"Why did people ask 'What is it about?' as if a novel had to be about only one thing."
--Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah
Below you will find my theme analysis for Americanah. Full disclosure: I went a little crazy on mine. I don't expect yours to necessarily look like what I've done here. The requirements for yours will be explained in detail on the Google Slides, but here's the gist:
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a novel that emphasizes a desire that is at the same time an impossible affliction-- to be free, but tethered by safety. The scope of the novel addresses Ifemelu, an outspoken and determined woman whose personal goals are sometimes driven by intellectual narcissism. Despite her self-confessed snobbery, Ifemelu is a complex character who endears herself to the reader as she tries and often fails to find under what conditions she can flourish. Her dream of a fulfilled life is a universal idea, but Adichie also contextualizes Ifemelu’s identity crisis as a specific experience-- one of a privileged Nigerian whose “blackness,” for the first time in her life, becomes the primary vehicle for how she is perceived. Adichie uses Ifemelu’s internal conflict to convey the novel’s message that lasting contentment is often found in the most conventional places.
As a young woman, Ifemelu is drawn to the idea of America, picturing day to day life as idyllic episodes of The Cosby Show. While she had developed a young but enduring love for her steadfast high school sweetheart, Obinze, her time in Nigeria becomes “bored and spiritless” and “curdled in lethargy” due to the political strife and university strikes that impede her ability to continue her education (111). Ifemelu’s distaste for the current state of her country and her restless spirit compel her to move from all things familiar, from both her home and from the young man whose sweetness “made her like herself” (73). This comfort would prove to be difficult to find in a country full of contradictions like America. During the 15 years as Ifemelu tries to weave herself into the complex social landscape of a diverse country, the “real America” for which she was waiting reveals itself in subtle episodes, especially through her romantic relationships (136). Her struggle to disconnect from Nigeria pressures her to erase Obinze from her life. As she cuts ties, she fills the void with two different men who seem to be archetypal representations of the different sides of America. First, she dates a rich white man named Curt, who “had never been with a black woman” (240). His privilege, social mobility afforded to him by his wealth but also his whiteness, characterizes him with an “optimism [that] blinded” even Ifemelu (242). His “trouble-free belief” in “good omens and positive thoughts” serves as an example of the malice-free ignorance of many white men in the country (243). Over time, his naivete no longer obscures her reality, but instead tempts her “to strike at it, to crush it,” a characterization used to comment on the frustration that Black people in America feel when trying to vocalize their experiences with oppression to whites (242). She subconsciously sabotages their relationship, ending it abruptly. She cannot reconcile her place in society with a man who willfully ignores the systemic barriers that would eventually entrap her, but let him wander freely. The fact that Adichie intentionally characterizes Curt as childlike emphasizes her critique of a cultural problem that white Americans often unknowingly maintain. The brokenness of Ifemelu’s and Curt’s relationship speaks to the larger rift between races in America. Conversely, her later relationship with Blaine, a professor at Yale, is a man who acknowledges the complexity of racial identity. He is a Black American whose life in academia fuels his sense of purpose as a cultural critic. However, the idea of being “black” is something new to Ifemelu. In Nigeria, the homogeneous population made blackness a non-issue. Ifemelu had become fascinated with racial identity in America, starting a blog called Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negroes) by a Non-American Black. Blaine viewed her writing her blog posts as a “real responsibility,” cajoling her to “add more depth” (386). He is well-meaning and good, but as an American, his connection to the racial oppression that America perpetuates makes him patronize Ifemelu. He calls her “lazy” when she does not seem passionate about cultural commentary, making her “[feel] like his apprentice” (387). Ifemelu’s identity is not as intimately wrapped in race as Blaine’s, and their relationship functions as a microcosm of the conflicts within the Black diaspora. Ifemelu and Blaine’s conflicts convey how the concept of intersectionality is difficult to understand, and their cultural differences become a source of discontent. Adichie uses this relationship to deepen her critique; even connection between Black people can be disrupted by America’s sordid racist legacy. Generational sin separates American Blacks from Non-American Blacks. Because of her lack of stability in her American identity, Ifemelu ultimately feels more tied to Obinze than Blaine, even after 15 years apart. When she returns home to Nigeria, there is an “ancient silence” with Obinze where “she was safe,” even after so much time (543). In her cross-cultural relationship with Blaine, Ifemelu “spend[s] so much time explaining” and wonders whether they “would even have anything at all to say… if [they] were from the same place” (563). Ifemelu’s time in America elicits new understandings and personal growth, but all of it ultimately makes her realize that leaving Nigeria had created a nagging void that only further agitated her restless character. Americanah, a novel that seems to be so much about the immigrant experience, resolves itself with the comfort of home. As Ifemelu returns to Nigeria and to Obinze, she restores pieces of her past she thought were lost.
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