. This blend of cultural identities seems healthy and natural for Ifemelu because of her love for both cultures, but that means she is in an in-between place, where she is not accepted as a full American or a full Nigerian. Ifemelu, having her own identity crisis where she feels out of place in Nigeria and America, then reconnects with Obinze and the two begin to work toward reconciling the differing identities they have constructed in their separation. Likewise, when Obinze is caught for his fake marriage, he returns to Nigeria and results in building a new identity for himself. In Nigeria, he becomes a huge success by his peers, and finally enhances his happiness which he thought would be coming from moving to UK. Apart from these two, many secondary characters also relate to this theme, like Emenike, who completely changes his true personality to become a cultured and wealthy British citizen. Overall the situations and characterizations of both novels show the many forces working upon the creation of someone’s identity: cultural, racial, and economic ones, and even strong-willed nature of some like McMurphy.

Chimamanda Adichie and Ken Kesey clearly portray the immense power that perceptions have in determining and manipulating identity but eventually one grows and realizes the significance of their individuality. A stereotype or a norm, when held by a party with significant power, can have massive,sometimes destructive, impact on individual identities. Identities are in large part constructed by how others view people and in many cases, people conform to what others expect and want of them. The characters involved in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Americanah showed significant growth as they began to enjoy their identity and individuality signifying that the essence of happiness comes from disregarding conformity and celebrating individuality.

Abstract

Twenty first Century writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie exhibits the influence of Postcolonial condition through her novels. The term ‘Hybridity’ is often associated with postcolonialism and it is one of the most recurrent topics of the genre. Hybridity expands about the balance between the nature and the western culture. Adichie’s novel Americanah is one such novel. This paper will explore how migration has reshaped the life of the central character, Ifemelu. The protagonist of the novel is embedded in a postcolonial frame. The process of formulating a new cultural identity leads to a multi-cultural lifestyle. Further, the precariousness of balancing the eastern and western culture contributes to her hybridity. The journey from Africa to America, her struggles, cross-cultural journey and identity formation of the migrant, Ifemelu is explored in this paper.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in 1977 in Nigeria. She is from Abba, in Anambra State, but grew up in the university town of Nsukka, where she attended primary and secondary schools. Her short fiction has been published in literary journals including Granta, and won the International PEN/David Wong award in 2003. She was a Hodder fellow at Princeton University for the academic year 2005-06. She lives in Nigeria. She has won the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction in 2007 for her novel Half of a Yellow Sun. Americanah is Adichie’s third novel. Adichie’s words have been sampled by pop music artists and she is celebrated for her speeches in TED conferences, making her ideas also reach non-readers. Her main characters are part of academic and politicized environments and engage in intellectual debates about race, ethnicity and culture in Nigeria, the United States and England.

Adichie’s life and work represent the diversity of a continent marked by a single story. She recounts that, from an early age, she used to read British and American stories. Consequently, the texts she produced as a child were filled with characters with blond hair, who played in the snow, ate apples, and were happy to see the sun appear. After reading few African novels she came to a conclusion that even dark characters can be used as a central character of a novel.

Chimamanda Adichie is a postcolonial author who is from the former British colony, Nigeria, and writes in the language of the colonizer, English. Adichie as a postcolonial writer goes beyond the simple definition of it because she not only brings out the translations and linguistic part of colonization but also the politics of postcolonial consequences. Adichie has a mixture of her Igbo culture and the western culture. She ideally thinks in English than in Igbo to bring out a language hybridity. In one of her speeches she has told:

I don’t know many proverbs, so […] I admire people who do, because it shows a kind of, a depth in your knowledge of the language that I really don’t have. My father has that. […] When my father speaks Igbo, it’s very literary: his sentences are full of metaphors and nothing is ever said directly. And I’m just full of admiration for this but my generation, we don’t really have that and, because my language of education in Nigeria was entirely English, I can’t even make an intellectual argument in Igbo. So, I can gossip in Igbo and I can make fun and laugh and […] tease, but to say something sort of profound, such as it might be? I can’t.

Postcolonial theory is introduced to revise the historical representations of former colonies to interpret the developments that took place. The idea of post-colonialism can be best understood by the concept of ‘hybridity’ given by the Indian theorist Homi. K.Bhabha in The Location of Culture published in the year 1994. The Theorist brings the peculiarity of postcolonial discourse by stressing its hybrid and other ambivalent options. As a consequence of encounter of various cultures within the postcolonial entity, Bhabha claims that a third individual instance is formed that bears the complexness and ambiguities of the various cultures mixted together. This unique perspective challenges the previous simple idea of culture and holds true addition to the emergence of new postcolonial ideas. Novels are medium through which the writer depicts people, place and culture. In the same way, they can be a tool for postcolonial cultures “to assert their own identity and the existence of their own history” (Said 11). The twenty-first century postcolonial condition now includes multicultural identities that embrace the hybridity that stems from the intersection of culture.

Americanah is a book that explores many topics, such as race, immigration, gender, education, etc. The novel has a third person narrator view and it narrated through present and flashbacks. Adichie points out certain aspects of life in the Western world that many people choose to ignore, such as inequality within the society and prejudiced attitude towards black people. She explains that in the novel through dialogues, inner monologues or the main protagonist’s blog. Her characters are often conflicted and looking for a place where they belong. The novel also stands as a platform to celebrate different kinds of love: love for family members, as well as romantic love. Adichie has put together the complications of distance, displacement, and separation.

Elizabeth Day, in her review of Americanah in The Guardian says about the novel: “There are some stories that tell a great story and others that make you change the way you look at the world. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah is a book that manages to do both” (i). Likewise in a review in Financial Times the novel is given as, “A long satisfying novel of cross-continental relationships, exile and the pull of home…” (ii). This novel can be divided into several segments such as identity formation that shows the process of the post-colonial migrant identity. Ifemelu’s stages of identity include her time as a native Nigerian, her experience as an immigrant in America, her Americanah, and her return to native land.

Americanah is the story of a Nigerian girl Ifemelunamma, who migrates to America for her University Education. She is a native of Nsukka village in Nigeria. Due to various political reasons and strikes she goes to America to get her education. Her aunt Uju is the one who suggests her to move to America and also helps her in arranging for a scholarship. Upon her arrival to America she faces many obstacles, especially her encounter with of an alien culture. Everything looks new there. Story of Ifemelu is a story of the struggle of African immigrants in America. Likewise her boyfriend Obinze encounters various problems in London. Adichie starts and ends her story in Nigeria, which stands as a symbol of independence in postcolonial Nigeria.

The diasporic feature of the novel is well explained through the character Ifemelu. The displacement of her from her native land Nigeria transforms her at multiple levels. The loss of identity is the major consequence of her immigration. She suffered financially which made her search to for a job. She has gone there with student visa. Ifemelu, after staying at America for thirteen years longs to go back to her country. She thinks about her old days with Obinze. Both Obinze and Ifemelu were to leave to America, but he was denied after 9/11. So he travels to London with his mother, to a University conference, and does not come back to Nigeria. The immigration of the Nigerian people can be considered as a cultural politics between the native land, Nigeria and the western land. Ifemelu learns about the living condition of America by comparing it with her native land, Nigeria.

According to Albert Memmi, “He uses a term “double illegitimacy”and explains it as a foreigner who arrives in another land by accident has created a place for himself and taken away the place form the inhabitant. He legitimizes this usruption by substituting local laws with his own” (176). It exposes the situations of the illegal immigrants in England. Obinze and Ifemelu had to live with somebody else’s identity, and are reminded of their new name. Obinze tries to make his situation legal through an arranged marriage, but it is found out and he is deported immediately. Obinze says that in England things happen as if people lived in a world where the present has no connection with the past which refers to the African diaspora. In English citizens do not seem to understand any reality outside the African stereotype, as it is observed in a party, where Obinze meets old friends and other English guests:

Alexa and the other guests, and perhaps even Georgina, all understood the fleeing from war, from the kind of poverty that crushed human souls, but they would not understand the need to escape from the oppressive lethargy of choicelessness. They would not understand why people like him who were raised well fed and watered but mired in dissatisfaction, conditioned from birth to look towards somewhere else, eternally convinced that real lives happened in that somewhere else, were now resolved to do dangerous things, illegal things, so as to leave, none of them starving, or raped, or from burned villages, but merely hungry for choice and certainty. (278)

In an interview Adichie explores the significance and meaning of the novel’s title, Americanah. She explains that she too only recognised herself as black when she arrived in America: “… and race is something I discovered in America, because, when I was in Nigeria I did not think of myself as black, and then I went to the US and I became black” (Adichie. This shows that Adichie’s own thoughts, feelings, and experiences are reflected in the character of Ifemelu, and how Adichie too was influenced by cultural and historical aspects regarding the concept of race, since she had never before considered the significance of having a certain skin colour before. This goes well with Ien Ang’s statement that race is seen differently from country to country, from nation to nation. Even though two people might share the same skin colour, their reactions to situations might differ due to significantly different historical and cultural influences from their home countries. At one point, Ifemelu expresses this as follows: “I came from a country where race was not an issue; I did not think of myself as black and I only became black when I came to America” (290).

Ifemelu cannot identify the troubles Blaine has gone through as an African American black in America, because she is Nigerian. Cultural history stands as a barrier for Ifemelu to recognise the struggles other African Americans have gone through. Instead, her nationality and cultural heritage influence her opinions in such a way that her ideas does not correlate with how others of the same skin colour see things in America. Ifemelu tries to implement herself into the American society and writes her blog about challenges both African American blacks and non-American blacks go through in the US, she cannot sufficiently assimilate into the society, since her cultural perspective of race is different due to her nationality.

The recurring idea of African immigration to the West is that, the Africans are refugees of wars, fleeing terrible economic condition. However, the truth within which Adichie places her characters is extremely different. They represent members of an informed Nigerian socio-economic class who would like to go away from their homelands to get opportunities and make their dreams come true. They are not much sure about their success in the western nation but they undergo many issues in order to attain success in an alien land. Ifemelu’s aunt Uju is the lover of the General in Nigerian army. She lives under his shadow, but he dies. She gives birth to his child and names him Dike. She moves to America with a dream of pursuing her medical course, by starting a part-time work. In Ifemelu’s case, it is the political situation in Nigeria that causes students like her to seek opportunities abroad:

In the newspapers, university lecturers listed their complaints, the agreements that were trampled in the dust by government men whose own children were schooling abroad. Campuses were emptied, classrooms drained of life. Students hoped for short strikes, because they could not hope to have no strike at all. Everyone was talking about leaving. (98)

Ifemelu struggles between cultural adaptation and keeping true her identity. She questions how becoming ‘more American’ is encouraged in order to blend successfully in American society. Dominant cultures impose conditions of subordination, which makes social and class divisions difficult to overcome.. As Frantz Fanon points out: “The feeling of inferiority of the colonized is the correlative to the European’s feeling of superiority. Let us have courage to say outright: It is the racist who creates his inferior” (69). There are certain expectations to the Immigrants who return to Nigeria after many years of living in. They expect them to have an American accent and a straightened chemically treated hair. Even Ranyinudo notices that Ifemelu does not have an American accent, she is not a full Americanah. He says, “ “Americanah!” Ranyinudo teased her often. “You are looking at things with American eyes. But the problem is that you are not even a real Americcanah. At least if you had an American accent we would tolerate your complaining!”” (385). Thinking her to be an Americanah he hesitates to speak to her, but Ifemelu understands it talks in a simple way as she did in her teen age days with Obinze.

Language is important when it comes to the attitude Americans have towards black immigrants. English language has the tendency to open the space between cultures. Homi K. Bhabha explains as : “Open[s] the way to conceptualizing an international culture, based not on the exoticism or multi-culturalism of the diversity of cultures, but on the inscription and articulation of culture’s hybridity” (209). Ifemelu and her friends who travel to the western countries doesn’t want to get influenced by their practices and they wanted to hold on with their Nigerian roots. However, when Ifemelu arrives in America and sees the American culture, she experiences the effects of becoming an Americanah and she begins to implement the American qualities.

In Ifemelu’s quest for identity into American society, she not only tries to understand and participate in the American culture, she also changes herself to fit into the American norm. She does a number of things that she in Nigeria made fun of others for doing: becoming Americanah. In the previously mentioned interview Adichie explains the term Americanah as follows: “… A person who is going to the US and comes back to Nigeria and suddenly has all of these affectations and pretends not to understand Nigerian languages, speaks with an American accent and that kind of thing” (Adichie). During her days in Nigeria, Ifemelu and her friends made fun of a girl Bisi, who travelled to America and lost some of her Nigerian accent when she spoke English: “They roared with laughter, at that word “Americanah”, wreathed in glee, the fourth syllable extended, and at the thought of Bisi a girl in the form below them, who had come back from a short trip to America with odd affectations, pretending she no longer understood Yoruba, adding a slurred r to every English word she spoke” (65).

When speaking to Ifemelu the woman at the registration desk for the University students pronounced the words with carefulness and separated each word for better understanding. This made Ifemelu shrink because English was her native language, and yet the woman thought she could not understand the simplest instruction of filling a form. This incident made Ifemelu start learning to speak in an American accent in the following weeks. In a way she changed her identity to avoid future humiliation, as she could not bear the thought of being viewed as an uneducated immigrant from an undeveloped country. The following of new language brought in a mixer of two cultures and made her a hybrid. According to Izevbaye, “Both the literature and its criticism have been governed by an African awareness of its relation to the modern European world and by a preoccupation with the displacement of the west from the centre of the universe” (127). Adichie’s Americanah is a strong narrative which actively displays the issues in the postcolonial Nigeria. She also explores the culture of United States and England.

Ifemelu’s blogging makes her get a different lifestyle and different identity. The speciality of her blog is writing about practical issues and the problems she faced. In terms of the problems it means racism. In few of her posts she writes about few persons indirectly which hurts them. Even now racism is seen in America but many people choose to ignore this fact. She did her first presentation in a small company at Ohio where all were whites. She presented it on the title “How to talk about race with the colleagues of other races”. That evening she received an e-mai that:”YOUR TALK WAS BALONEY. YOU ARE A RACIST.YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL WE LET YOU INTO THIS COUNTRY.”(305). After this incident she changed her strategy for giving presentations. Later she is invited in many schools to give speech “During her talks, she said: ‘America has made great progress for which we should be very proud.’ In her blog she wrote: Racism should never have happened and so you don’t get a cookie for reducing it.” (305)

In Americanah, Chimamanda Adichie writes a lot about hair, which can be seen as a metaphor for changes in immigrant’s behaviour. Ifemelu is asked to straighten her hair to look professional in her job interviews. Aunty Uju does it to get a job. She does chemical treatment to make her hair look professional. The byproduct of a native Nigerian doing hair treatment to look like an American professional is a ‘hybrid’ Aunty Uju. This can be explained as; hybridity is the mingling of the culture of the colonized and the culture of the colonizer. This shows that culture is not monolithic but a dynamic entity. Ifemelu also does chemical treatment for hair, which becomes a threat for her cultural identiy. She struggles with recognising and appreciating her appearance after the chemical treatment “She did not recognize herself. She left the salon almost mournfully; while the hairdresser had flat-ironed the ends, the smell of burning, of something organic dying which should not have died, had made her feel a sense of loss” (203).

The novel Americanah not only shows urban middle-class characters, business people and academics but also shows poor, uneducated, rural and conservative characters. Likewise, the range of different characters from the different social, financial and educational levels helps Western readers to identify themselves with the narrative. Adichie has well portrayed the depression and experience of immigrants that makes them nostalgic. Ifemelu and Aunt Uju’s charcter stands as a best example for hybridity, where the language and hair stands as a symbol for hybridity. Ifemelu finds that she has lost her Nigerian roots and at last she tries to overcome it by getting back her old Nigerian roots. Ifemelu’s characterisation is a part of Adichie’s character, which speaks about her experience in America.

Works Cited

1. Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Americanah. 4th estate, 2014. —. “Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Americanah.” Youtube, uploaded by librairie mollat,
2. 10 Feb. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh5qNYU-_jI. Accessed 12 Jan 2019.
3. Arabian, Soheila. Journey and Return: Visiting Unbelonging and Otherness in Adichie’s Americanah. Jurnal UMP Social Sciences and Technology Management, Vol 3, Iss 3, 2015.
4. Arfath, Yazher. Race and Gender Discrimination. Pune Research Journal. Vol 3, Iss 2, Apr ,2017. Bhabha, Homi. The Location of Culture. Routledge,1994.
5. Chepkorir, Margaret Koskei. Representation of Female African Immigrant Experience in the West: A case Study of Adichie’s Americanah. 2014
6. Chimamanda Adichie: Beauty Does Not Solve Problems. Youtube, uploaded by Louisiana Channel, 26 Jun. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UITxHbMdfs
7. Guarracino, Serena. Writing : Blogging in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah. Between, Vol.IV, no. 8, Nov, 2014.
8. Khazanovych, Tetyana. Question of Immigration in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah and Chris Cleave’s The Other Hand. Charles University. 2016.
9. Nayar, Pramok K. Literary Theory Today. Asia Book Club, 2002.
10. Oddershede & Larsen. “Postcolonial Cultural Identity: A Comparative Intersectional Analysis of the Creation of Cultural Identity”. 2018, projekter.aau.dk/projekter.aau.dk/files/281293717/ Postcolonial_ Cultural_Identity___ A_Comparative_Intersectional_Analysis_of_the_Creation_of_Cultural_Identity.pdf. Accessed 11 Jan 2019.
11. Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism. London: Vintage, 1994.
12. Scarsini, Valentina. Americanah or Various Observations About Gender, Sexuality and Migration: A Study of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. 2017.
13. Sneddon, Hope. The Social and Spatial Politics of Hair in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah. Win: The EAAS Women’s Network Journal Issue 1. 2018.
14. Voice, Christina. Crossing borders of hybridity beyond Marginality and identity. University of Bucharest Review, Vol. I, no. 1, 2011.
15. Ortega, Jeannine, ‘Post-Colonial Female Identity: An Examination of the Twentieth Century Narrative Between Nation and Identity in A Question of Power, See Then Now, and Americanah’ (2015).Master of Liberal Studies Theses. 66. http://scholarship.rollins.edu/mls/66

Retrieving Self-Dignity: To be a Creative Non-victim

You should never view your challenges as a disadvantage. Instead, it’s important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages. (Michelle Obama)

Atwood’s Basic Victim Position Four is “a position not for victims but for those who have never been victims at all, or for ex-victims: those who have been able to move into it from Position Three because the external and/or the internal causes of victimization have been removed.” (35). The novel, Americanah surpasses the Position Four by affirming the hope of retrieval of one’s own identity. The protagonist Ifemelu is able to reach Position Four after gaining the varied experiences of the previous victim positions.

Moreover, as Atwood mentions, “In an oppressed society, of course, you can’t become an ex-victim – insofar as you are connected with your society – until the entire society’s position has been changed.” (35 Atwood), Ifemelu, on deciding to move from America, becomes an ex-victim, who feel the air of truly free environment in Nigeria. She is now an ex-victim of the racial prejudices of America, who has been successfully able to move from Position Three repudiation, since her meaningful return to her own country Nigeria suggests the fact of that she sheds off the internal and external causes of racial victimization which has been threatening her so far. In her quest of reclaiming her moral identity, she spends considerable time making a living in contemplating and compromising situations in the immigrant country and goes back to Nigeria and survive there. She can be claimed as an ex-victim for she no longer connects with the oppressive racial discrimination of America. Ifemelu’s revelation of Position Four can be marked early in the first chapter of the novel when she was about to “braid her hair for the journey home”. (8).

Tuned by the bitter experiences while having to imitate and cope with the living style of the Americans, she begins to observe the tremendous negative changes in her physical, psychological, and intellectual space. Ifemelu gathers the energy to cleanse her influenced mind before it is too late. She fathoms the thought of returning to her homeland Nigeria after thirteen years, since she learns that she has been ignoring all her originality to become a real American. She thinks: “Nigeria became where she was supposed to be, the only place she could sink her roots in without constant urge to tug them out and shake off the soil.” (6). She closes down her famous blog, gives up the speaking fees, leaves the privileged fellowship at Princeton and abandons the good relationship with Blaine for the strong desire to go back to Nigeria hoping to re-join her boyfriend Obinze. As Atwood says “Energy is no longer suppressed”, Ifemelu begins to think exclusively for her and her development in life, refreshed by her return to where she original belong to. Ifemelu feels “pleased to hear this.” (395). When Ranyinudo comments she no longer behaves like an Americanah, she only feels happy and confident that she has got back her own self. Regaining self-confidence, she is more assured to achieve anything in her own nation, where one cannot refer to her as “lost” into America, as the natives say about men going to America for survival and has not think about their own soil to return to. (116). It will be apt to quote what Atwood says about the achieving the ultimate freedom: “One way of coming to terms by making sense of one’s roots is to become a creator”(Atwood 181).

Ifemelu finds a job as a features editor in a Nigerian women’s magazine called Zoe, and set out to visualize her own progress in the future of herself along with the future of the magazine. She has endearing plans with innovation and freshness that are exclusively address to Nigerian women’s welfare: “she already imagined taking over the running of Zoe, turning it into a vibrant, relevant companion for Nigerian women, and – who knew – perhaps one day buying out Aunty Onenu. And she would not welcome new recruits in her home.” 392. Ifemelu gets herself boosted up to face challenges, ready to execute feminist ideals. Her observations about her own society helps her to execute her plans. Her stress on the new recruits suggests that she does not want the Nigerian way of business, “where the boundaries were blurred, where work blended into life, and bosses were called Mummy.” (392).

She wants to maintain work and personal life as totally different spheres, because she doubted such blend might be the start of corruption and lethargies. Creative activities of all kinds is possible for her, for she wishes to replace the idea of lethargic Westernised lifestyle of Nigerians with the more original re-creation of Nigerianness. Her writing becomes the performative act for creating progressive change in the society she lives in. Ifemelu becomes more optimistic soon after she stepped in Lagos. Racial prejudice, which becomes the internal and external cause of her victimization is now removed. She feels somehow she have escaped the source of victimization that has been making her feel so less about herself. She shares the sense of contentment with Curt, who asked about her blog after she left him. She simply says, “she begins to write blogs “just about life. Race doesn’t really work here, I feel like I got off the plane in Lagos and stopped being black.” (476).

The physical return to Nigeria, represents her reclaim of spiritual return, to be able to breathe the air of freedom, free of the suppressing racial elements that occupied her thoughts. As Atwood says, Ifemelu does not “even have to concentrate on rejecting the role of Victim, because the role is no longer a temptation” for her. (35). Ifemelu finds herself energized with full of plans to alternate the image of the Western accustomed lifestyle of women and wants to change the stereotyped values that are highlighted only for women. Ifemelu has now found success in Nigeria, and this is a kind of victory over her ongoing restlessness and struggle for identity. She feels comfortable and confident with herself as both an American and a Nigerian now, having found her place in the world with Obinze. As she has the freedom to write about what she wants, and can both observe and humorously critique daily life in Lagos as a semi-outside observer. She focuses on the culture of materialistic romantic relationships as she is finally starting to feel comfortable and confident in Nigeria again. Her suggestions voice the need for change in every aspects of life, to shed imitations, by lifting indigenous values: “stop lifting foreign magazine pieces. Most of your readers can’t go into the market and buy broccoli because we don’t have it in Nigeria, so why does this month’s Zoe have a recipe for cream of broccoli soup?” (392).

Ifemelu becomes dissatisfied with the magazine as she observes the upper-class Nigerians’ overt sophistication about wealth and pompousness that only comes out of falsity. Ifemelu stops fighting against it and they finally experience this blissful reunion of passion and love. They are both older and more worldly now, but they feel like teenagers once again. Nigerians’ craving for wealth and power makes the country economically weak that it suppresses the poor and praises the rich. She notices that her employer of the magazine runs it for her own publicity out of a selfish competition with another women magazine run by her rival. As she is used to being blunt and incisive with her writing, exposing the injustice behind mundane daily life, but Aunty Onenu just wants pieces that fit her preconceived notion of a women’s’ magazine. Ifemelu finds there a lack of purpose or care for women’s welfare which it should meant to be. Doris gets annoyed with Ifemelu’s activism, telling her to just accept that corruption is everywhere and stop trying to make trouble about it. Ifemelu’s attempt at working for someone else fails in this dramatic and farcical scene, and so she decides to do what might have been predicted all along: start her own blog. Esther’s super-religious worldview ironically coincides with Ifemelu’s friends’ obsession with marriage. She leaves the job with many effective plans to start her own blog about her own country. She begins to imagine the design and content of her own blog which will truly reflect the issues of her country to gain awareness among women:

The blog posts would be in a stark, readable font. An article about health care… A piece about the Nigerpolitan Club. A fashion article about clothes that women could actually afford. Posts about people helping others, but nothing like the Zoe stories that always featured a wealthy person, hugging children at a motherless babies’ home, with bags of rice and tins of powdered milk propped in the background. (417)

Her preference over the title of the blog and picture background are symbolic for they comment the deconstruction of the colonial influence over the country or at least her city: “The Small Redemptions of Lagos, with a dreamy photograph of an abandoned colonial house on its masthead.” (421). Like criticising the modern day racism in America, Ifemelu is also well aware of the persisting “colonial mentality” of her country. She had observed American culture with an outsider’s eye, and now she is doing the same thing with Nigerian culture, since so many years have passed that it feels foreign to her. Adichie turns her critical eye on the materialistic culture of Lagos, and the unhealthy romantic relationships that are based on money and power instead of love or mutual respect. Her criticism is always direct and demanding for change to pull out Nigeria’s prevailing ignorance of its mere inclination for imitating the American as well as European ideals, its previous colonial masters. Self-realization enhances her view about Nigeria to visualise the abandonment of the ancestral values to that of the bogus lifestyle adopted by the Nigerians. She calls European modelled rich houses as “ugly”, which “she had once found houses like that beautiful. But here she was now, disliking it with the haughty confidence of a person who recognized kitsch.” (393). Her confident rejection of colonial attitude reflected in the infrastructures produces the counter-discourse against the prevailing neo-colonist imperialism regulated by the west, that she wishes to foresworn all the imitations and representations of European or western stereotypes that surrounded her country. Her remonstrating stubbornness towards the injustices of the society and her inquisitive curiosity about evaluating things is revealed through her father’s suggestion for Ifemelu to confirm to gender: “You must refrain from your natural proclivity towards provocation, Ifemelu. You have singled yourself out at school where you are known for insubordination and I have told you that it has already sullied your singular academic record. There is no need to create a similar pattern in church.” (52).

Ifemelu does not want to be identified with the migrated black women, who try to acculturate to the U.S. to enjoy advantages. Their submissiveness to racial prejudices and their denial towards their own victimization surprises Ifemelu, as she could not behave or live like them to survive. She takes on a defensive stance to ensure that she is not affected by the materialistic life of Americans. Ifemelu objectifies herself, seeking self-respect and dignity she does not want to lose. By defamiliarising the notion of acculturation, she heads towards developing and establishing pridefuless on valuing the indigenous culture. This is relevant to the writer’s comments: “Adopting local ways of dressing, eating or entertainment was also deemed to signify the loss of the European racial‐cultural attributes, a dilution of the purity of the Western race – and thus attracted considerable opprobrium.” (112 pcsd). Ifemelu’s responses defamiliarise the notion of globalization on the western models of fashionable living. When Ifemelu meets her Nigerian friend Ginika, who has been studying in America, she wonders how her body, which has held the typical African identity vanishes on her years of Americanisation. Ifemelu’s inquisitiveness on conceding to the popularization of western fashion begins first with Ginika’s “fried stockfish” (122) appearance: “There was Ginika… wearing a miniskirt and a tube top tht covered her chest but not her midriff…. Ginika was much thinner, half her old size, and her head looked bigger, balanced on a longer neck that brought to mind a vague, exotic animal.” (122). She mockingly writes a blog about her observations on what she calls “foreign pathology” (128):

When it comes to dressing well, American culture is so self-fulfilled that it has not only disregarded this courtesy of self-presentation, but has turned that disregard into a virtue. “We are too superior/busy/cool/not uptight to bother about how we look to other people, and so we can wear pajamas to school and underwear to the mall. (129).

Ifemelu faces serious obstructions from the native women for her openness in her blog about their counterfeit graciousness towards the poor for the sake of publicity. Her questioning attitude draws more challenges that she takes them as positive signs of development. She apprehends their confined perceptions and opinions about life, and eventually bored by their presumptuousness of their obsessive faith in religion to relate every fortunes and misfortunes to God’s will. As a revolutionary, unconventional woman, she tries to influence and change her female counterparts who live in Position Two trapped attitude for they all subject themselves unconsciously. Her rebellious attitude reminds of Atwood’s point that “anger and the desire for change depend on the assumption that change will be for the better, that is in fact possible to achieve not only individual but social freedom.” 274. Like the other female protagonists of Chimamanda, Ifemelu too has the power of observation and self-criticism that rooted for seeking transformation and progress through ingenuity. Ifemelu does not try to conceal the lacks of her own country; she is well aware of the modes of corruption at the very core of political and social set up. She does not pretend to others by highlighting the rich cultural creeds over the apparent depravity. It is shown that Ifemelu one of the common people who naturally prefer to go after comfort, free-from-trouble living than to be stuck in the puddle of conflict-prone nation like Nigeria. The perturbing economic conditions in Nigeria threatens her decision to live forever in the country: “Soon Ifemelu was tossing in the wetness of her own sweat. A painful throbbing had started behind her eyes and a mosquito was buzzing nearby and she felt suddenly, guiltily grateful that she had a blue American passport in her bag. It shielded her from choicelessness. She could always leave; she did not have to stay.” (390). The self-realisation about America’s hostility towards black immigrants makes her to return, though she was afforded with all kinds of sophistications gaining from the honest upper class white Curt, who loved dating with her. Her statement about the present condition of black immigrants in America is sharp against those who try to defend America as affable and friendly towards black people. Her reply shows her legitimate anger when someone says race was not an issue in present-day America: it’s a lie. I came from a country where race was not an issue; I did not think myself as black and I only became black when I came to America. When you are black in America and you fall in love with a white person, race doesn’t matter… But the minute you step outside, race matters. But we don’t talk about it. We don’t even tell our white partners… they will say we’re overreacting, or we’re being too sensitive… we come to nice liberal dinners like this, we say that race doesn’t matter because that’s what we’re supposed to say, to keep our nice liberal friends comfortable. It’s true. I speak from experience. (290-91)

Experiences shapes her perception about the suppressing realities of racism. Ifemelu crosses all the three stages of victimization in her life. In the opening chapter of the novel, Ifemelu recognises her too-long-ignorance of “the cement in her soul” that hides the pains of racial discrimination in order to assimilate into the American way of living. (6). Ifemelu was wandering without enough money to pay for her school fees soon after she comes out of Aunty Uju’s home after a brief period of baby-sitting her son Dike. From then on, she tries to find a job with another black woman’s social security card, attended many interviews only to finds series of failures, without knowing the original reason for her inability to get even a small job. During the hard time running out of money, she seems to be drifting spiritually by her suppressing environment, as she encounters insulting comments from her white roommate, who rebuked her for ignoring her dog, by saying, “You better no kill my dog with voodoo.” (152), which offense her African culture. Assaulted by the racial commentary she feels “she was at war with the world, and woke up each day feeling bruised, imagining a horde of faceless people who were all against her. It terrified her, to be unable to visualize tomorrow… To be here, living abroad, not knowing when she could go home again, was to watch love become anxiety.” (152). The devastating economic condition makes her to choose the embarrassing “relaxing” (citation) job for a white tennis coach. There she finds herself being involved in an ugly job, worrying about the desperate need to be a victim of the western white man: “She felt like a small ball, adrift and alone. The world was big, big place and she was so tiny, so insignificant, rattling around emptily.” (154). Depression catches her soul up since she could not tolerate the thought of self-conscious act she was performing for money to live on her own. Self-loathing hardened inside her so deliberately avoids talking to Obinze for the guilt around her as she says, “sometimes she woke up flailing and helpless, and she saw, in front of her, and behind her and all around her, an utter hopelessness.” 156. She avoids talking to Obinze thereafter out of guilt of betraying him. Refreshed by a baby-sitting job in the house of a wealthy white lady, Kimberly she comes of the poor situation. During the times, she wants to mingle with his white friends feeling more and more Americanized with her style of living and way of speaking, internalising the white standards. When she is with Kimberly, she feels comfortable as a good friend, rather than as a black outsider.

There, Ifemelu feels disconcerted and edgy while she happens to be with Kimberly at their party. She could feel the patronising attitude of the white guests who boast about their charities to African poor. She envied their luxury to charity as she “wanted, suddenly and desperately, to be from the country of people who gave and not those who received, to be the one of those who had and could therefore bask in the grace of having given, to be among those who could afford copious pity and empathy.” (170). The longing is contradicted with her present disabled situation to change her condition but rather she could only feel the need to be victim by working among those supercilious white people who perceive through the scale of race. As Ifemelu inherently possesses the inquisitiveness in perceiving and comprehending matters, she senses Laura’s hypocrisies of the American elite towards the non-black immigrants.