Americanah Final Essay PDF

Preview

Summary

Download Americanah Final Essay PDF

Description

Ray Norman English 297 Professor Stasi 16 May 2017 1

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie one main theme that has heavily influenced this great novel is hybridity. Some of the characters who were greatly influenced by hybridity were Ifemelu, Obinzine and Dike. These characters were all trapped by this notion of having two sides or more sides of their identity. Ifemelu was conflicted with dealing with her Nigerian roots and her newly acquired black American side. Obinze is dealing with being obsessed with the American way of life and his roots in Nigeria. Finally Dike is struggling to conform with his battle of finding an identity between being an a black American and “other”. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie portrays hybridity as something that you have to overcome. The reason being is it creates an identity after the storm is over. Obinze is conflicted between living up to the proper effluent background that his mother provided for him, and his Nigerian background. Obinzine throughout the novel has experienced the struggle of a black person in England and the successes of a black man in England. Obinzine finished up University he decided to try to and receive citizenship in England. During this process he struggled and had to start from the bottom up. For example, “Everyone joked about people who went abroad to clean toilets, and so Obinze approached his first job with irony: he was indeed abroad cleaning toilets, wearing rubber gloves and carrying a pail, in an estate agent’s office on the second floor of a London building” (292). Obinze had to overcome this obstacle of the struggle while he was trying to make a life for himself in England in order to build character and a sense of self respect. Obinze was also dealing with the struggle of

2

receiving citizenship to stay in England. He tried to get a marriage arranged in the process. He tried and tried to become someone he was not. He could not find success as a black man in England because of the struggle of dealing with the harsh realities. Ironically Obinze never becomes a success in England like he was aspired to do. He became a success in Nigeria selling real estate. This just goes to show hybridity is not a negative notion. Hybridity creates great adversity but it creates clarity in identity after all is said and done. Dike the son of Aunty Uju and cousin of Ifemelu is dealing with an identity crisis. Dike had a hard time of understanding what it meant to be black man in America and the label of being an “other”. The “other” stems from Dike having to conform and behave in the manner in which his environment thought was appropriate. For instance, Dike had to wear this shirt to church for his mother Aunti Ujo even though he thought the shirt was really ugly. Aunti Ujo says “Look at this boy! Come and see the nonsense he wants to wear to church. You that if he does not dress properly, they will find something to say about us” (267). Aunti Ujo is making Dike wear a shirt he doesn't want to wear in order to appease the people at church. This draws back to Dike dealing with this “other” identity because he has to conform and wear whatever his mom tells him to wear because she wants him to fit into an environment that only allows you to wear certain clothes. Next Dike is battling with the struggle of being a black man in America. He is in high school with predominantly white students. He is one of the only black students in his high school. Dike is accused of hacking into his school's computers and it seems to be impossible because he was with his mother the entire day. Dike takes offense to these allegations and responds by saying “ You have to blame the black kid” (433). This

3

the first time the dike has identified as something. By saying this he feels the he is being blamed for something he didn't do solely because of the color of his skin. Dike struggles more after this point. He found himself trying to commit suicide because of the drastic pressure he is faced with from not knowing who he was. As recovers from his suicide attempt he seeks help by seeing a therapist 3 times a week. Dike visits Nigeria to see Ifemelu and he loves it there. In Nigeria he finally identifies as someone. He loves it out there and is astonished that there were so many black people. Dike says “Oh my god Coz, I’ve never seen so many black people in the same place” (518). He always discovers some truths about his father the general which his mom Aunti Ujo was keeping from him his whole life. Dike seems very happy in Nigeria and discovers that he can finally identify as someone. What Adichie has done with Dike’s character is that she created this hybridity with him and she turns it into an obstacle that Dike overcomes because now he can finally identify and embrace his Nigerian roots. Dike is finally about to say he know who he is. Ifemelu is the main character in the novel and she has to fight her struggle of living in America as a Nigerian woman trying to make it. She is faced with many hurdles but she overcomes them in a great way. Like Obinze her old boyfriend Ifemelu has to overcome a stigma of being a black person and not a Nigerian. She was now labeled as a black woman in America. She starts her journey by starting her fellowship at Princeton. She is faced with struggles as she starts to look for jobs to support herself in her new home. She really has to make money so she takes up the offer from this tennis coach she inquired about online who needs a “personal female assistant”. Ifemelu decides to sell her body for money. “She had come here on her own. She lain on his

4

bed, and when he placed her hand between his legs, she had curled and moved her fingers. Now, even after she had washed her hands” (190). This part in the book is significant because Ifemelu had resorted to her lowest point. She has come to America as a Nigerian woman but she is now seen as a black woman. She has to deal with the black person stigma of being willing to do anything for survival. Ifemelu has to combine her newly found identity of being a Black American and her natural Nigerian roots. Ifemelu also becomes the babysitter of Laura and Kimberly two white women. In America one of the stigmas or stereotypes that black women face is that they make great nanny’s for white people children because they are “sassy”. Laura Kimberly's sister calls Ifemelu “sassy”. For example “A pop of loud lauther burst out of Laura. You are funny! I love how sassy you are” (200). Ifemelu was clearly stereotyped by Laura because of the way black women are portrayed in America. Although Ifemelu struggles in the beginning of her journey things get better for her after she overcomes selling her body. She creates a very popular blog and consumes massive success. She dates Blaine a very successful black American, She later breaks up with him because she feels she is finally ready to go back to Nigeria. As Ifemelu goes back to Nigeria she tries to adapt to being back home. It took her a few weeks but she eventually go back in the groove with her surroundings. She meets up with Obinze her old boyfriend and the reconnect. They make love and Obinze admits that he does still have strong feelings for her. Obinze says, “ I love you, Ifem. We love each other, he said. There were tears in his eyes. She began to cry, too a helpless crying, and held each other” (556). In the beginning of her journey Ifemelu was dealing with unwanted struggle of being a black American. Later as she revisits her Nigerian roots and she overcomes her obstacles

5

and finds love. She was never satisfied with being a black American it was confusing because she wasn't expecting to struggle so much. As she comes back to her homeland she finds happiness and love. Ifemelu had to experience the struggle in order to overcome it and enjoy ultimate happiness. Ifemelu can now identify as a happy Nigerian woman. In my final analysis Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie hybridity is about overcoming the obstacles of hybridity. Hybridity is not necessarily a negative thing. It can be seen as something one can use to get better. Obinze used his hybridity struggles to become a very successful real estate agent in Nigeria, Dike uses his hybridity to realize he is not just some one existing but that he matters, and Ifemelu uses her hybridity to discover that she can has been happy in her home of Nigeria after all, she just had to leave to America for sometime to figure it out. Hybridity can produce success and happiness within....