Americanah

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a smart and successful Nigerian author born in 1977 from Nigerian parents who worked at the university of Nssuka, Nigeria. Her newly-wed parents emigrated to California, USA to complete their studies for a few years before coming back to Nigeria in 1966. Adichie grew up in her homeland but as a young adult emigrated to the USA like her parents. She began studying medicine in Nigeria and then studied the humanities in Philadelphia and continued in Connecticut where she graduated and received several awards. She now teaches in Nigeria and the United States. 

Her first novel « Purple Hibiscus », published in 2003, won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book in 2005. Thereafter she wrote two novels : « Half of a Yellow Sun » in 2006 and « Americanah » in 2013  plus numerous essays and a collection of short stories « The Thing Around Your Neck ». Furthermore she is well-known for her modern and creative mind ; she also released a TED talk about « The Danger of a Single Story » in which she questions the consequences of stereotypes of both fiction and real life.

 As a speaker of the famous TED talk « We Should All Be Feminists » in 2012, published in book form in 2015, she gives her own definition of what it means to be a feminist in the 21st century. She demonstrates that throughout the world boys and girls are raised differently because of gender stereotypes with tremendous consequences and she encourages everyone to give the same education to children whether boys or girls. She aims at empowering women and her goal is to build a fairer world with a happier all-inclusive society supporting authenticity.

Adichie’s work was influenced by both Western and Nigerian culture ; when a child she loved reading English children’s writer Enid Blyton but also Nigerian author Chinua Achebe’s « Things fall Apart », and Florence Buchi Emecheta, a Nigerian novelist who wrote about child slavery, female independence and freedom. Her works are also deeply impregnated with Nigerian culture and especially her native Igbo language.

« Americanah » is Adichie’s fourth book, it shows several similarities between her female protagonist named Ifemelu and Adichie herself ; indeed she drew inspiration from her experience of the USA through her character’s story from teenage to adulthood. Her novel published in 2013 was soon a best-seller and won the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award. Barack Obama himself selected her novel to be on his list of Africa’s best writers and thinkers in 2018 while he was still in office at the White House.

The title « Americanah » refers to the name given to Ifemelu by her friends when she returns from America. America has changed her but she isn’t comfortable with this ; she prefers to feel herself instead of cultivating the label of Americanah which sometimes gives her privileges in Nigeria.

The narrator speaks in the third person and the reader follows mainly Ifemelu but also Obinze, the two protagonists. Sometimes we may read extracts of Ifemelu’s blog posts, written in the first person with a satirical tone, and considering the different aspects of race in the US according to her own observations. Throughout the chapters the reader navigates between the past and the present, between the different settings and the evolution of the characters.

The action takes place in Nigeria, the USA and England ; Nigeria being the chronological starting point. Adichie deliberately chooses to depict the illegal immigration of middle-class Nigerian students who are looking for more opportunities as they don’t want to face their nation’s chaos and instability. She describes poor working conditions and strikes at Nigerian universities. As a result Ifemelu immigrates to the USA where she is taken aback at being considered Black with its negative connotations. Moreover she experiences the difficulty of having to find a job with someone else’s identity. 

The second protagonist Obinze has a similar experience but in London because his demand for a visa is rejected in the US. Although Obinze’s stay is suddenly interrupted because he is a victim of strict immigration laws and is deported to Nigeria.

The author raises several issues such as immigration, race, racism and identity. Both protagonists have a true desire for authenticity which is a recurrent theme along the novel. Ifemelu and Obinze long to be true to themselves and to each other which leads them to take difficult decisions in the course of time. Their journey to self-honesty will lead them back to their homeland acknowledging that lies and deception are everywhere around them.