Conformity and Authenticity in Americanah

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah follows the main character Ifemelu and her long-term boyfriend Obinze as they navigate their new lives in the United Kingdom and the United States. Between troubles with visas and failed job hunts, their journeys explore everything from discrimination to budding love. Though apart, they share many of the same experiences in their respective countries; The United States and the United Kingdom promise a be a land of booming opportunity and a welcoming market where anyone can acquire wealth. Ifemelu and Obinze’s experiences outside of Nigeria reflect Europeans’ and Americans’ unwillingness to accept cultural differences and immigrants’ responsibility to assume a different way of life. 

One of the most notable themes in Americanah is conformity. Conformity is rampant throughout society in Nigeria, but more so–for immigrants from Nigeria–in predominantly white countries. The first time Adichie majorly touches on conformity, she does so through Kosi, Obinze’s wife’s, character. Kosi is desperate to please; her image, both physical and perceivable, was everything to her. Her societal standing paved her happiness, but even then, could she really be content if her joy stemmed from superficial tweaks to her appearance and personality, done to please others? Contrasted by Obinze’s stubborn authenticity in this part of the novel, it is clear that her apparent lack of appetite, her school preferences for their children, and her inclination towards falsity all maintain her harmonious lifestyle rather than achieve well-being and comfort. 

Directly opposing Kosi’s artificial facade, Ifemelu often serves as a beacon of authenticity throughout the novel. Though society often demands that she conform (i.e. relaxing her hair, doing an American English accent), she often retreats to her authentic self. When she relaxes her hair, she soon after cuts it all off to revive her natural curls. After speaking with an American accent for some time, she reverts back to her Nigerian English accent, speaking naturally. While Ifemelu does what she believes she must to get a job and feel accepted in a place foreign and harsh to her, Kosi struggles with none of the same challenges and adversity that Ifemelu faces. 

Most intriguingly, authenticity seems vacant in other immigrants in Americanah. The United States, in its capitalistic craze, sells a prosperous image to immigrants. Often labeled as the American Dream, immigrants are sold propaganda showcasing rich entrepreneurs who come from nothing and accumulate immense wealth and power. Only, assuming one acquires a visa/green card, even with education from a different country, a successful career is far from guaranteed. Instead, immigrants must bend to the will of white people in order to land even the most unwanted jobs. As a result of her fruitless job hunt and unwelcoming roommates, Ifemelu becomes severely depressed. Her perception of America is entirely different, the attitude that life is suddenly worth living in America suddenly gone. She sacrifices her identity, even her own name, to work a job that she does not want. 

Throughout the novel, the ladies from the barber shop resurface several times, each snippet expressing another derogatory fragment that encapsulates the United States’s effect on immigrants’ view of both their own cultures and those in similar positions. They are shocked to hear that Ifemelu plans to return to Nigeria, still deluded by the idea of the American Dream. To them, the more American they are, the better. They wonder why Ifemelu’s American accent is not as good as a woman who has been in the United States for less time than Ifemelu, and they treat a white woman, Kelsey, who wants braids, with more respect than any other client. Adichie’s portrayal of conformity in Americanah is fascinating and offers an often unheard perspective of the American experience.