Adichie's portrayal of Aunty Uju undergoes a transformative journey throughout the novel, reflecting the evolving nature of her relationships. Initially, Aunty Uju serves as a mentor figure to Ifemelu, providing guidance and support. However, as her relationships shift and change, Aunty Uju takes on the role of a cautionary figure due to her willingness to sacrifice elements of her identity for comfort and acceptance in American society.
Aunty Uju's relationship with The General is representative of the power dynamics that often exist in romantic relationships. Aunty Uju willingly becomes The General's mistress in exchange for financial security. She justifies this decision by characterizing Nigeria as an "ass-licking economy," where success is contingent on aligning oneself with those in positions of power (Adichie, 93). For Aunty Uju, aligning herself with influential individuals appears to be the only way to secure her future. She must compromise her values and ideals to submit to The General's demands, effectively restricting her personal freedom and decision-making abilities. Aunty Uju undergoes costly and painful beauty treatments and invests her time in maintaining superficial relationships. This success proves to be futile when the General dies, forcing Aunty Uju to uproot her life to move to America, demonstrating the fragility of her relationship. This relationship underscores the complexities of the power dynamics that often occur for women, especially immigrant women, who feel tied to their partner for economic stability.
Upon her arrival in America, Ifemelu observes a significant change in Aunty Uju's persona. Aunty Uju quickly endeavors to "Americanize" herself to assimilate into her new society. Her initial interest in Bartholomew appears to be driven by a desire to replicate her previous relationship dynamics with The General. When explaining to Ifemelu her decision to quit her residency and move to Massachusetts with Bartholomew, Aunty Uju expresses the hope that they will marry in court to secure Bartholomew as Dike's legal guardian, further emphasizing her willingness to make sacrifices for economic stability (Adichie, 175). However, Aunty Uju ultimately abandons this relationship after realizing that it does not provide the financial security she had anticipated as she finds herself financially supporting Bartholomew when her expectations of him providing for her and Dike go unmet.
Aunty Uju's relationships are complex, offering insights into the immigrant experience and power dynamics as well as the sacrifices necessary to support herself and her family. Aunty Uju serves as a cautionary tale, illustrating the consequences of sacrificing one’s values and identity in pursuit of economic stability.
Monday, September 4, 2023
Aunty Uju's Relationships
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I think it’s interesting how you wrote about Aunty Uju’s transformation because the way I was reading it I was drawing parallels with Ifemelu’s experiences too. I think the major difference though, at least in the narrative we read it in, is that Ifemelu resented the fact that she had to do the things she did in order to succeed. She openly disliked Aunty Uju’s choices and ways of handling Dike and his upbringing, but for me personally, I felt that she was a little hypocritical.
ReplyDeleteShe goes through the whole “Americanizing” herself in changing her accent to sound less foreign and “more intelligent”. She changed her hair to fit the view of what someone in the workplace “should” look like. She curated her guest speeches to accommodate the white American listeners. She slept with the sleazy tennis coach to get money to pay her rent. She ignored the notion of Obinze’s wife because she was the one he was sleeping with. You said that for Aunty Uju, aligning herself with influential individuals appears to be the only way to secure her future, and I would go on to say the same is for Ifemelu. And honestly Obinze too. They all do things that may or may not be considered morally correct and things that they wished they shouldn’t have to do, but ultimately they do to succeed.
I just think this goes to show that immigrants coming to America, no matter how ambitious they are, share this universal human experience of struggling.
Aunt Uju’s relationships represent the power dynamic often demonstrated in a relationship between a man and a woman. However, she is not the only one whose relationships show this dynamic. In the novel, we see Ifemulu’s relationship with Curt has some parallels to Uju’s relationship with The General.
ReplyDeleteIn the book, Adichie states that when with Curt, Ifemelu becomes a woman free of worry (Adichie, 241). Her relationship with Curt opened doors for her that had previously been closed such as when he “made calls” to get her a job interview out of college which would get her a work visa and a green card while she was struggling to find a job (Adichie, 249). Being with The General provided Uju with a very similar “free” feeling as when she was with him she could do many things such as helping her brother with his rent when he was struggling. The main difference in the relationship dynamic is that while Curt had the power, Ifemulu did not rely on it. In contrast, Uju did rely on The General's power which is evident by the difference in how the two women were right after the relationship ended.
Both women throughout the novel show just how complex a relationship can be. The difference in how they were after the relationship highlights the importance of not relying on someone since there is no way to know how long that person will be there.