Relationships played a very large role in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah. Not only were relationships able to show the progression of feelings between people, but they were also able to exhibit the truths and problems of class and race. In the book, relationships are seen through more eyes than just Ifemelu’s, as we also see relationships through Obinze and many other people mentioned throughout Americanah that help to embody the truths of the world.
One of the earliest relationships that shows problems is less of a relationship, but more of a loveless affair. This relationship we see is between Ifemelu and the tennis coach in America. This affair did not come out of love, but rather Ifemelu’s struggles for money and jobs in America. Ifemelu had been consistently looking for jobs and ways to make money to survive in America, but the fact that she was black and foreign put her in a lower class that deemed it near impossible to acquire a job. This made Ifemelu have to resort to a job with a wealthy man that was able to pay her well for a very lowly job of having intimate times with him. On page 190, the book says, “Now, even after she has washed her hands, holding the crisp, slender hundred-dollar bill he had given her, her fingers still felt sticky; they no longer belonged to her.” Ifemelu, being a strong person, would not have usually stooped down to this level, and with her saying that her fingers no longer belonged to her this is clear. The simple problems of race and class caused her to have to change her ways, which very easily shows issues.
Another important relationship that shows problems in America is Ifemelu’s relationship with Curt. Curt treated Ifemelu as best as he could, even spoiling her, but the ways that he was able to spoil her and his obliviousness to things exposed some hard truths. First off, Ifemelu had been struggling to find a true job in America, as she was a babysitter for a while. When Curt came around, this changed for Ifemelu. Because Curt was a wealthy, white man, he was able to pull some weight in places, getting Ifemelu a job that she would have previously been unable to acquire by herself. This goes to show that there was a large preference to upper class, white people in the workforce. Another part of this relationship that shows a racial problem is Curt’s obliviousness when he questions Ifemelu about why a magazine only has black females in it, not realizing that typically all magazines only have white females in it, and that this one is special. This shows the obliviousness of America to how racially preferred they are towards white people over black people.
In the end, these are only two relationships of many that highlight problems present in Adichie’s Americanah, which ultimately bring to light the problems of the real world.
I agree that relationships are a tool used to discuss the idea of race in the book. I found Ifemelu's relationships with Aunty Uju, Obinze's mom, and her own mother to be interesting. All three served as a mother figure at some point to her but all in very different ways. Her relationships with these people demonstrate the different ways Nigerians and Americanized blacks interact with her. What you said about Curt reminds me of the way Ifemelu was sometimes confused by the way Aunty Uju acted after coming to America.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate how you recognize that relationships in the novel Americanah unfold throughout the eyes of many characters, not just Ifemelu. The romance discussed in the novel that have been singled out in this post are also those relationships that exist as purely transactional. It would make sense that Adichie relies on relationships to translate Ifemelu’s experiences with racism in America because not only is the concept of being “black” new to Ifemelu but racism originated out of an ideology of difference. These “differences” are the roots of prejudices in both relationships and world outlook. Additionally, I think the initial mention of Obinze in the introduction could have been discussed later in this blog. Obinze’s race relations follow a different path due to his travels in the UK as well as his deportation experience. Furthermore, the young love we see between Obinze and Ifemelu contrasts these “transactional” romances. In particular, I think discussing the blog post about true love being the only thing to conquer racial differences in America would have really rounded out the idea of a deep romantic connection. Referencing back to your introduction, the emotional relationship with Obinze could be seen as that “solution ideal” that Ifemelu grasps at in her blog.
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