Americanah: A tale of love and heartache that explores what it means to be Black in modern-day America

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Cambridge April 2013. CREDIT: CHRIS BOLAND ON FLICKR LICENSED UNDER CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s eye-opening story touches on themes of xenophobia, racism, and misogyny

EMILY GIBSON

Americanah (2013) is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s storytelling at its finest. It explores a storyline that is simultaneously heart-rending, humorous, and striking. Americanah tells the story of Ifemelu and Obinze, two people who have known and loved each other since childhood. Their lives take a turn when Ifemelu decides to leave their homestead in Nigeria and venture to America for university. Obinze has plans to join her, but due to the ongoing aftermath of 9/11 there is a heightened fear of terrorism and he is unable to get an American visa. So instead, his mother gives him a research opportunity in London in hopes that he can begin a new life there. Unfortunately, his visa expires after living there for six months and Obinze is left undocumented and at risk of deportation or arrest.

The novel becomes a story of two separate journeys where both characters are confronted with what it means to exist as Black people in white-dominated spaces for the first time. The question then becomes: Will Ifemelu and Obinze be able to make their way back to each other? Or will their new lives and the distance between them separate them forever?

This is more than a love story. It is a tale about a strongwilled and intelligent young woman who is trying to figure out who she is in a place that has given her a pre-constructed narrative of what she should be. In America, Ifemelu struggles to find work, grapples with her deteriorating mental health, and is constantly faced with racially-motivated microaggressions.

Eventually, Ifemelu finds a job working as a babysitter for a woman named Kimberly, whose portrayal is extremely clever. Kimberly represents the white liberal American who claims to be progressive and well-meaning, but who is ultimately incapable of dealing with the topic of race.

Kimberly’s character and her actions towards Ifemelu are crucial because they force the reader to reflect on their own behaviours and think about how we may be falling short when dealing with race.

While Ifemelu is in America, she creates a blog that serves as a space where she can write about her experiences as a Black immigrant woman. Her blog posts show how one’s Blackness and relationship to a Black identity are fluid, ever-changing, and dependent on where one is located and in what time period.

Ifemelu also uses her blog as a safe space for other Black people to share their personal experiences of living in a society that groups people together solely based on the colour of their skin.

Ifemelu’s blog can be used to educate white readers of Americanah. Her posts expose the ignorance of white people around her and highlight the microaggressions that Black people deal with on a regular basis.

In Americanah, Adichie does not conform to the recurring historical trope in post-colonial literature of assumed racial solidarity between African immigrants and African Americans. Instead, she reinvents this relationship to show that Black people do not always share the same views and experiences. Adichie critiques the ways in which Blackness in America is seen as a monolithic category as well as reveals the conscious ignorance of white, supposedly liberal Americans who avoid acknowledging the significance of systematic and inherent racism in America.

Adichie’s feminist perspective is also reflected throughout the novel. When Ifemelu returns to Nigeria, she begins to realize the true extent of the deep-rooted sexism and mistreatment of women in her home country.

One scene that was particularly compelling was when Ifemelu reunites with her friend Rayni who had just come from a wedding and recounts how she and the other bridesmaids were banished from the church services because their gowns had spaghetti straps which were deemed “indecent.” Ifemelu then questions whether or not this kind of thing happened while she had been in Nigeria.

Just like Ifemelu experienced what it was like to be Black for the first time in America, this scene makes it clear that she is learning what it means to be both Black and a woman in Nigeria. Americanah is a deeply moving and triumphant story that celebrates Black joy, love, and success. It is also a book that can be used as a tool in educating its readers about how they can improve themselves and become more aware of their privilege. Adichie will have you devouring each page and will captivate you with her unique and vibrant storytelling. I definitely recommend this book for your next read!