Americanah

Study Guide by Course Hero

The novel Americanah is told primarily in the past tense.

What's Inside
ABOUT THE TITLE
The title Americanah refers to an unflattering term used by
j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1 Nigerians to describe other Nigerians who have spent time in
the United States and come home with annoying American
d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1 idiosyncrasies, such as carrying water bottles everywhere or
complaining about the heat. In speech, the fourth syllable of
a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 4
the word (-ca-) is drawn out.
h Characters ................................................................................................... 5

k Plot Summary ........................................................................................... 10

c Chapter Summaries .............................................................................. 19

d In Context
g Quotes ........................................................................................................ 59

l Symbols ..................................................................................................... 62
Third-Wave Postcolonial
m Themes ...................................................................................................... 63 Fiction
m Motifs .......................................................................................................... 66 Americanah is an example of postcolonial fiction. In the
broadest of terms, postcolonial literature is anything written by
people living in countries that were once colonized by other
nations. By that definition, works from American, Irish, and
j Book Basics Australian authors might also be considered postcolonial, but
the postcolonial label is generally used to describe works by
AUTHOR nonwhite writers from regions of the world such as Africa, the
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Caribbean, and the Indian subcontinent. The genre is
characterized by themes of cultural identity, nationality, race,
YEAR PUBLISHED ethnicity, language, outside influences, and power.
2013
Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is from Nigeria, which was
GENRE a British colony from 1914–60. Scholars place her work within
Drama, Romance the third wave of postcolonial Nigerian literature. The first
wave, which includes Things Fall Apart (1958) by Chinua
PERSPECTIVE AND NARRATOR
Achebe (1930–2013) and the poetry of Christopher Okigbo
Americanah is told by a third-person limited narrator who
(1932–67), was published before and directly after
alternates between the perspectives of the characters Ifemelu
independence from Great Britain. The second wave, which
and Obinze.
includes poetry by Niyi Osundare (b. 1947) and poetry and
TENSE plays by Femi Osofisan (b. 1946), was published after the
Americanah Study Guide
Biafran Civil War (1967–70). (Biafra, a west African state,
proclaimed its independence from Nigeria in May 1967 as a
result of troubled economics, politics, and ethnic conflict and
violence; this declaration resulted in civil war.) The third wave is
ongoing and includes writers who published their first works as
early as the mid-1980s.
Although Adichie's work falls within the third wave of
postcolonial literature, it touches upon many of the same
themes found in earlier postcolonial works, such as race and
diaspora, a term that is used to describe people who have
been displaced from their homelands—either by force or by
choice—and who remember these lands as perhaps better
than they actually were. Americanah also touches upon
hybridity, which is the state of straddling two cultures—one
home and one foreign—without abandoning either; double
consciousness, or the black person's self-reflection through a
white person's eyes; and othering, which is the tendency of
white, Eurocentric populations to treat people of color as
demons or exotic specimens (in Americanah, it is the latter).
These points of analysis are also characteristic of postcolonial
literature.
Early Nigerian postcolonial fiction and poetry was primarily
written by male authors who, according to literary critic and
Sarah Lawrence professor emerita Chikwenye Okonjo
Ogunyemi, "[deal] almost exclusively with male characters and
concerns, naturally aimed at a predominantly male audience."
This pattern changed with the third wave of Nigerian
postcolonial authors, many of whom are women writing from
the feminine perspective. This group includes Adichie.
Americanah tells the story of a man and a woman, but the
majority of it—even the sexual interactions between the two
characters—is told from the woman's point of view. Because of
this, Adichie is able to shed light on topics generally ignored in
male-centric novels, such as female sexual pleasure, the
pressure of patriarchal beauty standards, and career
aspirations outside of the home.
Nigerian Government and
Economy
Most of the main characters in Americanah, including the
book's two protagonists, Ifemelu and Obinze, are Nigerian. The
seventh most populous country in the world, Nigeria is located
on the west coast of Africa. Before the British arrived in the
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In Context 2
late-19th century, the territory now known as Nigeria was split
between unrelated tribes. British forces waged war against the
indigenous peoples to gain control of the land. Nigeria
remained under British rule until 1960, when it was peacefully
granted independence. Growing tensions between the
different ethnic groups led to the Biafran Civil War, which
lasted from 1967–70.
The end of the Biafran war signaled the beginning of military
rule in Nigeria. A succession of military leaders attempted to
return the government to civilian rule until 1979, when the first
presidential election was held. Right-wing candidate Shehu
Shagari (1925–2018) won. Despite public outcry about the
corruption of Shagari's administration and the nation's
continued economic decline, he was reelected in 1983 only to
be overthrown in a military coup that December, which placed
Major General Muhammadu Buhari (b. 1942) in control of the
country.
Buhari's regime declared the War Against Indiscipline (WAI) to
restore economic prosperity and end social decay. In reality,
the WAI was an excuse to jail politicians, journalists, and
opponents of the regime. Buhari was overthrown by another
military coup in 1985, which brought General Ibrahim
Babangida (b. 1941) to power. Babangida seemed like a more
compassionate leader and promised to return Nigeria to
civilian rule. However, he actively worked behind the scenes to
retain his power by nullifying the results of 1993's democratic
elections, which led to his own ousting in August 1993.
Nigeria was then led by an Interim National Government for
four months until General Sani Abacha (1943–98), Babangida's
defense minister, staged a coup and reinstated military rule.
Under Abacha's rule, Nigeria lost most of the economic,
political, and social gains it had made since 1960. Protesters
and opposition leaders were killed, and freedom of the press,
due process of law, and civil and human rights were ignored.
Adichie doesn't give specific dates in Americanah, but it
appears that The General, Aunty Uju's boyfriend and
benefactor, worked for Abacha. In the book, it is rumored that
The General's death is engineered by the Head of State in an
effort to get rid of officers planning a coup. This information
corresponds with Abacha's real-life persona.
Abacha died suddenly in 1998. His replacement, General
Abdulsalami Abubakar (b. 1942), made good on his promise to
return Nigeria to civilian rule. In 1999 President Olusegun
Obasanjo (b. 1937) was elected; he was reelected in 2003. He
Americanah Study Guide
is in power when the character of Obinze moves to England,
returns home, and starts working for Chief.
Nigerian Culture
There are approximately 250 different ethnic groups in Nigeria.
Three are dominant: the Hausa-Fulani, who are generally
Muslim and live in the north; the farming Yoruba of the
southwest; and the Igbo of the southeast. (In Americanah,
Ifemelu's and Obinze's family and friends are Igbo.) Rural areas
are more likely to be populated by a single ethnic group,
although migration often occurs when new farmland is needed.
Big cities such as Lagos, where much of Americanah takes
place, are more integrated but still trend toward the dominant
tribe in that region.
The overwhelming majority of people who live in Nigeria have
darker-toned skin that in the United States would be
considered black. Because the appearance of the population is
so homogenous, or similar, there are few (if any) divisions
among racial lines. Instead, social and political tensions are
connected to differences in ethnicity and religion (Christianity
versus Islam). It is common for big cities to be separated along
ethnic and religious lines. Clashes between ethnic or religious
groups in one part of the nation reverberate throughout the
country, sometimes setting off a chain of riots and fighting.
Although skin tone is not the basis for social and political strife
in Nigeria, it is a factor in the culture's beauty standards. As in
many other places in the world, lighter skin tones are viewed as
being more desirable than darker skin tones. This attitude
began during British colonialism, when the British deemed
everything associated with white European culture to be
superior, and it continues to this day with beauty ideals
propagated by Western (white) culture. According to a 2011
World Health Organization report, 77 percent of Nigerian
women reportedly use skin lightening creams, many of which
contain harmful ingredients. In Americanah, Ginika believes she
was voted the prettiest girl in her class because she is biracial
and has lighter skin than her classmates.
Perhaps even more prevalent than the admiration of lighter
skin is the desire for long, straight, silky hair. Hair plays a big
role in Americanah. In general, a black person's natural hair has
more body and less of a smooth texture than a white person's
hair. Many, if not the majority, of Nigerian women smooth and
straighten their hair with chemical relaxers and/or heat. This
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In Context 3
helps achieve more traditionally white European-inspired looks.
Relaxers also make hair easier to comb, which some people
find helpful when styling braids, dreadlocks, twists, and coils.
Those styles, as well as straight, flowing styles, are often
enhanced with hair attachments called weaves, which add
volume and length. Although natural (unrelaxed,
unstraightened) hair is becoming more popular in the United
States, few women in Nigerian cities care for that look. When
Ifemelu decides to let her hair remain natural in Americanah,
she is actually bucking the cultural standards of both her
homeland and her adopted home.
The Nigerian and American educational systems are, in theory,
quite similar. The school year generally begins in September.
Students are required to attend primary school for six years
and junior secondary school for three years. After this there is
an optional three years of senior secondary school. This is
where Ifemelu and Obinze meet in Americanah. University,
vocational, and technical education follow. But education,
particularly at universities and other tertiary schools, isn't
always steady. Since the mid-1990s, Nigerian teachers and
staff unions have often used work strikes as a means of
getting their voices heard. Oftentimes, the goal is to secure
more funding for teacher salaries and to increase monetary
support for growing school populations. Campuses that
participate in the strikes completely shut down for weeks and
sometimes months at a time, and students are sent home with
no clue as to when classes will resume. Many students fear
they will not be able to complete their educations at all and
pursue opportunities outside of Nigeria. Frequent teachers'
strikes are why Ifemelu moves to the United States in
Americanah.
Another ongoing issue in Nigeria is the lack of reliable
electricity. In Americanah, Ifemelu and her friends and family all
own electric generators to help them get by during the
country's frequent energy shortages. Nigeria is rich in energy
sources, such as oil, gas, water, and solar power, but its power
plants only produce a fraction of the power the country's 203.5
million inhabitants need on a daily basis. The country's energy
infrastructure is mostly to blame—depending on the day, over
half of the country's turbines aren't functional and most run on
gas, which isn't as abundant (or cheap) as other sources of
energy. Some people also blame those who earn their livings
from generator and gasoline sales. The less energy the
country produces, the more generators and gas they sell. It is
in their interest that the government doesn't try to solve the
energy crisis. In the meantime, citizens are paying for
Americanah Study Guide
electricity hookups they rarely use, as well as emergency
backups. These costs hinder personal and corporate economic
growth.
a Author Biography
Nigerian Childhood, American
Education
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born September 15, 1977, into
an Igbo family in Enugu, a city in eastern Nigeria that was once
the capital of the Republic of Biafra. Two of her grandfathers
died in the war of independence that raged in eastern Nigeria
from 1967–70; many of her relatives survived the war with
stories to tell. The fifth of six children, Adichie grew up in the
university town of Nsukka. Both her parents were university
professionals who made history at their jobs: her mother was
the university's first female registrar, and her father the first
statistics professor in Nigeria. As a child, Adichie was
captivated by Igbo writer Chinua Achebe's acclaimed novel
Things Fall Apart, which addresses colonial life in Nigeria.
Adichie attended secondary school at the university's school
for children of staff, where she was a high-achieving student.
After graduating she initially attended the University of Nigeria,
where she studied medicine and pharmacy. She left Nigeria for
the United States at age 19. At Philadelphia's Drexel University
she spent two years studying communication on a scholarship
before completing a degree in communication and political
science at Eastern Connecticut State University in 2001. She
went on to receive a master's degree in creative writing from
Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. From 2005–06, Adichie
attended Princeton University as a Hodder Fellow, an honor
awarded "to artists and writers of exceptional promise to
pursue independent projects at Princeton University." In 2008
she graduated from Yale University with a master's degree in
African studies.
Award-Winning Author
Much of Adichie's work examines the postcolonial experience
of Nigerians, tackling questions of identity, ethnicity, and power
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Author Biography 4
through the lives of vivid, unforgettable characters contending
with changing political and economic landscapes. Her play For
Love of Biafra, published in Nigeria in 1998, is an early
examination of the Biafran war. She began writing her first
novel, Purple Hibiscus (2003), while finishing her bachelor's
degree. It won the 2005 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best
First Book from Africa and Best First Book overall. Half of a
Yellow Sun (2006), Adichie's second novel, also received
several awards, including the Orange Broadband Prize for
Fiction. A film adaptation was released in 2013.
Adichie was honored with a $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship in
2008. The prestigious, highly secretive award (also known as
the "genius grant") is given to creative individuals from a wide
range of fields who are "committed to building a more just,
verdant [green], and peaceful world." The award allowed
Adichie to travel more, and she was able to continue her
annual creative writing workshops in Nigeria, which she began
in 2007.
Americanah and Beyond
Adichie's first post-MacArthur work was The Thing Around
Your Neck (2009), a compilation of short stories that take
place in Africa and the United States. She then spent a 2011–12
fellowship at Harvard University working on her third novel,
Americanah (2013). Unlike her previous works, which were
largely about war, Americanah is a love story that spans two
decades and three continents. It is also a meditation on race,
cultural standards, aspirations, and assimilation. Widely praised
by literary critics and the public alike, Americanah received the
National Book Critics Circle Award in 2013 and was named one
of the year's 10 best books by the New York Times.
Americanah was followed by We Should All Be Feminists
(2014), an essay that originated as a TEDx talk in 2012. Dear
Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions (2017)
is a letter-turned-essay originally written for a dear friend's
infant daughter.
Adichie currently divides her time between Nigeria, where she
teaches writing workshops, and the United States. She is
married and has a daughter.
Americanah Study Guide Characters 5

exams, she has little money or patience. Little by little, she

h Characters climbs out of poverty and into a modestly successful life, first
by passing her medical exams and then by marrying a fellow
Nigerian immigrant. By the time that marriage ends, she is able

Ifemelu to provide a comfortable life for herself and her son, Dike. As
her anger dissipates, she begins volunteering overseas and
dating a kind and gentle immigrant from Ghana.
Ifemelu doesn't shy away from controversy. An only child of
middle-class parents, she always says what she means, even
when it might get her into trouble. She always feels a little out
of place at her private secondary school, but she gets good
Dike
grades and hangs out with the popular kids. Ifemelu never
Dike is the son of Aunty Uju and The General, which makes him
thought she would visit the United States, much less move
Ifemelu's nephew. Born in Nigeria, he moved to the United
there, but she does just that during her second year of
States with his mother shortly after his first birthday. After
university. She ends up staying for 13 years. Curious and
second or third grade, Dike and Aunty Uju move from Brooklyn
intelligent, Ifemelu is mystified by the intricacies of race in
to small towns in Massachusetts, where he is generally the
America and starts an anonymous blog about race from the
only black kid in his class. This takes a toll on Dike, who is
perspective of a non-American black person. As she says in
automatically blamed for any trouble that happens at school.
her blog, she didn't consider herself black until she moved to
Aunty Uju never talks about Dike's father. Although she tries to
the United States.
raise him to be Nigerian, Dike is more influenced by American
culture. By the time he is in high school, he considers himself to

Obinze be African American, not African. Dike is always jovial and full
of life when Ifemelu visits, so she's extremely surprised when
he tries to kill himself. No explanation is given for what led him
Obinze has a calm and steady personality. He doesn't call
down that path, but Aunty Uju tells Ifemelu that Dike is
attention to himself or ask for recognition. Since he was small,
depressed. He never talks about what happened to Ifemelu.
Obinze's goal has been to live in the United States. When
Ifemelu moves there they make plans for him to join her in a
few years. This doesn't work out, and he ends up in England,
where he tries to get by after his visa expires. When Ifemelu
Blaine
returns to Nigeria, Obinze can't stand to be apart from her.
Years before they start dating, Blaine and Ifemelu meet on a
Love and a shared history draw him to Ifemelu, but he's held
train to Massachusetts. Ifemelu is immediately taken with him.
back by his marriage and sense of responsibility. People do not
Blaine's primary purpose in life is to make the world a better
regularly divorce in Nigeria, and he has a duty to his wife. But
place through thoughtful dialogue and compassionate
Obinze also realizes he has a duty to himself. He hasn't been
understanding. He is attracted to Ifemelu because of her
happy in a long, long time, perhaps since Ifemelu first left. This
intelligence and wit, but he is often frustrated that she doesn't
is his chance.
share his views on race.

Aunty Uju
Curt
Aunty Uju is technically the daughter of Ifemelu's father's
Curt is a software developer from a wealthy white family. He
brother, but she has always been like an aunt to Ifemelu. Uju is
has had a string of "exotic" girlfriends but seems particularly
10 years older than Ifemelu, and when Ifemelu was young
enamored with Ifemelu. Curt leads a charmed life. He's
Aunty Uju was the only person who could console and talk
handsome, kind, and has the money and connections
some sense into her. Aunty Uju is subdued by life in the United
necessary to get anything he wants. This is a foreign concept
States. Working three jobs and studying for her medical
to Ifemelu, who has never had much of either. She is happy and

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Americanah Study Guide Characters 6

content with Curt, who embodies the vision of America she had
before arriving in the United States.

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Americanah Study Guide Characters 7

Character Map

Obinze
Nigerian real estate
Former developer; formerly
classmate obsessed with America Spouses

Emenike
Kosi
Social-climbing
Status-conscious Nigerian
Nigerian immigrant
Soulmates
Former
classmate

Ifemelu
Nigerian immigrant;
Nephew blogs about race
in America
Curt
Dike Ex-boyfriend
White upper-middle-
American-raised teenager
class businessman

Aunt
Ex-boyfriend

Aunty Uju Blaine

Nigerian immigrant and African American
doctor; single mother Ivy League professor

Main Character

Other Major Character

Minor Character

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Americanah Study Guide
Full Character List
Character Description
Ifemelu is a Nigerian writer living in
the United States who has recently
Ifemelu
decided to return to her home
country.
Obinze is a wealthy Nigerian
Obinze businessman who is deeply
dissatisfied with his life.
Aunty Uju is Ifemelu's aunt who
Aunty Uju moves to the United States when
Ifemelu is a teenager.
Dike is Ifemelu's nephew who grows
Dike
up in the United States.
Blaine is Ifemelu's African American
Blaine boyfriend and a Yale University
professor.
Curt is Ifemelu's white boyfriend from
Curt
Baltimore.
Ahmed is Obinze and Ifemelu's
Ahmed
secondary-​school friend.
Aisha is the Senegalese woman who
Aisha braids Ifemelu's hair in Trenton, New
Jersey.
Alexa is Emenike and Georgina's
opinionated dinner-​party guest who
Alexa
thinks African doctors should stay in
Africa.
Allison is one of Ifemelu's roommates
Allison
in Philadelphia.
Two Angolan men arrange Obinze's
The Angolans
marriage to Cleotilde for a hefty fee.
Araminta is Blaine's best friend from
Araminta
childhood.
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Characters 8
Bartholomew
Bartholomew is Aunty Uju's husband.
Originally from Nigeria, he is now an
accountant in Massachusetts.
Bisola is Ifemelu's friend and a
Bisola
member of the Nigerpolitan Club.
Buchi is Obinze and Kosi's young
Buchi
daughter.
Chief is the well-​connected (and
possibly dangerous) man who helped
Chief
Obinze launch his career in real
estate.
Cleotilde is the Portuguese-​Angolan
Cleotilde woman who Obinze plans to marry so
he can become an English citizen.
Don Don is Kimberly's handsome husband.
Doris is Ifemelu's coworker at Zoe.
Doris She attended college in the United
States.
Elena is one of Ifemelu's roommates
Elena
in Philadelphia. She owns a dog.
Elizabeth is Jane and Marlon's young
Elizabeth
daughter.
Emenike is Obinze's former
Emenike
classmate who emigrated to England.
Esther is the receptionist at Zoe. She
Esther is less sophisticated and educated
than her coworkers.
Fred is a member of the Nigerpolitan
Club. He and Ifemelu date after she
Fred
stops speaking to Obinze for the
second time.
The General is Aunty Uju's married
lover and Dike's biological father. He
The General
dies in a plane crash when Dike is a
year old.
Georgina is Emenike's white British
Georgina
wife. She is a lawyer.
Americanah Study Guide
Ginika is Ifemelu's good friend who
moves to the United States during
Ginika secondary school. They reconnect
when Ifemelu moves to Pennsylvania
years later.
Grace, a Korean American professor,
Grace teaches African American studies at
Yale University.
Sister Ibinabo is a powerful figure in
Ifemelu's mother's church. She
Sister Ibinabo becomes infuriated when teenage
Ifemelu refuses to make garlands for
Chief Omenka.
Ifemelu's father hides his lack of
university education with big words
Ifemelu's father and pompous proclamations. He is
unemployed for much of Ifemelu's
teenage years.
Ifemelu's mother is a religious fanatic
Ifemelu's who believes that her faith in God will
mother result in increased wealth and social
status for her family.
Iloba grew up in Obinze's mother's
Iloba village. He helps Obinze navigate life
in England.
Jackie is one of Ifemelu's roommates
Jackie
in Philadelphia.
Jane is Aunty Uju's neighbor in
Jane Brooklyn. She and her husband,
Marlon, are from Grenada.
Junior is Jane and Marlon's young
Junior
son.
Kayode is one of Obinze's wealthy
friends from secondary school. He
Kayode
moves to the United States sometime
after Ifemelu.
Kelsey is the white woman who gets
Kelsey
her hair braided at Mariama's salon.
Kimberly is the white woman who
Kimberly hires Ifemelu to be a nanny for her
children.
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Characters 9
Kosi Kosi is Obinze's wife.
Kweku is Aunty Uju's boyfriend. He's
Kweku a doctor from Ghana living in the
United States.
Laura is Kimberly's ill-​tempered sister.
Laura
She does not trust Ifemelu.
Marcia is a professor at Yale
University. Her husband hosts a
Marcia
birthday party for her, which is
attended by Blaine and Ifemelu.
Mariama owns the braiding salon in
Mariama
Trenton, New Jersey.
Marie is the house girl who works for
Marie
Kosi and Obinze.
Marlon Marlon is Jane's husband.
Michael is an African American
Michael photographer. He attends Marcia's
birthday party.
Morgan is Kimberly and Don's angry
Morgan
preteen daughter.
Nicholas is Obinze's cousin who lives
in England. Formerly wild and
Nicholas
unpredictable, he is now serious and
subdued.
Nigel is the white delivery person who
Nigel befriends Obinze in England. He later
works for Obinze in Nigeria.
Nna is Obinze's nephew who lives in
Nna
England.
Nne is Obinze's niece who lives in
Nne
England.
Obinze's mother Obinze's mother is a professor.
Odein is an older student Ifemelu
Odein meets at university. She is charmed
by his pursuit of her.
Americanah Study Guide
Ojiugo is Nicholas's wife. Formerly
one of Obinze's mother's brightest
Ojiugo
students, she now puts all her effort
into her children.
Ifemelu uses Ngozi Okonkwo's Social
Ngozi Okonkwo Security card and driver's license to
apply for jobs in Philadelphia.
Okwudiba is Obinze's best friend in
Okwudiba
Lagos.
Ifemelu refuses to make garlands at
Chief Omenka church for Chief Omenka, who she
implies is a dishonest businessman.
Aunty Onenu is the owner of Zoe, the
Aunty Onenu magazine for which Ifemelu works
when she returns to Lagos.
Osahon is Obinze and Ifemelu's
Osahon
secondary-​school friend.
Paula Paula is Blaine's white ex-​girlfriend.
Pee, which is short for Paula, is
Pee
Blaine's current girlfriend.
Priye is Ifemelu's friend from
secondary school. As an adult, she
Priye
runs her own wedding-​planning
business.
Ranyinudo is Ifemelu's friend from
Ranyinudo secondary school. Ifemelu lives with
her when she first returns to Lagos.
Rob
Rob is Ifemelu's neighbor with whom
she cheats on her boyfriend, Curt.
Shan
Shan is Blaine's self-​absorbed and
slyly cruel sister. She is a writer.
Roy Snell is the kind and generous
Roy Snell warehouse manager at Obinze's
second delivery job.
Taylor is Kimberly and Don's young
Taylor
son.
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Plot Summary 10
The tennis coach is the man who
Tennis coach
hires Ifemelu to help him "relax."
Cristina Tomas is the woman at the
registration desk who assumes
Cristina Tomas Ifemelu doesn't speak English well.
Because of her, Ifemelu adopts an
American accent.
Tochi is Ifemelu's friend from
secondary school. As an adult, she is
Tochi
quick to tell Ifemelu how much she
dislikes America.
Vincent is the Nigerian-​born British
Vincent citizen who sells Obinze the use of
his National Insurance number.
Wambui is a friend Ifemelu meets at
Wambui school in Philadelphia. She is from
Kenya.
Mr. White is the elderly security guard
Mr. White at the Yale University library. He is
falsely suspected of dealing drugs.
Yagazie is Ifemelu's friend and a
Yagazie
member of the Nigerpolitan Club.
Yinka is Kayode's wealthy girlfriend.
Yinka
She has a British passport.
Zemaye is Ifemelu's coworker at Zoe.
Zemaye
She has lived in Nigeria her entire life.
k Plot Summary
Part 1
Ifemelu takes the train to Trenton, New Jersey, to get her hair
braided. The conclusion of her fellowship at Princeton
University has prompted her to make some dramatic life
changes: she closed her blog about American race relations
from the perspective of a non-American black person; she
broke up with her African American boyfriend, Blaine; and after
13 years in the United States, she is moving back home to
Nigeria. As she sits in the stylist's chair, Ifemelu can't help but
Americanah Study Guide
think about her high school and college boyfriend, Obinze.
They haven't communicated in years, but she sends him a
quick e-mail to let him know she's coming home.
Obinze lives in Ifemelu's hometown of Lagos. He's married to a
beautiful woman and has a young daughter. He makes good
money as a property developer, his family lives in a big,
comfortable house, and they socialize with the power players
of Lagos society. However, all these material things leave
Obinze feeling hollow inside. He's caught off guard by Ifemelu's
e-mail, which is all he can think about as he and his wife make
the rounds at a swanky society party that evening. He writes
back as soon as he gets home.
Part 2
Ifemelu is an only child. Her mother is a school principal and
religious fanatic, and her father is recently unemployed. Ifemelu
is closer to her father's cousin, Aunty Uju, than to either of her
parents. Ten years Ifemelu's senior, Aunty Uju recently
graduated from medical school and began dating The General,
a married military man who serves under the Head of State. He
secures a job for Uju at the hospital and sets her up in a
beautiful home. He pays for everything and gives her a little
money of her own.
Ifemelu and Obinze meet in secondary school. He is the new
boy from Nsukka; she is the smart and stubborn one in the
group of popular girls. Obinze's friends try to set him up with
Ginika, who was voted the prettiest girl in school, but he
chooses Ifemelu. From the very beginning, they are
inseparable. Obinze is obsessed with America and tries to get
Ifemelu to read American novels and listen to American music.
Ifemelu loves spending time at Obinze's house with his mother,
a professor on sabbatical. After an uncomfortable
conversation with Obinze's mother, Ifemelu promises they will
wait to have sex. They will let her know when they are ready.
Aunty Uju becomes pregnant with The General's baby, and he
arranges for her to deliver in the United States. She returns to
Nigeria with their son, Dike. When Dike is a year old, The
General is killed in a plane accident. His family immediately
lashes out at Aunty Uju and threatens to ruin her life. She and
Dike flee to the United States.
Ifemelu and Obinze attend Nsukka University together. He lives
at home, and she lives in a hostel. Obinze is jealous of the
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Plot Summary 11
attention Ifemelu gets from the older boys, especially when she
is at home in Lagos during the frequent teachers' strikes.
Obinze and Ifemelu finally have sex. It isn't anything like Ifemelu
imagined, and she is ashamed that they didn't use protection
and didn't tell Obinze's mother. A week later, she starts getting
sharp pains in her side. Worried, she goes to a local doctor for
a pregnancy test. She's not pregnant, but the pains continue.
Obinze's mother takes Ifemelu to a doctor one night when the
pain becomes too much to bear. On the way, Ifemelu
confesses that she and Obinze had unprotected sex. Obinze's
mother lectures them about the importance of condoms after
Ifemelu recovers from her appendix surgery.
The teachers' strikes begin occurring more frequently. Aunty
Uju suggests that Ifemelu move to the United States to finish
school. Obinze promises to join her there for graduate school.
Ifemelu spends her first summer in the United States in
Brooklyn, New York, living with Aunty Uju and Dike, who is now
in first grade.
Aunty Uju has changed in the years since Ifemelu last saw her.
She has had to work several jobs while trying to pass her
medical school examinations. As a result, she is tired, ragged-
looking, and always angry. She begins dating Bartholomew, a
Nigerian accountant who lives in Massachusetts. She doesn't
love him, but she wants help raising Dike and wants another
child. They marry within the year.
Ifemelu moves to Philadelphia in the fall to go to college. Her
friend Ginika, who also went to school there, helps her settle in
and teaches her about American customs and slang. Ifemelu is
in the country on a student visa, which means she can't legally
work. She ends up borrowing the identity of Aunty Uju's friend
and applies for dozens of jobs. Months go by without any
interest and soon she is unable to afford the rent for the
apartment she shares with three American roommates.
Desperate, Ifemelu calls a tennis coach who offered her a job
helping him "relax" and says she can start right away. Within
the hour, she is in his bedroom. They masturbate one another,
he hands her $100, and she cries all the way home.
Ifemelu can't bear to tell Obinze what happened. Until then,
they had been talking on the phone and writing letters and e-
mails to each other as often as possible. Now she suddenly
stops communicating with him altogether. She spends her
days in a miserable fog, skips class, and leaves her bedroom
only in the middle of the night. After a few weeks, one of her
roommates brings her the phone. It is Ginika. She, Aunty Uju,
Americanah Study Guide
and Obinze are all worried about Ifemelu. But Ginika has good
news—the woman who interviewed Ifemelu for a nanny
position has an opening after all. Ginika thinks Ifemelu has
depression, which Ifemelu thinks isn't a real thing. She sobs in
Ginika's car and doesn't mention a word about the tennis
coach.
Ifemelu works for Kimberly and Don for several years. She's
struck by how clueless Kimberly and her sister, Laura, are
about Africa and what life is like for black people in the United
States. Ifemelu can't stand Laura, but she feels very protective
toward Kimberly. Ifemelu ends up dating Kimberly's handsome
and wealthy cousin, Curt. Curt adores Ifemelu. He takes her on
vacations, introduces her to his mother, and helps her find a
job that will sponsor her employment visa after graduation.
Aunty Uju and the career counselor at Ifemelu's school both
told her that braids, twists, and other traditionally black
hairstyles would not be considered professional by her future
employer. Because of this, Ifemelu relaxes her hair, but the
result doesn't feel like her at all. The chemical relaxing process
is brutal; after a few months, her hair starts falling out. Her
friend Wambui encourages her to cut off the relaxed portions
of her hair and let it grow naturally. Ifemelu is left with a two-
inch-long afro. She hates it at first, but after a few months, she
learns to love her hair just the way it is.
Ifemelu and Curt visit Aunty Uju and Dike in Massachusetts.
Weeks later, Aunty Uju leaves Bartholomew. She and Dike
move to a town called Willow in Massachusetts. Aunty Uju
hopes Dike will be treated better at his new school. The staff at
the old school was always complaining about his behavior.
Aunty Uju is sure it's because he's black.
Ifemelu runs into Kayode at the mall. Kayode was one of
Obinze's good friends in secondary school. As they catch up,
Ifemelu learns that Obinze is in England. She hasn't talked to
him for years, yet she feels betrayed that he hadn't personally
told her about this development. Later that day, she e-mails
Obinze for the first time since the incident with the tennis
coach. He doesn't reply.
Part 3
Obinze makes multiple attempts to get an American visa after
graduating from university, but he is denied every time. His
mother says it's because of the fear of terrorism. The United
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Plot Summary 12
States isn't taking any young black men. She arranges a six-
month visa for him to go to England as her research assistant
for a conference. After that, it's up to him to secure citizenship.
Obinze lives with his cousin, Nicholas, and Nicholas's wife,
Ojiugo, and their children, Nna and Nne. He contacts old
friends to seek help finding work. Emenike, who went to school
with Obinze and Ifemelu, is too busy and important to help.
Iloba, who is from Obinze's mother's village, hooks him up with
Vincent, who sells Obinze the use of his National Insurance
number. In return, Obinze has to give Vincent 35 percent of all
his earnings.
Obinze's first job is as a janitor at an office building. He
receives Ifemelu's apology e-mail on the day he has to clean
feces off a toilet seat. Furious with her for waiting five years to
contact him and furious that he is expected to clean another
human's purposefully placed bowel movement, he quits. He
eventually ends up working for a delivery company. His boss,
Roy Snell, is exceedingly kind and always gives him the better-
paying jobs. He's often paired with Nigel, a white Brit who
evenly splits his tips with Obinze.
Obinze is terrified that the authorities will discover that he's in
the country illegally. He enters an arrangement to marry
Cleotilde, a Portuguese-Angolan woman. Cleotilde is very nice
and very attractive, but Obinze doesn't want to complicate
their business arrangement with romance until after they're
married. The Angolans who set up the deal keep asking Obinze
for more and more money, so he finally breaks down and asks
Emenike for a loan. Emenike is glad to oblige and gives him
double the amount he asked for. Obinze is embarrassed to
take it but is too desperate not to. The next night, he attends a
dinner party at Emenike and Georgina's house, where he
realizes that Emenike considers himself to be British, not
Nigerian.
Moments before his marriage to Cleotilde, Obinze is arrested
for overstaying his visa. He is placed in detention until seats
become available for a flight home. After an unspecified
amount of time, he and seven other Nigerians are deported
home. Three years after leaving, he is back in the same place
he started.
Americanah Study Guide Plot Summary 13

find common ground in their support of his candidacy. They

Part 4
Ifemelu cheats on Curt with her upstairs neighbor. Curt is
furious and refuses to speak to her. Ginika and Aunty Uju are
dumbstruck that she would let someone like Curt get away.
Per Wambui's recommendation, Ifemelu begins an anonymous
blog about U.S. race relations from the perspective of a non-
American black person. Readership grows quickly. Dissatisfied
with her career and her life, Ifemelu quits her job and focuses
on the blog full time. She gets sponsors, then advertisers, and
then starts running diversity workshops at businesses and
colleges. Her message is different depending on who she is
talking to. On her blog, she is honest about the racial
inequalities in the United States and tells personal stories
about how race has affected her friends. At the workshops,
where the audience is primarily white, she talks about how far
the United States has come in eradicating racism. Business is
good, and after a while, Ifemelu is able to buy herself a two-
bedroom condo in Baltimore, Maryland.
Ifemelu runs into Blaine at a Blogging While Brown convention
in Washington, DC. They actually met once before on a train
before Ifemelu started dating Curt. For years, Ifemelu had
fantasized about Blaine, a good-looking African American
professor at Yale University. She had tried desperately to get
in touch with him immediately after they first met, but he had a
girlfriend at the time. He's single now. They start dating, and
Ifemelu moves into his apartment in New Haven, Connecticut,
after a year.
watch with bated breath as election day grows closer and
closer, and they celebrate his victory with their friends. Still,
Ifemelu knows she and Blaine aren't meant to be together. She
accepts a yearlong fellowship at Princeton University but
promises not to leave for New Jersey until after Obama takes
office.
In the present, Ifemelu's braids are finally finished. Aunty Uju
calls while Ifemelu is on the train platform waiting to return to
Princeton. Dike took an entire bottle of Tylenol in an attempted
suicide. He is at the hospital in intensive care. Ifemelu goes to
him.
Part 5
At home with his wife and daughter in Lagos, Obinze can think
of nothing but Ifemelu. She doesn't write back for four days,
and when she does, she doesn't say when she's coming back.
He tries to find her on Facebook to no avail and then scours
Blaine's website for clues. Despite his inclination to wait a few
days before writing back, he composes a long e-mail about his
mother's death. Ifemelu writes back within the hour. In addition
to her heartfelt condolences, she lets him know that she's
going through something difficult and won't be coming back to
Nigeria as soon as she planned. Obinze keeps writing. He
sends e-mail after e-mail about his time in England, which turns
out to be incredibly therapeutic. He was in such turmoil when
he returned that he never processed what he had been

Ifemelu and Blaine are a good match at first. She admires his through during those three years and how deportation

intellect and his commitment to social causes, and she feels affected him.

like she's a better person around him. But there are cracks in
Ifemelu finally writes back and tells him about Dike's suicide
their relationship. Many of them are caused by Shan, Blaine's
attempt. Aunty Uju thinks Ifemelu is depressed, but Ifemelu
self-centered sister who frequently calls out Ifemelu for being
doesn't really believe in depression. She doesn't know when
African, not African American. Ifemelu also feels ill at ease
she'll be in Nigeria, but she gives Obinze the link to her blog. He
around Blaine's friends, who all have a deeper understanding
is distressed that her words don't sound like the Ifemelu he
of race in the United States than Ifemelu. Ifemelu comes from a
once knew.
country in which the majority of people have dark skin. She
never even considered herself to be black until she came to
America. Her blackness doesn't define her, but Blaine's defines
him. This causes an enormous rift between the two of them,
Part 6
which is exacerbated by Ifemelu's decision not to attend a
Ifemelu refuses to leave Dike's side when he gets home from
protest organized by Blaine. They don't speak for over a week,
the hospital. She worries that it's her fault that he tried to kill
and things are tense when they finally do reconnect.
himself; then she thinks it was Aunty Uju's fault because she
Barack Obama brings Ifemelu and Blaine closer together. They only told Dike what he wasn't, not what he was. Aunty Uju

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Americanah Study Guide Plot Summary 14

insists that depression is an illness. Ifemelu isn't
convinced—she thinks it's because of Dike's experiences
growing up not-African and not-African American in the United
States.
Dike turns 17 while Ifemelu is staying with them. She takes him
to Miami for his birthday. While there, Dike tells Ifemelu she
should go to Nigeria and that he might even visit.
let him break up their family. Even his best friend tells him it's
ridiculous to divorce one woman because you're in love with
another. Meanwhile, Ifemelu tries to lessen the intensity of her
grief by staying busy with her blog. She calls Blaine and Curt
and has stilted but pleasant conversations with both and ends
up dating an ex-American immigrant named Fred, who comes
off as a show-off but is actually very nice. Ifemelu wishes she
could be in love with him.

One Sunday night, Obinze shows up at Ifemelu's door. He

Part 7 moved out of his house earlier that day and wants Ifemelu to
give them another chance. She lets him in.
Lagos is overwhelming at first. The sights and sounds are
familiar, yet strangely different. For the first few weeks, Ifemelu
stays with her friend Ranyinudo, who calls Ifemelu
"Americanah" every time she complains about something that
all Nigerians are used to, like the humidity. Ifemelu gets a job at
a women's magazine, finds her own apartment, and settles into
Nigerian life once again.

Months pass before she stirs up the courage to contact

Obinze. She tells herself it's because she wants to lose weight
before she sees him, but she's really just scared. By the time
she calls, she has quit her job and started a new blog about
Lagos. Dike has just left for America.

Obinze is in front of Ifemelu within 30 minutes of her phone

call. They meet at a bookshop, where they talk for hours. The
attraction between the two is strong, and Ifemelu can't help
wondering about Obinze's wife, who he never mentions. They
have lunch the next day, sharing a kiss. As Obinze's schedule
allows, they spend part of each day together. Ifemelu grows
increasingly frustrated about Obinze's marriage. She's not sure
what Obinze wants. She suggests they have sex, to which he
responds that their connection has never been about sex.
Within minutes, they are in Ifemelu's bed.

Obinze and Ifemelu are together every possible moment. He

doesn't spend the night—she doesn't want to get used to
waking up next to him—but they are deeply in love. He invites
her to spend the weekend in Abuja. He has a few meetings, but
then it will just be the two of them. She agrees. Days later, he
tells her he should go alone. Things are moving too fast. She
calls him a coward and tells him to go to hell.

Seven months pass. Obinze texts and calls, but Ifemelu refuses
to answer. He tells his wife he wants a divorce, but she won't
hear of it. She knows all about Ifemelu, but she's not going to

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Americanah Study Guide Plot Summary 15

Plot Diagram

Climax

11

10
12
9
Falling Action

Rising Action 8
13
7

6 14
5
15
4
Resolution
3

2
1

Introduction

9. Barack Obama is elected president.

Introduction
10. Ifemelu texts Obinze that she is moving home to Nigeria.

1. Ifemelu and Obinze begin dating in secondary school.

Climax

Rising Action 11. Dike attempts suicide.

2. The General dies. Aunty Uju moves to the United States.

3. Ifemelu moves to the United States to finish school.

Falling Action
4. The tennis coach pays Ifemelu $100 to touch her.
12. Ifemelu moves back to Lagos but does not tell Obinze.
5. Obinze pays to marry a British citizen to get citizenship.
13. Ifemelu quits her magazine job and starts a new blog.
6. Obinze is arrested and deported back to Nigeria.
14. Ifemelu and Obinze get together and then break up again.
7. Ifemelu cheats on Curt. They break up; she starts a blog.

8. Ifemelu and Blaine have a huge fight.

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Americanah Study Guide Plot Summary 16

Resolution

15. Obinze leaves his wife for Ifemelu.

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Americanah Study Guide Plot Summary 17

Timeline of Events

1992

Ifemelu and Obinze begin dating during secondary

school.

Autumn 1994

The General is killed in a plane crash. Aunty Uju and Dike

move to the United States.

September 1995

Ifemelu and Obinze go to university in Nsukka, where the

teachers are always on strike.

Summer 1997

Ifemelu emigrates to the United States to finish her

education. She stays with Aunty Uju and Dike.

Fall 1997

Ifemelu moves to Philadelphia to attend school.

Months later

Ifemelu earns $100 helping a tennis coach "relax."

Depressed, she stops talking to Obinze.

July 2000

Ifemelu meets Blaine on a train.

Months later

Ifemelu and Curt begin dating.

2002

Obinze is denied a U.S. visa four times. He immigrates to

England on a six-month visa.

Around 2003

Ifemelu cheats on Curt. They break up, and she starts a

blog about race in America.

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Americanah Study Guide Plot Summary 18

2005

Obinze is arrested moments before marrying Cleotilde

and is deported back to Nigeria.

Late 2005

Ifemelu and Blaine reconnect at a blogging conference.

They start dating.

Late 2008

Ifemelu accepts a fellowship at Princeton University.

Summer 2010

While getting her hair braided in Trenton, Ifemelu texts

Obinze that she's moving back to Nigeria.

Hours later

Dike attempts suicide.

A few months later

Ifemelu returns to Nigeria.

Months later

Ifemelu quits her job and starts a new blog about Nigeria.

A month or so later

Ifemelu and Obinze begin an affair.

Within a few weeks

Ifemelu stops speaking to Obinze because he isn't clear

about what he wants.

Seven months later

Obinze leaves his wife and shows up at Ifemelu's door.

She lets him in.

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Americanah Study Guide
c Chapter Summaries
Part 1, Chapters 1–2
Summary
Part 1, Chapter 1
Ifemelu takes the train from Princeton, New Jersey, to nearby
Trenton to get her hair braided. Until recently, she was a
professional (and anonymous) blogger on her self-created site,
Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks
(Those Formerly Known as Negroes) by a Non-American Black.
Ifemelu came to the United States 13 years ago from Nigeria
and has recently decided to return to her hometown of Lagos
after finishing a fellowship at Princeton University. Most
people, including her Aunty Uju, think she's crazy for moving
back to Nigeria.
The train ride gives Ifemelu time to ruminate about a lot of
things: the negative connotations Americans associate with the
word fat, how writing blog posts made her feel less sure of
herself, her breakup with her boyfriend Blaine, and the
whereabouts of her high school sweetheart, Obinze.
Ifemelu hasn't been to Mariama African Hair Braiding before,
but it looks like all the other African braiding salons she has
been to in the United States—hot, loud, and full of different
languages and dialects. Ifemelu tries to read the novel she
brought with her but ends up having one frustrating
conversation after another with her braider, Aisha, who is from
Senegal and doesn't like Ifemelu's natural hair. Ifemelu turns
back to her own thoughts, mostly about Blaine, who everyone
thinks is following her to Nigeria, and Obinze, who she heard
was married with a child. Even though the two haven't spoken
in years, Ifemelu pulls out her phone and e-mails Obinze to tell
him she's returning home.
Aisha can't understand why Ifemelu would want to move home,
so Ifemelu lies and says she has a boyfriend there. This makes
complete sense to Aisha, who is dating two Igbo men. Ifemelu
is Igbo too, and she tells Aisha that despite what Aisha's sister
says, Igbo people can marry non-Igbo people. As Aisha insists
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Chapter Summaries 19
Ifemelu share this information with her Igbo boyfriends, Ifemelu
imagines what a good blog post this would have made. She
would have subtitled it, "How the Pressures of Immigrant Life
Can Make You Act Crazy."
Part 1, Chapter 2
Obinze receives Ifemelu's e-mail while in the back of his Range
Rover. In it, she calls him "Ceiling," her pet name for him at
university. The last time she wrote, several years ago, she
called him by his first name. That last letter also mentioned
Blaine, who Obinze looked up on Google. Obinze hated him at
first sight.
Obinze has what seems like a perfect life—a gorgeous,
easygoing wife, Kosi; a sweet daughter; a prosperous career;
and an impressive home. Despite it all, he's not sure "whether
he liked his life because he really did" or because he's
supposed to like it.
That night, Obinze and Kosi attend a party at Chief's
compound. Chief is a "big man" with lots of money and
connections. Several years ago, he gave a struggling Obinze a
job doing "evaluation consulting." Obinze's job is to purchase
severely undervalued properties at an even lower cost, knock
them down, and then build new and very expensive buildings in
their place. Obinze lives in fear that Chief will ask him to repay
the original favor by doing something terrible, such as
committing murder.
The party is full of rich and powerful Lagosians. Obinze
mistakenly interjects his opinion into a conversation about
where his daughter, Buchi, will go to primary school,
contradicting the advice of two society matrons, one of whom
advocates for French schooling and the other, British. Kosi,
who "always chose peace over truth," says she agrees with
Obinze—they should also look at some schools that teach the
Nigerian curriculum. Obinze feels guilty and promises they will
look at all the options together.
After greeting Chief, Obinze wanders through the rest of the
party, avoiding a man who has been trying to get him involved
in a "shady land deal" and briefly conversing with a young
journalist who, "in the manner of the true Lagosian ... was
always hustling." Obinze is eager to go home so he can
respond to Ifemelu's e-mail. He hopes she has broken up with
her African American boyfriend, although he knows "she was ...
the kind of woman who would make a man easily uproot his
Americanah Study Guide
life."
At home, the house girl, Marie, brings Obinze his dinner in his
study. Kosi fired the last house girl before she even started
working for them—she searched the girl's bag when she
entered the house, found a pack of condoms, and accused her
of being a prostitute. The girl said her former employer used to
force her to have sex with him, but Kosi fired her anyway.
When Marie leaves the room, Obinze composes an e-mail to
Ifemelu. Moments later, he can't resist checking to see if she
has replied.
Analysis
Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is known for shaping
fictional stories with political themes. Americanah is no
different. The story deals with race, identity, wealth and status,
and the immigrant experience. But at its core, Americanah is
primarily a love story. This was always Adichie's intent. Her first
two novels, Purple Hibiscus (2003) and Half of a Yellow Sun
(2006), were fictionalized accounts of political strife and war in
Nigeria. According to a 2018 article in the New Yorker, when
Adichie was ready to begin work on her third novel, she "no
longer felt that she must be a ... literary daughter responsible
for her country's history." She could write what she wanted,
and what she wanted was a romance.
The structure of Part 1 emphasizes the importance of Ifemelu's
and Obinze's relationship. The first chapter is told from
Ifemelu's point of view; the second is told from Obinze's. This
helps the reader understand that affection still exists between
Ifemelu and Obinze, despite the 13 years they spent apart.
Adichie positions them as equals who are drifting back
together after separation.
Chapter 1 also introduces two other major themes of
Americanah: race in the United States, and cultural identity.
Adichie addresses race directly through conversations Ifemelu
has with her friends, lovers, and family members, as well as
through her blog posts, which are sprinkled throughout the
book out of chronological order. The blog's name, Raceteenth,
is most likely a nod to Juneteenth, a holiday observed in the
United States by many African Americans and other groups as
the day slavery officially ended. As the story goes, on June 19,
1865, soldiers in Galveston, Texas, learned that the Civil War
was over and all slaves were freed. The date later became
known as Juneteeth.
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Chapter Summaries 20
In the United States, silky-straight, flowing hair is viewed as
more professional and "classy" than curly, kinky, or voluminous
hair. These beauty standards are tied directly to race relations
and divisions—white women's hair texture more closely
resembles the "standard," while black women's hair is the
"deviation." In other parts of the world, particularly where black
people form the majority, it is common practice for black
women to style their hair in long-lasting braids, twists, or
dreadlocks for both style and to maintain the health of the hair.
But in places with white majorities—or where white European
culture has taken root—many black women "relax" their hair to
make it silky and straight. Chemicals and heat are generally
required to achieve this look, both of which can be incredibly
painful and can cause permanent damage.
Ifemelu's trip to Trenton, New Jersey, to get her hair braided
speaks volumes about where she is and who she is. Back
home in Nigeria, where the population is almost entirely black,
hair braiders were easy to find. But when Americanah opens,
Ifemelu is living in Princeton, New Jersey. Because she has to
take a train to find a salon that specializes in braids, the reader
can infer that Princeton doesn't have a very large black
population. The reader can also infer that even though Ifemelu
is living in a mostly white city and has lived in the United States
for over a dozen years, she doesn't conform to white beauty
standards. She doesn't even conform to the beauty standards
of the women working in the salon, all of whom have emigrated
from a variety of African nations. Ifemelu's stylist, Aisha, is
annoyed that Ifemelu doesn't relax her hair—she says it's too
hard to comb. Ifemelu's choice to leave her hair "the way God
made it" doesn't portray her as more Nigerian than American
or more American than Nigerian, but as someone who has no
interest in conforming to standards set by any society.
Halfway around the world, Obinze has settled into a life of
conformity. He has the big house, the beautiful wife, and the
high-paying job, but he's deeply unsatisfied. "His mind had not
changed at the same pace as his life," the narrator observes.
Obinze's wealth happened quickly, and he wears it like a bad
suit. He isn't the type of person to find contentment in money,
status, and comfort. He finds it in relationships, and his
relationship with Kosi isn't satisfying. She's beautiful and kind,
but she doesn't challenge him or engage him the way Ifemelu
used to. Her only priority is "to make sure the conditions of
their life remained the same." This is why she is so concerned
about the women she employs in her household. She doesn't
want scandal, and she doesn't want her husband to be
tempted to cheat.
Americanah Study Guide
Yet, Obinze is tempted—not by Marie, but by Ifemelu. He has
never stopped loving her, as he demonstrates by his jealous
Googling of Ifemelu's boyfriend and his impatience while
awaiting her reply. Obinze is a good man, but he isn't perfect.
He would risk everything for Ifemelu, even his marriage. Beauty
and youth would never seduce him away from his familial
responsibilities, but intelligence, shared values, and deep and
long-standing mutual affection might.
Part 2, Chapters 3–4
Summary
Part 2, Chapter 3
At the salon, the braiders give Ifemelu a hard time about eating
granola bars. "That not food!" one of them says. Ifemelu
assures them she's fine. After arranging for one of her
boyfriends to stop by the salon, Aisha double-checks that
Ifemelu can speak Igbo. Ifemelu is offended and becomes even
more upset when Aisha says her hair is too "hard."
When Ifemelu was 10, her mother chopped off her own long,
glossy hair, left the Catholic church, and joined a revivalist
congregation. She became obsessed with God and salvation,
going so far as to starve herself in the name of the Lord. After
a "vision" on Easter Sunday, she switched to a new church,
then weeks later, to yet another. The one that finally stuck was
Guiding Assembly, which had a wealthy congregation and
spread messages of hope. Ten-year-old Ifemelu dutifully rose
early every morning to pray with her mother, who always made
sure to pray for The General, the married man that she claimed
was Aunty Uju's mentor. Everyone else knew he was much
more than that.
Ifemelu's father was fired from his government job because he
refused to refer to his boss as "Mummy." As the months
passed, the family fell behind on rent, and her father became
listless and depressed. Although he wanted to, he never went
to college. To make up for it, he used formal English to sound
smarter than he really was. As she got older, Ifemelu realized
his manner of speaking was "his shield against insecurity."
On one Sunday morning just hours after the landlord
demanded rent, Ifemelu's mother made her attend Sunday
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Chapter Summaries 21
Work at the church. It was led by Sister Ibinabo, "the savior of
young females." Ifemelu didn't like her, nor did she like the idea
of making paper flower garlands for Chief Omenka to wear
next Sunday. "Why should I make decorations for a thief?" she
asked Sister Ibinabo, whose refusal to see things as they really
were reminded Ifemelu of her mother. Ifemelu was sent home
early.
Ifemelu's parents were angry with her and beseeched Aunty
Uju to talk some sense into her. Ifemelu is incredibly close to
her aunt, who is 10 years her senior. Uju reminded Ifemelu that
she doesn't have to say everything that pops into her mind.
Part 2, Chapter 4
Obinze transfers into Ifemelu's secondary school and
immediately takes up with the "Big Guys," who mostly come
from wealthy families. The most popular (and wealthiest) of the
guys, Kayode, decides that Obinze and Ginika, who is always
voted the "Prettiest Girl" in their class, should date. He
introduces them at a party, but Obinze is much more interested
in Ifemelu. Obinze and Ifemelu tease each other all night, and
when Ifemelu says his friends will be mad at him for not
chasing Ginika, Obinze replies, "I'm chasing you." They talk
about books, religion, and their upbringing. Being with him
makes Ifemelu like herself. They kiss. Weeks later, they both
admit they are in love. Obinze joins the debate club to be with
Ifemelu, and she joins the sports club to watch him play. She
likes that he wears "their relationship so boldly, like a brightly
colored shirt." But there are times when she feels like she's too
happy. She gets restless, snaps at Obinze, and feels like
something inside her is trying to escape.
Analysis
Ifemelu and Obinze come from very different
backgrounds—her family is relatively uneducated and lower-
middle class, while his mother is a university professor—but the
two of them make an instant connection at Kayode's party. As
in his later relationship with Kosi, Obinze would rather be with
the interesting and vivacious girl rather than the conventionally
beautiful one. This is a new experience for Ifemelu, who has
never been chased by a boy before. Like her friends, she can't
figure out why Obinze would prefer her over light-skinned
Ginika. Like many writers before her, Adichie is suggesting that
personality and attitude are just as important in romantic
Americanah Study Guide
attraction as physical appearance.
Ifemelu and Obinze connect on many levels. They both love to
read, and they share many of the same morals and values. In
Part 1, Chapter 2, Obinze is ashamed of his association with
Chief, who isn't exactly an honest businessman. In Part 2,
Chapter 3, Ifemelu refuses to make garlands for a man that
she thinks is dishonest. She tells Sister Ibinabo that Chief
Omenka is "a 419." This is a reference to Article 419 of
Nigeria's criminal code, which is about fraud. Ifemelu is implying
that the money Omenka gives to the church has been earned
dishonestly. "Why should we pretend that this hall was not built
with dirty money?" she asks. She would rather face the wrath
of her mother and Sister Ibinabo than pretend the actions of
Omenka and the other 419 men are okay. Honor and honesty
are more important to Ifemelu than getting along with others.
Ifemelu is a realist. She doesn't hide who she is, how she feels,
or what she believes in. She's truthful to a fault. Her mother
and Sister Ibinabo are on the other end of the spectrum. As the
narrator notes in Part 2, Chapter 3, they don't see things as
they really are, but the way they think they should be. They are
idealists who use their religion to make excuses for immoral
people and disappointing situations. For example, everyone
knows that Aunty Uju is dating The General, who is married, yet
Ifemelu's mother insists that the relationship is a professional
one. Even though she considers herself a devout Christian,
Ifemelu's mother uses her religion to turn a blind eye to
corruption and immorality. It is not a coincidence that Ifemelu's
decreasing interest in religion coincides with her mother's
increasing zealotry.
Aunty Uju makes her first real appearance in Part 2, Chapter 3.
Of Americanah's main characters, Uju goes through the
greatest transformation over the course of the novel. When the
reader first meets her, she is the fun aunt who makes clothes
for Ifemelu and teaches her about skin care and sex. She is
more of a mother to Ifemelu than Ifemelu's own mother has
ever been. For the most part, Uju is a realist like her niece.
There's only one area in which she veers into idealism: love. As
seen in future chapters, Aunty Uju's relationship with The
General is the one thing she idealizes. However, the
consequences of this are grave.
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 22
Part 2, Chapters 5–6
Summary
Part 2, Chapter 5
Ifemelu feels bad that Obinze chose her over Ginika, so she's
slightly relieved when Ginika announces that she and her family
are moving to the United States. Ifemelu's friends and the Big
Guys congratulate Ginika, who isn't very happy about going.
Everyone compares the passports they have—American is
best, but British is pretty good, too—and where they have
traveled. Like she does so many times with her friends, Ifemelu
feels distant and different. Her parents don't have passports.
Their house doesn't even have a phone. At times like these,
she worries Obinze will realize he made a mistake and turn to
someone like Ginika instead, causing "this joy, this fragile,
glimmering thing between them" to disappear.
Obinze's mother invites Ifemelu over for lunch. Ifemelu is
terrified by the prospect—she hasn't even told her parents she
has a boyfriend. "What sort of mother in her right mind asked
her son's girlfriend to visit?" Ifemelu asks herself. In Lagos,
coupled teenagers do things together outside the house, not
with each other's families. Ifemelu confides her fears to Aunty
Uju, who tells her to just be herself. Ifemelu has no idea what
this means.
Obinze's mother is "pleasant and direct, even warm, but there
was a privacy about her." Astounded by the honest and close
relationship Obinze has with his mother, Ifemelu finds herself
spending more and more time in their home. She sides with
Obinze's mother when Obinze starts waxing poetic about
America, and Obinze's mother gives Ifemelu advice, even about
sex. She tells Ifemelu it is up to her to make sure she and
Obinze wait until they are older and more responsible. "Women
are more sensible than men, and you will have to be the
sensible one," she says. Ifemelu can't believe she's talking
about sex with her boyfriend's mother, nor that she promises
to tell her when they want to start.
Part 2, Chapter 6
Ifemelu is awed by Aunty Uju's new life. Thanks to The General,
Americanah Study Guide
Aunty Uju lives in a beautiful air-conditioned home and has a
driver, a gardener, a cleaner, and a maid at her beck and call.
She has the best clothes, the best furnishings, and even the
best weaves in her hair. Yet, for her part, Aunty Uju is "more
consumed by The General himself than by her new wealth."
She spends her weeknights after work with him and then
lounges alone on the weekends while he goes home to his wife
and children.
Ifemelu tries to convince her parents to let her live at Aunty
Uju's house during the week. Her mother is all for it—it is closer
to school and Aunty Uju has reliable electricity, so Ifemelu
wouldn't have to study by kerosene lamp—but her father
refuses. Although he sulks when Aunty Uju brings gifts for the
family and would never ask for help himself, Ifemelu's father
doesn't decline help when it is offered. It is Aunty Uju, not
Ifemelu's father, who pays two years' worth of rent so Ifemelu's
family can keep their home.
Ifemelu is surprised that Aunty Uju asked The General for the
rent money and is even more shocked to learn that Aunty Uju
doesn't have any money of her own. Uju has never received a
paycheck from her job, which was essentially created for her
because of The General. He pays for everything—the house,
the servants, her clothing, etc.—and only gives her enough
cash for incidentals, such as tipping service people. Aunty Uju
swears she doesn't mind this as she's more attracted to his
power than his money, but she also assures Ifemelu that she
will change him.
Aunty Uju becomes pregnant. She promises Ifemelu and her
parents that "The General is a responsible man. He will take
care of his child." He's very attentive during the pregnancy and
arranges for the baby, who Aunty Uju names Dike, to be born in
the United States so he will have U.S. citizenship. But just a
week after Dike's extravagant first birthday party, The General
dies in a military plane crash. Five of The General's relatives
immediately show up at Aunty Uju's gate, threatening her and
demanding she leave the premises. Everything she owns is in
The General's name and she has no money of her own. Per the
advice of two friends, Aunty Uju and Dike flee to the United
States.
Analysis
The relationship Ifemelu has with Obinze is dramatically
different from the one Aunty Uju has with The General.
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Chapter Summaries 23
Although Uju would probably consider herself an independent
woman and a feminist, she is completely reliant on The
General. The reader gets the sense that he wants it this way.
Aunty Uju is smart and attractive. The General knows she
could have her choice of younger men with better
personalities, so he tethers her with the only commodities he
has—money and power. By taking away her earning potential
and only doling out a few dollars here and there, The General
traps Uju into staying with him (and sets her up for financial
and social ruin after his death). Uju doesn't see it this way,
however. She is blinded by her love for The General. Like
Ifemelu, whose love for Obinze boosts her love for herself,
Aunty Uju's self-esteem is also boosted by The General's love.
She is no longer a simple village girl "so parochial she kept
touching the walls," but a cosmopolitan woman of means. Uju
thinks more of herself simply because The General thinks so
much of her. This—more than the money—is why she stays.
Ifemelu and Obinze's relationship has a far more equal balance
of power. Although Ifemelu often finds herself in awe of her
boyfriend, he is equally in awe of her. It is actually Obinze's
mother who upsets the balance of power by putting Ifemelu in
charge of the teens' sexual relationship. Once this happens,
Ifemelu has slightly more power over the trajectory of their
relationship than Obinze, but it is never to the imbalanced
extent of Uju's relationship with The General.
Even though they approach their relationship as equals and
share many of the same values, Ifemelu and Obinze come from
wildly different backgrounds. Most of the students at their
secondary school come from families with money, but Ifemelu
doesn't. Because of this, she always feels "sheathed in a
translucent haze of difference" around her classmates. Even
when her friends and the Big Guys are together, she feels
separate from the group. Obinze, who is the "new boy" in
school, immediately fits in because of his mother's esteemed
profession and his intriguing "air of calm and inwardness." He
joins the group effortlessly and doesn't think twice about his
position in it.
Ifemelu and Obinze also differ in the way they relate to their
parents. Ifemelu is not particularly close to her mother and
father. They don't ask about her life, and she doesn't offer any
information. Conversely, Obinze and his mother are extremely
close. This is a completely foreign dynamic to Ifemelu, but it is
also one she likes a lot. Before long, Obinze's house feels more
like a home than her parents' apartment does, and Obinze's
mother becomes more of a trusted adult than Ifemelu's own
Americanah Study Guide
parents. Unlike Ifemelu's mother and father, who are focused
on raising their daughter to be a good Nigerian, Obinze's
mother is raising her son to be an intelligent and independent
citizen of the world. She wants more for him than Nigeria has
to offer.
Obinze, too, wants more than a lifetime spent in Nigeria. His
obsession with the United States is all-encompassing. To him,
America represents personal and intellectual freedom, as well
as opportunities for success and happiness beyond what
Nigeria has to offer. His interest in the United States borders
on the snobbish: he only reads American authors and listens to
a lot of American music. His devotion to American culture
shapes not only his dreams of the future but how he views his
homeland, which seems small and unsophisticated compared
to the fictional representations he consumes at every
opportunity.
Obinze isn't the only one who wants to leave Nigeria. Traveling
abroad, both for vacation and for good, are frequent topics of
conversation among his and Ifemelu's friends. Those who have
passports boast about them, and those who don't are jealous.
It seems like everyone wants to leave Nigeria. Adichie
suggests that this isn't really the case. Once leaving Nigeria
becomes a reality, as it does for Ginika, the thought of living
elsewhere seems scary and overwhelming. There is comfort in
one's home, even when it seems small and uninteresting.
Part 2, Chapters 7–8
Summary
Part 2, Chapter 7
Ifemelu and Obinze apply to university in Ibadan and Lagos, but
before they can send in their forms, Obinze's mother collapses
at work. Although Obinze doesn't really want to go back to his
hometown of Nsukka, he decides its university will be his first
choice so he can be close to his mother, whose sabbatical in
Lagos is ending. Ifemelu changes her applications so they can
be together.
In Nsukka, Obinze lives in the boys' quarters at home and
Ifemelu lives in a hostel, where she becomes popular with the
older boys. She is intrigued by Odein, an activist in the
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Chapter Summaries 24
students' union. Ifemelu and Obinze join him at the
demonstration against the university, after which Obinze's
mother tells them that "the military is the enemy." She and the
other professors haven't been paid in months. Soon after, the
lecturers go on strike. The hostel closes, and Ifemelu has to
return home to Lagos.
Obinze comes to visit. They fight about Odein, who once drove
Ifemelu home after a party. Ifemelu admits she's "curious about
him" but that nothing will ever happen. Obinze says he isn't
ever curious about other girls. When the strike ends and
Ifemelu returns to Nsukka, she and Obinze are "tentative with
each other for the first few days."
Ifemelu and Obinze eventually have sex. Ifemelu is surprised
there isn't more ceremony to it; afterward, she knows she can't
tell his mother as she promised. "The unplannedness of it all
had left her a little shaken," the narrator says. Ifemelu is even
more shaken a week later when she wakes up to nausea and
sharp pain in her side. Convinced she is pregnant, she calls
Aunty Uju, who is in the United States. Under Uju's instruction,
Ifemelu goes to a doctor in town to get a pregnancy test. She's
not pregnant, but she throws up again that night. Obinze's
mother takes her to see another doctor. On the way there,
Ifemelu confesses she and Obinze had sex.
It turns out that Ifemelu's appendix is inflamed. She has
surgery the next day. Her parents come to Nsukka and stay in
Obinze's house. After they leave, Obinze's mother chastises
both teenagers for not using a condom. Obinze responds by
saying, "I'm not a small boy!" and leaves the room.
Part 2, Chapter 8
The university strikes happen more frequently, and many of
Ifemelu and Obinze's friends apply for visas so they can go to
school overseas. Meanwhile, Aunty Uju's calls become fewer
and further between. She's been in the United States for four
years but still isn't qualified to practice medicine there. She
also works three jobs to make ends meet. When she finally
does call, she suggests that Ifemelu attend college in the
United States. She can live with Uju and help her take care of
Dike.
Ifemelu doesn't think much of the offer, but Obinze does. He
tells her to take the SATs and apply for scholarships. Ifemelu
trusts Obinze, who knows everything about America, and
decides to go for it. She is accepted to a school in Philadelphia,
Americanah Study Guide
where Ginika lives, and even gets a partial scholarship. Her visa
is secured, and she distributes her most prized possessions
among her friends.
Ifemelu doesn't want to go without Obinze, but he insists he will
finish university in Nigeria and then join her for graduate
school. Before she leaves their house for the last time,
Obinze's mother says, "And make sure you and Obinze have a
plan. Have a plan." Those words comfort her years later, long
after she and Obinze have stopped speaking.
Analysis
Part 2, Chapter 7, shows the strength of Obinze and Ifemelu's
love for each other and the weaknesses that threaten to divide
them. They have been dating for a few years by the time they
apply to university, and neither one considers applying to a
school the other doesn't want to attend. When Obinze
suddenly changes his plans and applies to the one school they
weren't considering at all so he would be close to his mother,
Ifemelu changes her plans without a second thought. Their
relationship is not one of convenience or simple physical
attraction—they are bound together by something much
deeper. Ifemelu's willingness to move to Nsukka, which is
seven hours away from her own family in Lagos, is an indicator
of just how close she feels to Obinze and his mother. She and
Obinze aren't legally married, but their sense of duty and
responsibility to each other mirrors that of those who have
taken their marital vows.
Obinze intends on spending the rest of his life with Ifemelu.
There is no question in his mind that she is the right one for
him. Ifemelu isn't as certain. She loves Obinze and she often
envisions their future together, but she's also curious about
what else is out there. Part of this curiosity may stem from her
own feelings of inadequacy and insecurity. If Obinze suddenly
decided Ifemelu wasn't good enough for him (which she often
worries), would anyone else deem her worthy of their
attention?
Obinze and Ifemelu's first time having sex doesn't go as
Ifemelu imagined. It happens after Obinze learns Ifemelu had
been hanging out with Odein in Lagos. Perhaps Obinze wanted
to assure Ifemelu or himself of how suited they are to each
other, or maybe he was just tired of waiting. In either case,
Ifemelu isn't mentally or physically prepared for intercourse.
Neither of them has a condom, and the whole thing just doesn't
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Chapter Summaries 25
seem right. Ifemelu is immediately ashamed not of what they
have done but that it didn't happen the way Obinze's mother
instructed them. She placed Ifemelu in charge of the couple's
sexual health, a duty Ifemelu feels like she neglected. Even
though she is in university, she doesn't feel like she's ready for
the responsibilities that come with sexual activity and
adulthood. Obinze feels like he's ready, but his reaction to his
mother's admonishment at the end of Chapter 7 indicates he is
not as grown up as he thinks.
Chapter 8 is about Ifemelu's somewhat hasty decision to
continue her schooling in the United States. Prior to meeting
Obinze, she would never have considered moving to the United
States; had Aunty Uju not suggested it, she probably wouldn't
have thought of it as a solution to the problem of completing
her education. Since the 1980s, Nigerian university teachers'
unions have been at odds with the Nigerian government. Even
though the number of university students has increased
steadily since the 1980s, government funding for universities
remained stagnant and, in many cases, decreased. In the late
1990s, when Ifemelu and Obinze were at university in Nsukka,
it was common for teachers' unions to stage local and national
strikes as a means of demanding more government funding
and support. Schools and the businesses they supported, such
as Ifemelu's hostel, closed down for weeks and sometimes
months at a time. This was incredibly difficult not only for
professors and business owners but also for the students
trying to complete their education. Those with the means to do
so often left Nigeria in search of better and more consistent
education. Ifemelu chooses to go to the United States in part
because of Obinze's obsession with it (and his promise that
they will be reunited there) but also because she has a small
support system already there, made up of Aunty Uju and
Ginika. She won't have to navigate this new and unfamiliar land
alone.
Part 2, Chapters 9–10
Summary
Part 2, Chapter 9
In the present, Aisha takes a break from braiding Ifemelu's hair
to eat dinner. Ifemelu knows the other hairstylists will talk
Americanah Study Guide
about her and laugh "with derision, but only a mild derision"
after she leaves. "She was still their African sister, even if she
had briefly lost her way," the narrator says.
The narrative switches back to the past, this time to Ifemelu's
first summer in the United States. She first lives in Brooklyn
with Aunty Uju and Dike, who is now in first grade. Aunty Uju
works three jobs and studies as much as she can, so Ifemelu
takes care of Dike. Everything in America seems strange and
new: the dingy signs and buildings, the way Aunty Uju now
pronounces her name "you-joo" instead of "oo-joo" because
that's how Americans say it. Even the way Americans eat
sandwiches for lunch is confusing.
Aunty Uju has changed. She looks worn and tired all the time.
At the grocery store, she buys not what she needs, but what is
on sale. When white people are around she changes her
accent and becomes extremely polite, but when it is just her,
Ifemelu, and Dike, she quickly loses her temper. She also
forbids Ifemelu from speaking Igbo to Dike. "This is America.
It's different," she tries to explain to Ifemelu.
Aunty Uju finally admits that she failed her last exam right
before Ifemelu arrived. "I thought by now things would be
better for me and Dike," she says. Ifemelu tries to comfort her,
but her words sound hollow. Ifemelu realizes things have been
bad for her aunt for a while. She's nothing like the carefree
woman Ifemelu knew in Lagos.
Part 2, Chapter 10
Ifemelu spends her first summer in the United States waiting
for "the real America," the one shown on TV commercials. She
and Aunty Uju's neighbor, Jane, spend the afternoons watching
Dike and Jane's children ride their bikes up and down the
street. Jane and her husband, Marlon, are from Grenada. They
send their daughter, Elizabeth, to a private school and plan on
moving to the suburbs so both she and her little brother,
Junior, can receive a better education. "Otherwise she will start
behaving like these black Americans," Jane says. Ifemelu
doesn't understand what she means.
Ifemelu is surprised that Dike didn't learn division in first grade.
She spends hours teaching him math that summer. Missing
home, she comforts herself with food, both new (McDonald's
hamburgers) and familiar (ice cream, bananas with nuts). She
writes long letters to Obinze and sometimes calls, but she
spends most of her evenings watching TV. The evening news
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Chapter Summaries 26
terrifies her, but Aunty Uju just laughs. "Do you know how much
crime happens in Nigeria?" she asks.
Analysis
The United States isn't anything like Ifemelu imagined. Movie
and books portray the nation as a glistening beacon of hope
and beauty, but in reality, Ifemelu finds it dingy, confusing, and
overwhelming. The language is the same but everything
else—education, employment, crime—is different, and in many
cases, worse than in Nigeria. This goes against everything
Ifemelu ever heard about the United States from Obinze and
their secondary-school friends. Hunkered down in front of the
TV in Brooklyn during that first summer, she fears she has
made a terrible mistake.
Ifemelu tries to maintain a positive attitude and hopes that the
"real America" exists beyond the borders of New York City.
Aunty Uju, who has lived in the United States for four years,
lost this sense of naive optimism four years ago. Her life in the
United States is vastly different—and arguably worse—than her
life in Nigeria. Like many immigrants with advanced degrees,
she isn't able to practice medicine in America yet. And with no
savings of her own, she has to work multiple jobs to support
herself and Dike while trying to pass her medical certification
exams. The years of fruitless effort have taken their toll. Her
hair is ragged and her skin no longer glows. Frustrated and
irritable all the time, she has lost her sense of humor and fun.
"America had subdued her," the narrator says.
Living in the United States has also changed the way Uju looks
at her son and herself in terms of their heritage and
appearance. Before she came to the United States, Uju never
considered herself to be black. She never thought about race
at all. There was really no need to, as the majority of Nigerians
have dark-colored skin. Once in the United States, however,
Aunty Uju becomes acutely aware of the negative stereotypes
of black people and changes her behavior so as not to be
lumped together with African Americans. She speaks
differently, apologizes often, and even changes the
pronunciation of her name to better accommodate the white
American tongue.
Aunty Uju also insists that her son be raised as an American
and not as an African living in America. She knows the only
way Dike will thrive in the United States is if he speaks and
behaves as if he were born there. American society expects
Americanah Study Guide
assimilation from its immigrants—those who don't conform to
the status quo live on the fringes of society and are relegated
to low-paying, menial work. Uju desperately wants Dike to fit in,
which is why she doesn't allow Ifemelu to speak Igbo in front of
him. It's important to note that Uju wants Dike to grow up like
an upper-middle-class white American, not the stereotype of a
lower-class African American. Her neighbor, Jane, who is also
an immigrant, voices the same concern. Back home in Nigeria,
race meant absolutely nothing. Here, it is everything. Even
people from other countries who look like African Americans
accept the cultural negative perceptions of them. None of this
makes any sense to Ifemelu, whose American experience will
be defined by her investigations into how American culture
builds and maintains racial stereotypes.
Part 2, Chapters 11–12
Summary
Part 2, Chapter 11
Aunty Uju introduces Ifemelu and Dike to her boyfriend,
Bartholomew. Bartholomew came to the United States from
Nigeria 30 years ago and doesn't go back very often. He's self-
important, vocally disdains American customs and Nigerian
women in person and on the Internet, and is completely
unworthy of Uju, who cooks for him and acts as if she's
auditioning to be his wife. Uju wants another child. When
Ifemelu points out that "a man like him" would never even have
the courage to talk to Uju back in Nigeria, Uju retorts that
they're not in Nigeria anymore.
Aunty Uju receives word that she passed her medical licensing
exam. Ifemelu doesn't understand why Uju has to take out her
braids and relax her hair before going to job interviews. "You
are in a country that is not your own," Uju reminds Ifemelu.
"You do what you have to do if you want to succeed." Ifemelu
feels like Aunty Uju "deliberately left behind something of
herself, something essential," when she came to the United
States.
Ifemelu moves to Philadelphia at the end of the summer. Aunty
Uju has given her the Social Security card and driver's license
of someone named Ngozi Okonkwo, which Ifemelu will use to
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 27
get a job. Ifemelu points out she looks nothing like the woman
in the picture. That's okay, Aunty Uju says, "all of us look alike
to white people."
Part 2, Chapter 12
Ginika picks up Ifemelu at the Philadelphia bus station. She is
so much thinner than when she lived in Nigeria, and she
confides to Ifemelu that the other kids in her high school called
her "Pork" when she first arrived. Through Ginika, Ifemelu
begins to learn American slang, beauty standards, social
rituals, and the concept of mental illness. Ginika sounds more
American than Nigerian, and Ifemelu doesn't have the heart to
tell her nobody uses the Nigerian slang she inserts into their
conversations.
It is Ginika who first clues in Ifemelu to the particulars of race
in America. "There's some [problems] you'll get from white
people in this country that I won't get," she says, meaning that
Ifemelu's dark skin is more of a hindrance than Ginika's light
skin. Ginika's mother is white and her father is black, which she
never really thought much about until she came to the United
States. "I didn't know I was even supposed to have issues until I
came to America," she says.
Ginika's apartment is located too far away from campus for
Ifemelu to stay there. Just as Ifemelu is about to rent a shabby,
mouse-infested apartment, she hears about a room for rent
with three other college students, Jackie, Elena, and Allison. It's
in a terrible part of town and the carpet is moldy, but Ifemelu
takes it.
Ifemelu is mystified by her three new roommates and their
American customs. Tipping at restaurants, going bowling,
inviting people to go out for dinner and then not paying for
them, washing without a sponge, and dressing down for parties
are all foreign to her. Likewise, some of the things she does,
like showing no interest in Elena's dog, are foreign to them.
Perhaps strangest of all is the way people go out of their way
to avoid talking about the color of a person's skin. "This is
America. You're supposed to pretend that you don't notice
certain things," Ginika says.
Analysis
Ifemelu is quickly learning the rules of assimilation in the United
Americanah Study Guide
States, but she doesn't always agree with them. Aunty Uju's
decision to take out her braids and relax her hair before job
interviews is a good example. Ifemelu thinks it's crazy that
"there are no doctors with braided hair in America," but Uju just
shrugs it off. She's willing to do anything to fit in so she can
finally succeed, even if it means adopting nonsensical cultural
standards. Although Ifemelu is curious about American culture,
she isn't yet willing to abandon the familiar practices of home,
even things as little as washing with a sponge. She's
determined to maintain her sense of self as long as she can.
Aunty Uju no longer cares about who she was in Nigeria. That
woman disappeared when The General died. Now she is just
trying to get by in a country that has become no less confusing
or hostile with the passage of time. From her point of view, the
best way to do this is to find a partner who can share the
duties of parenthood and help bring in money. Ifemelu is
shocked that Uju would even be interested in Bartholomew,
who is considerably older than Uju and has no visible
redeeming qualities. But Uju isn't looking for love. She had that
before with The General and it only led to heartache and social
and financial ruin. Still, Ifemelu is disappointed that her aunt
"settled merely for what was familiar," especially since Uju
would never have played the role of dutiful, subservient wife if
she had stayed in Nigeria.
Bartholomew is an interesting character. He doesn't appear
much in Americanah, but he represents an important archetype
in immigrant life. Even though he has lived in the United States
for 30 years and rarely gets the chance to go home, he
considers himself an expert on all things Nigeria.
Ginika is the opposite of Bartholomew. Because she came to
America "with the flexibility and fluidness of youth, the cultural
cues had seeped into her skin." She understands everything
that confuses Ifemelu, from bowling to the faux pas of double-
dipping. Her speech patterns and slang are different, and she
has accepted American attitudes and beliefs as her own. It is
Ginika who introduces the concepts of mental illness and
American beauty standards to Ifemelu. Mental illness, including
depression and anorexia, is a motif that runs through
Americanah. Although knowledge and treatment of it are
widespread in the United States, it's somewhat of a foreign
concept in Nigeria. Ginika's attitude about her struggles with
body image when she first came to the United States suggests
that she believes in the concept of mental illness, which more
closely aligns her with American culture instead of Nigerian
culture.
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 28
Ginika also helps Ifemelu get a better understanding of race in
the United States, particularly about the way people react to
different skin tones and the language people use to describe
their heritage. As in Nigeria, American culture prizes light skin
over dark skin. Ginika has light skin, and it's likely that she
could be mistaken for a race other than black. However,
Ifemelu doesn't have this luxury. Ginika's nonchalant
description of race in America is also a warning that Ifemelu
may have a harder time fitting into American society than her
friend. This isn't a new concept for Ifemelu—in her experience,
men always found "half-caste" girls like Ginika more
attractive—but the idea that she should feel insecure about the
color of her skin is. She didn't realize her relocation to the
United States would bring with it a whole new set of
insecurities about things she cannot change.
Part 2, Chapters 13–14
Summary
Part 2, Chapter 13
Ifemelu applies for an endless number of jobs—waitress, host,
bartender, cashier, and even home health aide. She forgets her
fake name—the one that matches the borrowed Social
Security card—during her first interview and vows never to do
that again. Still, her meager bank account continues to dwindle.
She takes comfort in Obinze's calm, supportive voice,
especially when she receives her tuition bill. "With him, she
could feel whatever she felt" and forgo the cheery voice she
feigned when speaking on the phone to her parents. Phone
calls to Dike cheer her, too, as does her first piece of junk mail.
The credit card preapproval letter makes her feel "a little less
invisible, a little more present. Somebody knew her."
Part 2, Chapter 14
Ifemelu's first semester at school gets off to a rough start. The
woman in charge of registration, Cristina Tomas, treats Ifemelu
as if she doesn't speak English, which makes Ifemelu feel very
small. Because of this, Ifemelu begins practicing her American
accent.
Americanah Study Guide
Ifemelu wants to learn everything about America and its
culture. Obinze suggests that she read some books written by
American authors. She starts with James Baldwin's The Fire
Next Time. This sparks something within her, and soon she is
spending every free moment in the library, reading everything
she can. She finally understands why Obinze is so drawn to
American literature, and their relationship takes on "a new
intimacy" as they discuss what she has read. Every book brings
her closer to understanding America's mythologies and cultural
touchstones.
Although easy, her classes also shed light on areas of
American culture Ifemelu finds confusing. In one class, the
teacher shows a clip of the movie Roots, which Ifemelu once
watched with Obinze and his mother. Afterward, a strident
voice that belongs to an African woman questions why the
word nigger was bleeped out. She and Ifemelu don't think the
word is always hurtful but the two African American girls in the
class don't think it should ever be used. One of them blames
Africans for the transcontinental slave trade, but the other,
whose name is Wambui, corrects her.
Wambui introduces Ifemelu to the African Students
Association (ASA). For the first time since she arrived in the
United States, Ifemelu finds a group that makes her feel at
home. Her new friends help her look for jobs and teach her and
the other African freshmen the differences between Africa and
the United States. Ifemelu wonders whether Dike will join an
ASA in college or if he will join a Black Student Union (BSU)
instead. He might get to choose, but it's more likely that "what
he was would be chosen for him," the narrator says.
Aunty Uju calls. She and Dike are moving to Massachusetts
because Dike got caught showing his "private parts" to a girl at
school. Uju blames his day care. "All those wild children with no
home training," she says. They're moving to the town where
Bartholomew lives.
Analysis
Chapters 13 and 14 focus on the harsh realities of immigrant
life in the United States. Ifemelu can't get a job using her own
name because foreign visitors who come to the United States
on student visas aren't allowed to work. That's why she has to
"borrow" someone else's identity. Ifemelu is very worried that
she's going to get caught lying, but Aunty Uju was right in Part
2, Chapter 11—all black people look pretty much the same to
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 29
white people.
Ifemelu's class is the first time she experiences the cultural
divide between Africans and African Americans. It never
occurred to her that African Americans would resent people
from Africa for selling their ancestors into slavery 200 years
ago, nor did it occur to her to look at racism in the United
States as something that was happening in the present. She
never would have fathomed that race would be a taboo topic,
even among the people it affected the most. To her, the
concepts of racism and slavery were historic and academic,
something to be acknowledged and debated. She didn't realize
that people in the United States—and in many ways, all of
American society—were still affected by it today. This is one of
the many instances in Americanah where Adichie juxtaposes
the African American experience with the African experience.
Each time, she points out that sharing a skin tone is not a
guarantee of shared values, attitudes, and experiences.
Beyond appearance, they have very little in common.
Ifemelu finds comfort and common ground with the members
of the ASA. Even though they are from different countries with
different native languages, cultures, and histories, they are all
bound by the similarities of their homelands and their
experiences as foreigners in a new place. Their outsider status
brings them together. Because of this, Dike probably won't fit
in at an ASA when he goes to college. He grew up in the United
States and has yet to visit Nigeria. But he's also not truly
African American because he was born in Nigeria. He's in some
in-between area. As his identity forms, society will decide
which group he belongs to.
Ifemelu knows she belongs in the ASA, but she's also eager to
learn everything she can about American life. She doesn't
necessarily want to change herself into the prototypical
American—she just wants to understand the history of the
country in which she lives and the people who call it home. Her
interest in American literature turns her into an amateur
anthropologist, or person who studies the development of
human culture and societies. Figuring out why the United
States is the way it is will help her understand her place there
and the possibilities for her future.
Part 2, Chapters 15–16
Americanah Study Guide
Summary
Part 2, Chapter 15
Ifemelu answers an ad looking for a "female personal
assistant" and ends up going to an interview in a strange man's
basement. The man is a tennis coach, and he tells her the job is
to help him "relax" and that the pay is $100 a day. Ifemelu can
tell she's not the first woman he's talked to about administering
"massages." She says she'll think about it, and her eyes fill with
tears as she waits for the train home.
The longer Ifemelu goes without a job, the more she thinks
about the devil her mother believes in. Obinze sends her $100
even though she thinks "it should be the other way around."
Ginika arranges for Ifemelu to interview for a nanny position
with a white woman named Kimberly, who loves "multicultural
names because they have such wonderful meanings, from
wonderful rich cultures." Kimberly's prickly sister, Laura, is also
there, and Kimberly's smooth and flirtatious husband, Don,
shows up at the end. Ifemelu pities Kimberly for being saddled
with them. As she leaves, Kimberly suggests that Ifemelu is her
first choice. The next day, Ginika tells her she didn't get the job.
Ifemelu doesn't have money for rent. She considers answering
an ad for an escort service even though Ginika tells her it's a
bad idea. Terrified of what will become of her if she doesn't get
a job, she calls the tennis coach who wanted her to help him
"relax." He guides her to his bedroom, takes off his shirt, then
lays on the bed. He agrees they won't have sex and then asks
her to lie next to him. They masturbate each other, he gives her
the $100, and she cries all the way home. She hates
herself—the fingers that touched him, the clothing she
wore—and she can't even think about Obinze. She calls Aunty
Uju, who is not at all interested in how Ifemelu earned $100.
After hanging up on Uju, Ifemelu listens to messages from her
parents and Obinze and then fantasizes about killing the tennis
coach.
Ifemelu falls into a deep depression, "bloodless, detached,
floating in a world where darkness descended too soon" as the
winter days grow shorter. Nothing matters anymore, not even
Obinze. She stops calling and writing and doesn't even read his
e-mails. Classes are skipped, and she only comes out of her
room when her roommates are asleep.
One day, Ifemelu's roommate Allison bangs on the door to tell
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Chapter Summaries 30
her she has an emergency phone call: it's Ginika. Ginika tells
Ifemelu that Obinze and Aunty Uju are worried about her and
that Kimberly wants to hire her—the person she hired on
Laura's recommendation didn't work out. When Ginika picks
her up the next day, she suggests Ifemelu has depression.
Ifemelu denies it, but Ginika promises it's a real affliction even
though people in Nigeria don't talk about it. Ifemelu wishes she
had told Ginika about the tennis coach, and she begins to sob
uncontrollably.
Part 2, Chapter 16
Every mention of Nigeria reminds Ifemelu of Obinze. She gives
herself a month "to let her self-loathing seep away," yet when it
is over she still can't bring herself to contact him. She ignores
his e-mails and refuses to read the letter he sent.
Ifemelu starts working for Kimberly, who gives Ifemelu a
"signing bonus" on the first day. The children are fine—Taylor is
an elementary-school-aged boy; Morgan is a preteen girl.
Ifemelu doesn't really understand why Morgan is so cold and
rude to everyone, even her father. Perhaps it's because her
parents are so lenient with her. She at least respects Ifemelu,
who doesn't baby her or give her a lot of choices.
Laura lives close by and is always over at the house, making
pointed observations about articles she read about Nigeria and
its people. One day, she tells Ifemelu she is privileged because
she got to come to the United States while other people in her
country "live on less than a dollar a day." Laura tells Ifemelu she
once knew a woman from Africa who didn't get along with
African Americans because "she didn't have all those issues."
Ifemelu points out that the woman's father may have had a
high-powered job in his home country at a time when black
people weren't allowed to vote in the United States. "You need
to understand a bit more history," Ifemelu says. Laura storms
upstairs. Ifemelu apologizes.
Ifemelu is invited to Kimberly and Don's party. When
introduced, the other guests tell her about their trips to Africa
and their donations to orphanages and other charitable
organizations. As they talk, Ifemelu realizes she desperately
wants "to be from the country of people who gave and not
those who received." After the party, Ifemelu calls Aunty Uju,
who says Dike has been asking about his last name. He wants
to know who his father is but Uju doesn't want him to know she
and The General were never married.
Americanah Study Guide
Aunty Uju is no longer pleased with life in Massachusetts.
Dike's grades are falling, and he keeps getting in trouble at
school for being "aggressive." She's certain it's because he's
one of only two black kids in school, but the principal insists
they don't see him as being different from anyone else. She
complains about her residency and, later, her patients. She
never mentions Bartholomew.
Analysis
Ifemelu knows perfectly well that the tennis coach who needs
help relaxing wants to hire her for more than just a massage.
She doesn't want to work for him, but she has no other choice.
Aunty Uju doesn't have any money to spare, nor do her
parents, and she would be too embarrassed to ask Ginika. This
isn't the life Ifemelu imagined for herself in the United States.
She thought she would be sending money home to her family
and Obinze, not the other way around. Unfortunately, Ifemelu's
situation isn't unusual for immigrants in the United States.
Many who come with the hope of earning money to send home
to family struggle to support just themselves, especially in big
cities where jobs are hard to find and rent is high.
In addition to financial pressure, Ifemelu is also struggling
under the pressure from her family and friends back home. Her
parents and Obinze expect her to thrive in the United States
just as she did in Nigeria—to be at the top of her class, have
lots of friends, and pave the way for a successful future. So
many people back home would have done anything to move to
the United States, and Ifemelu feels that she is letting them all
down. She also feels like she's letting down Aunty Uju, who
seems irritated every time Ifemelu tells her she hasn't found a
job yet. The emotional pressure of finding steady employment
is almost as great as the financial pressure.
The incident with the tennis coach is the lowest moment of
Ifemelu's life and the impetus for her estrangement from
Obinze. She may not have had sex with him, but she allowed
him to touch her in a sexual way and reciprocated. Ifemelu
keeps telling herself she wasn't raped, but she also didn't go
into the situation completely willingly. She was scared, worried
that he may have locked the door or had a gun. "The power
balance was tilted in his favor," the narrator says, and Ifemelu
had no opportunity to tip it back her way. She touched him
because she was afraid not to. In doing so, she gave up control
of her sexuality, which had until then been reserved for Obinze.
She feels as if she has betrayed Obinze, both from the
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Chapter Summaries 31
standpoint of sexual faithfulness and from his unerring belief
about her inherent goodness. No matter what anyone says,
Ifemelu is convinced she is no longer a good person.
Ifemelu's isolation, loneliness, sense of self-loathing, and
financial despair coalesce into depression. She doesn't
recognize it as such because mental illness isn't commonly
spoken about in Nigeria. "Depression was what happened to
Americans, with their ... need to turn everything into an illness,"
the narrator says. This is not to say that people who live in
Nigeria don't suffer from depression—they simply don't name it
as such. The problem with this is that things that aren't named
are impossible to treat. Ifemelu instead bottles up her feelings
until "her self-loathing ... hardened inside her." This is why she
shuts out Obinze.
Working for Kimberly shows Ifemelu the different mindsets
white Americans have about Africans and African Americans.
Laura is the type of person who likes to think she knows all
about life in other parts of the world, but even though she has
been researching Nigeria, she has no idea how Nigerians
actually live. She speaks to Ifemelu as if American society as a
whole is doing her a favor by letting her live in its country. Still,
Laura views Ifemelu as being better than African Americans. In
her internal hierarchy, African Americans are at the bottom,
native Africans (or other dark-skinned people) are in the
middle, and white people are at the top. Racial hierarchies
don't make a lot of sense to Ifemelu—where she is from, skin
color does not determine the way a person is treated. She also
doesn't understand why white Americans blatantly ignore the
historical events and attitudes that have placed African
Americans at a disadvantage and white Americans in a position
of privilege.
The dinner party guests also have incorrect impressions of
African nations. Like Laura, several of Kimberly's guests talk
about the poor living conditions in some African nations. They
speak of the continent as if it were one homogenous land and
not dozens of distinct countries. For example, several people
tell Ifemelu about their charitable contributions. Kimberly's
friends are good-hearted, but they are also ignorant about the
entire continent they claim to support. It's also important to
note that while Kimberly's friends brag to Ifemelu about their
good works abroad, nobody mentions any efforts to help
impoverished communities of color in the United States. Like
Laura, perhaps they are blind to the way institutionalized
racism affects economic and political power in the United
States. Or maybe their position of privilege allows them to
Americanah Study Guide
simply not care.
Part 2, Chapters 17–18
Summary
Part 2, Chapter 17
Three years into her stay in America, Ifemelu drops her
American accent. It doesn't feel like her. One afternoon, while
on the train to visit Aunty Uju and Dike, she meets Blaine. She
can tell at once that he is African American, not African. He's
an assistant professor in comparative politics at Yale. He has
the kind of voice—educated and white—that she just gave up.
They flirt and tease each other all afternoon, and Ifemelu
conjures elaborate fantasies about what he would be like as a
lover and partner. He gives her his number, which Ifemelu calls
compulsively all weekend to no response.
Dike goes to day camp during Ifemelu's visit. He comes home
upset on the first day because his counselor told him he didn't
need sunscreen. "I just want to be regular," he says. Ifemelu
buys him a tube of his own, which he never opens.
The chapter ends with a blog entry, "Understanding America
for the Non-American Black: American Tribalism." In it, an
anonymous Ifemelu explains that there are four kinds of
tribalism in the United States: class, ideology, region, and race.
She describes the racial hierarchy: white Anglo-Saxon
Protestants (WASPs) are always on the top, and black people
are always at the bottom. Even though Jewish people look
white, they sometimes fall into the middle. Ifemelu thinks it's
impossible to tell who is Jewish and who is not, but apparently
some people can.
Part 2, Chapter 18
In the present, a South African woman getting her hair braided
talks about how terrible Nigeria and its people are. The stylists
are all impressed by the woman's American accent. Ifemelu
ignores the woman's cruel words and Aisha's inquiry as to why
she doesn't have an American accent.
A young white woman named Kelsey comes in and asks for
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Chapter Summaries 32
braids. She asks Mariama if women are allowed to vote in her
country and tells her how lucky she is for getting to raise her
children in America. Ifemelu is instantly irritated by Kelsey,
even more so when Kelsey says she didn't like the book Things
Fall Apart because it was "quaint" and didn't help her
understand "modern Africa." She likes A Bend in the River a lot
more. "It's just so honest, the most honest book I've read about
Africa," says Kelsey, who has never been to Africa. Ifemelu
thinks Kelsey is completely wrong and tells her so. As Ifemelu
wonders if ending her relationship, closing her blog, and
moving back to Nigeria is a good idea, Kelsey is stunned to
learn that black women often add fake hair to their braids. She
decides to use just her own hair, which is quickly turned into
seven long cornrows.
The narrative jumps back to the past when Ifemelu meets Curt,
Kimberly's nephew, and Ifemelu's first American (and white)
boyfriend. He later says he fell in love with her instantly
because of her laugh, but Ifemelu doesn't notice his attraction
at first. She still thinks about Blaine. Curt doggedly pursues
Ifemelu during his visit, and they go out to dinner. He's from a
wealthy family, has traveled extensively, and by the end of the
first date, he decides they are officially dating. Kimberly is
delighted, but Morgan, who has a crush on Curt, doesn't take
the news well at all.
Curt is fascinated with Ifemelu's body. She does everything in
her power not to mention or even think of Obinze. Little by
little, her life transforms. Curt makes her "a woman free of
knots and cares." They go out for drinks, go on hikes, and take
vacations. As the narrator says, "his optimism blinded her." He
believes in everything that is good because it never occurs to
him that things could be any other way.
Analysis
Most of Part 2, Chapters 17 and 18, is about Ifemelu's love life,
but Adichie does sneak in commentary about race and cultural
understanding at the beginning of Part 2, Chapter 18. Kelsey,
the white woman who gets her hair braided, is the
stereotypical clueless white girl who thinks she knows a lot
about black and/or African culture. Everything she knows
about Africa comes from novels. The one she derides, Things
Fall Apart (1958), is one of the earliest examples of
postcolonial fiction. Its author, Chinua Achebe (1930–2013), is
a fellow Nigerian and one of Adichie's literary heroes. He wrote
Things Fall Apart from the perspective of an Igbo leader during
Americanah Study Guide Chapter Summaries 33

the early years of British colonialism in what is now Nigeria.
The book Kelsey loves, A Bend in the River (1979), is told from
the point of view of a Muslim Indian who moves to a small town
near the Congo River. Ifemelu, who has read both books,
privately thinks A Bend in the River, written by V.S. Naipaul
(1932–2018), is about "the longing for Europe" by a man who
desired to have been born there and takes on a "knowingly
haughty attitude to the African." By having Kelsey prefer the
latter book, Adichie is implying that white people prefer the
European version of Africa to the real Africa.
her after just a day or two together. She has no power over
Blaine, who ignores her many phone calls. Perhaps his
unavailability is part of his allure, as she's still thinking about
Blaine while Curt is trying to get her attention. There is no
mention of Obinze during Ifemelu's musings about men and
romance—she has completely written him out of her life.
Part 2, Chapters 19–20

Part 2, Chapter 17, is the first time readers are shown one of
Ifemelu's blog posts. She doesn't start the blog until after she
Summary
breaks up with Curt (Part 4, Chapter 31), but excerpts from her
posts are peppered throughout the novel until she returns to
Nigeria. In addition to allowing the reader the opportunity to Part 2, Chapter 19
see Ifemelu's thoughts in her own words, the blog posts also
Ifemelu effortlessly falls into Curt's way of life. They have
connect to specific events in the associated chapter. The blog
Sunday brunch with his mother, who tolerates her son's
post at the end of Part 2, Chapter 17, is about the different
dalliances with foreign girls. They spend all their free time
"tribes" in America and how they are not immediately
together and even host Morgan for the weekend at Curt's
recognizable to people who have not lived in the United States
apartment in Baltimore. Ifemelu has "slipped out of her old
for very long. The concept of tribes connects to Dike's
skin" thanks to Curt's "gift of contentment, of ease." She
experience at day camp. He is treated differently than the
doesn't tell her parents about him, nor does she tell them she's
other campers because of his race, not because he is Nigerian.
worried about her job prospects after graduation. She wonders
This is one of the many instances of othering, or the treatment
if she should have majored in engineering—nobody will hire a
of a person or group of people because they are believed to be
communications major who needs a visa when there are
different, in Americanah.
thousands of Americans with the same qualifications.
Wealthy, handsome, and seemingly charmed, Curt is the
Aware of her worries, Curt gets Ifemelu an interview with a firm
embodiment of the American Ifemelu hoped to find when she
his dad once did business with. Ifemelu heeds the advice of her
left Nigeria. He is the kind of person shown smiling and
career adviser and gets her hair relaxed. It burns, and she
laughing in commercials; his glamorous and easy life is the one
doesn't recognize herself after the process. "The verve was
shown on movie screens. She is attracted to him and thinks
gone," the narrator says. Curt doesn't seem to like it much,
he's a good person. But she also loves the way she feels when
either, and he vocally rails against the cultural standards that
she is with him. Thanks to Curt, Ifemelu's life seems beautiful
make Ifemelu feel she has to be someone she's not. She gets
and easy too.
the job.
Curt is not the type of man with whom Ifemelu thought she
The chapter ends with another blog post. This one is about
would end up. If she had her choice, she would have picked
how minorities in the United States aspire to be WASPs.
intelligent and dry-humored Blaine, who is very much an
Ifemelu wonders what WASPs aspire to be.
American version of Obinze. He is serious, he reads a lot, and
he has a good heart. Even during their first encounter, Ifemelu
teases and jokes with him the way she did with Obinze. She is
Part 2, Chapter 20
on firm ground with him—even though he's a Yale professor
and she's a student and nanny, they speak to each other as Ifemelu moves to Baltimore for her new job. She has a place of
equals. That's not the case with Curt, who treats Ifemelu as if her own but basically lives with Curt. They're always doing
she is a goddess to be worshipped at the altar. Ifemelu has something or going somewhere—Mexico, England,
emotional power over Curt, who is head over heels in love with Bermuda—and she takes great care to let him know how much

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Americanah Study Guide
she likes him and how much fun they're having together. She
senses a fragility to him, "lighter than ego but darker than
insecurity, that needed constant buffing, polishing, waxing."
Ifemelu's hair starts falling out from using relaxers. Wambui
convinces her to cut it all off. "You're always battling to make
your hair do what it wasn't meant to do," Wambui says. Ifemelu
hates her two inches of natural hair so much that she calls in
sick to work the next day. She reaches for Curt's computer so
she can look up a natural hair website Wambui recommended.
Curt jumps into full defense mode and insists the e-mails on his
screen mean nothing. Ifemelu reads them. They're from a
woman who, by the looks of it, has long, flowing hair. This
upsets Ifemelu more than the thought of Curt cheating, which
he swears he didn't do. She believes him.
Ifemelu goes back to work after three sick days Her coworkers
ask if her tiny afro "means" anything, like a political stance or
that she's a lesbian. At the farmer's market, a black man walks
past Ifemelu and Curt and asks, "You ever wonder why he likes
you looking all jungle like that?" Curt doesn't hear this, and
Ifemelu is too shocked to respond. That night, she goes to the
beauty supply store and looks at the row of weaves. She
remembers the encouragement from the other women on the
natural hair website and leaves without buying anything. It
takes a few months, but by the spring, Ifemelu has fallen in love
with her hair.
The chapter ends with a blog post titled "Why Dark-Skinned
Black Women—Both American and Non-American—Love
Barack Obama." Written during the 2008 presidential election,
it praises Obama for marrying a dark-skinned black woman
instead of the lighter-skinned women many white and African
American men seem to prefer.
Analysis
Hair is a recurring motif in Americanah, related to the theme of
cultural and personal identity. Like Aunty Uju before her,
Ifemelu understands that braids or her natural hair will not be
viewed by white Americans as "professional." If she wants a job
that will allow her to utilize her communications degree, she
needs to straighten her hair. The process of straightening isn't
new to Ifemelu—although she has never done it, it is very
common in Nigeria, where relaxed hair is more valued than
natural hair. Ifemelu's decision to relax her hair signifies her
acceptance of Western beauty standards. Her decision to cut
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Chapter Summaries 34
it all off and allow it to grow naturally represents her dismissal
of those same standards. After trying to be someone she's not,
Ifemelu comes to love who she actually is.
Curt and Ifemelu have similar reactions to Ifemelu's sleek
hairstyle but for different reasons. Ifemelu is upset because
she no longer recognizes herself in the mirror. Curt is upset
because he is now dating a woman who looks like everyone
else. He has a penchant for "exotic" women, and Ifemelu loses
her appearance of "otherness" when she takes out her braids
and relaxes her hair. She becomes less interesting to him. In
the same vein, she becomes much more interesting after she
lets it grow naturally. Curt likes that Ifemelu is different from
everyone else he knows, so much so that it almost seems like a
fetish, or a fixation. This is what the man at the farmer's market
is referring to when he talks about Ifemelu being "all jungle."
He's suggesting that Curt doesn't like Ifemelu for her
personality but for her otherness. It's not a compliment.
Ifemelu may be wrong when she assumes that Curt wants her
to have the long, silky hair of the woman from the flirtatious e-
mails, but she's correct that he thrives on praise and attention.
Curt is like a spoiled little boy. He can have whatever he wants
whenever he wants, and he expects constant praise and
admiration from others. Ifemelu isn't one to constantly praise
people—she's more likely to correct them or tease—but she
finds herself purposefully altering her behavior to let Curt know
he's appreciated. She never did that with Obinze. Obinze also
never looked at other women, let alone flirted with them. The
difference is that his self-confidence wasn't affected by
anyone's view of him. Curt's self-confidence hinges entirely on
the approval of others.
Part of the reason life is so easy for Curt is because of his
privilege. Ifemelu talks about this in her blog post at the end of
Part 2, Chapter 19. She says people of color aspire to be
WASPs (white Anglo-Saxon Protestants) not because they
want to be white but because of the privilege that comes along
with it, like being able to walk through a store without being
followed by security. She didn't understand what a privilege it
was to be free from constant suspicion and disdain until she
moved to the United States and experienced discrimination
herself.
The blog post at the end of Part 2, Chapter 20, is also about
race, but this time in relation to beauty standards. It connects
to Ifemelu's attempt to Americanize her hair but also brings up
salient points about the hierarchy of skin colors (light is most
Americanah Study Guide
desired, dark is the least desired) and how people with darker
skin colors are portrayed in the media. "They never get to be
the hot woman, beautiful and desired and all," Ifemelu writes.
She knows the media is wrong—after all, she, a dark woman,
dated a white man who found her incredibly attractive—but she
has also seen how those types of messages affect the psyche
of darker-skinned women. Her blog post suggests that people
aren't voting for Barack Obama just because they like his
politics. They're also voting for him because he embraces a
version of black beauty rarely celebrated in the United States.
Part 2, Chapters 21–22
Summary
Part 2, Chapter 21
Ifemelu and Curt visit Aunty Uju and Dike. Uju adores Curt
immediately, but it takes Dike a little time to warm up to him.
While Curt and Dike play basketball, Aunty Uju complains to
Ifemelu about Dike's school and her marriage to Bartholomew.
She also doesn't like Ifemelu's new hairstyle. "There is
something scruffy and untidy about natural hair," she insists.
Aunty Uju is simultaneously concerned about and irritated with
Dike. He wrote an essay about not knowing "who he is," a
concept she blames on the American school system and the
American emphasis on emotional health. She also has to keep
reminding him not to talk out of turn or do anything that would
possibly get him in trouble at school. "He has to tone it down,
because his own will always be seen as different," Uju tells
Ifemelu.
As for Bartholomew, Aunty Uju is disgusted that he wants her
to give him her salary. He's trying to start a business but can't
get a loan. "Did anybody force him to come here?" she asks
rhetorically, "Did he not know we would be the only black
people here?" She rails about the discrimination she faces
from patients and the local pharmacist, blaming it all on "Buhari
and Babangida and Abacha because they destroyed Nigeria."
Ifemelu notices that Uju never mentions The General during
her many rants.
Aunty Uju leaves Bartholomew sometime after Ifemelu and
Curt's visit. She and Dike move to a town called Willow.
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Chapter Summaries 35
The chapter ends with a blog post that informs non-American
black people that they are indeed black. "So what if you
weren't black in your country? You're in America now," Ifemelu
anonymously writes. Being black in America means being
offended by common slurs and stereotypes, even if they are
unfamiliar and don't make sense. Black women must always be
described as "strong" and black men must be "hyper-mellow"
so that people don't think they're going to pull out a gun. "Do
not be angry. Black people are not supposed to be angry about
racism," Ifemelu cautions.
Part 2, Chapter 22
Ifemelu runs into Kayode, Obinze's good friend from high
school, at the mall. He lives in the Washington, DC, area. He
says Nigerians are so prevalent in Maryland that it's almost like
being back home. Ifemelu has not had the same experience.
It turns out that Obinze had heard Ifemelu was in Baltimore and
asked Kayode to check on her. Obinze himself moved to
England last year. Even though she was the one who cut off all
contact, Ifemelu feels "deeply betrayed" by this news. She
brushes off Kayode and makes an escape before they can
exchange contact information.
Curt can tell something is upsetting Ifemelu, but she doesn't
want to talk about it. Instead, she writes Obinze an e-mail for
the first time in years, apologizing for shutting him out and
promising to tell him everything. "I have missed you and I miss
you," she says in closing. He doesn't reply.
Curt books her a massage that afternoon. When she thanks
him and calls him a sweetheart, he seems agitated. "I don't
want to be a sweetheart," he says forcefully, "I want to be the ...
love of your life."
Analysis
The men Aunty Uju refers to in Part 2, Chapter 21, "Buhari and
Babangida and Abacha," are former Nigerian leaders. Major
General Muhammadu Buhari (b. 1942) came to power after a
coup on December 31, 1983. Under his leadership, politicians
and journalists were arrested and jailed. A coup against
Buhari's government in August 1985 brought General Ibrahim
Babangida (b. 1941) to power. Although he promised the public
a return to civilian government rule, he banned governmental
Americanah Study Guide
candidates from politics and annulled election results. He was
forced out in August 1993. An interim civilian government
existed for four months before military rule was reinstated that
November by General Sani Abacha (1943–98). Under Abacha's
leadership, the nation crumbled. Human rights, freedom of the
press, and due process of law weren't enforced, and violence
was used to silence critics. Nigeria finally returned to a civilian
government after Abacha's death in June 1998, but the
damage had already been done. Corruption was rampant,
infrastructure was decaying, and many Nigerians left the
country for better educational and employment opportunities.
Aunty Uju blames these men for forcing her out of Nigeria even
though she never would have left if she hadn't met The General
and he hadn't died. Her inclination to rewrite her own history
suggests two things: she is either still angry at herself for
getting mixed up with a married government figure, or she has
put him out of her mind completely. The General was the love
of Aunty Uju's life (and the father of her child), so it is probably
the former.
Ifemelu's story is the positive version of the immigrant
experience. She struggles at first but eventually finds a job,
falls in love, and assimilates. Aunty Uju's story is the opposite.
She came to the United States with nothing, worked tirelessly
to raise her child and earn the appropriate certifications to
practice medicine, settled for a man she didn't love, and faced
daily discrimination and racism at work. Nothing has gone her
way since she came to the United States. But she also has no
interest in returning to Nigeria. There is nothing left in Nigeria
for her, and America is her son's home. Since she can't leave
the country, she does the next best thing and leaves the man
who is holding her back.
Aunty Uju's decision to leave Bartholomew is symbolic of her
unconscious decision to embrace the American way of life.
She originally tried to solve her problems by doing things the
Nigerian way—marrying a Nigerian man and taking on the role
of the subservient caretaker—in hopes that someone else
would share the load. But she didn't love Bartholomew and she
ultimately found no pleasure in adhering to the traditional
marital roles. Bartholomew was a stepping stone to get Uju and
Dike out of Brooklyn. They will be fine on their own.
The blog post at the end of Part 2, Chapter 21, connects to
Aunty Uju's remark that Bartholomew didn't seem to
understand how he would be treated when he moved to a
predominantly white town. Ifemelu assures her blog readers
that no matter where a person is from, if they have dark skin
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Chapter Summaries 36
and look like an African American, they will be treated as an
African American. It's a steep learning curve for people who
had never before been treated differently because of the color
of their skin. All of a sudden, the immigrant black person is
supposed to understand the history of American racism and
black culture and share the same reactions to offensive jokes
and slurs. The message here is that black immigrants need to
become familiar with the nuances of race relations in the
United States and adopt the African American position as their
own. Ifemelu offers these tips not because she feels that
African Americans have the moral high ground or are always
right but because not knowing the proper reactions to racist
comments or acting "inappropriately" around white people can
be socially damning or even physically harmful.
Ifemelu writes the blog post in the future while dating Blaine.
Part 2, Chapter 21, begins before that, when she is still with
Curt. They have been together for a year or two and are mostly
happy. Ifemelu's chance encounter with Kayode threatens to
disrupt this, however. She has done her best not to think of
Obinze for several years, but one mention brings everything
rushing back. Despite their estrangement, Ifemelu still feels
connected to him. Even though Curt doesn't meet Kayode and
Ifemelu never mentions Obinze, Curt can tell something in their
relationship has changed and it makes him angry and insecure.
Ifemelu has never seen this territorial side of him before, nor
his desperation to be the best thing that ever happened to her.
Ifemelu's brief conversation with Kayode also highlights just
how secluded she is in Baltimore. Kayode's social circle is full
of Nigerians, but Ifemelu's social circle is limited to Curt's (most
likely white, upper-middle-class) friends. With the exception of
Wambui, she cut herself off from everyone that reminded her
of home. This was in part because everything even remotely
connected to Nigeria reminded her of Obinze but also because
she wanted to assimilate into Curt's picture-perfect American
life. Surrounding herself with other African immigrants would
only remind her of the struggles she faced during her first year
and the man she had lost.
Part 3, Chapters 23–24
Summary
Americanah Study Guide
Part 3, Chapter 23
Obinze has been in England for two years. His visa has expired,
and the only hope he has for staying is marrying a British
citizen. For £2,200, two Angolans set him up with an Angolan-
Portuguese woman named Cleotilde. She is 23, kind, soft-
spoken, and clearly attracted to Obinze. He's attracted to her,
too, but he doesn't want to muddle their business transaction
with sex and emotions. That can wait until after they are
married.
Despite his childhood and teenage obsession with the United
States, Obinze never made it there. After he graduated from
university, he applied for an American visa four times and was
denied without explanation each and every time. His mother
chalked it up to "terrorism fears" and an aversion to "foreign
young men."
Obinze tried to get a job, but no one would hire him. He
continued to live with his mother but spent most of his time in
Internet cafés or holed up in his room. She gave him his space.
Then one day she announced she had been invited to an
academic conference in London. He was to go with her as her
research assistant, which would grant him access to a six-
month British visa. "See what you can do with your life," she
said, "I know that your mind is no longer here."
Obinze had never known his mother to lie, yet she was
"behaving as though truth telling had become a luxury ... they
could no longer afford." Obinze is burdened by her sacrifice
and barely speaks to her for the three years he spends abroad.
Part 3, Chapter 24
Obinze works as a janitor in an office building. On the day he
receives Ifemelu's first apology e-mail—the one she sent in Part
2, Chapter 22—someone had purposefully pooped on top of a
toilet lid. How could she suddenly write to him as if nothing
happened, as if she hadn't "left him bleeding for more than five
years[?]" He missed her, resented her, worried endlessly about
her, and now he cleans toilets for a living. "Inflamed by anger,
twisted by confusion, withered by sadness," he deletes the e-
mail and clicks "Empty Trash."
Obinze lives with his cousin Nicholas, Nicholas's wife Ojiugo,
and their children, Nne and Nna. Nicholas and Ojiugo were wild
in their Nigerian youth, but marriage seems to have tamed
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Chapter Summaries 37
them. Nicholas, who only became a British citizen two years
ago, lived in fear of being deported for so long that he has
become uncharacteristically serious about everything. He and
Ojiugo, who earned her British citizenship through her
postgraduate studies, are both wholly focused on the
children's education.
Ojiugo's friends visit often, and Obinze can't help but overhear
their conversations through the house's thin walls. They talk
about everything, from the way they are looked down upon by
black British people to the way men they would have never
looked at twice in Nigeria are suddenly their only marital
prospects. "London is a leveler," says one of Ojiugo's friends,
"We are now all in London and we are now all the same, what
nonsense."
Analysis
Adichie doesn't include years or dates in her narrative
descriptions. On one hand, this is a good thing because it lends
an air of timelessness to Ifemelu's and Obinze's story. Without
particular dates, the events she describes could have
conceivably happened any time at the end of the 20th and
beginning of the 21st centuries. On the other hand, the lack of
dates can also be confusing for readers who like to associate
situations in the book with real-life events. Adichie only alludes
to it in the most general of terms, but Obinze first applies for
an American visa after the terrorist attacks in New York City,
Washington, DC, and Somerset County, Pennsylvania, on
September 11, 2001. After the attacks, the United States
heavily restricted who could enter the country. Men with dark
skin from countries where Islam was commonly practiced were
not welcome.
Despite Ifemelu's refusal to communicate with him, Obinze's
obsession with the United States never waned. Being able to
live there is the one thing he had been working toward his
entire life. He never once considered that it wouldn't happen,
so he didn't have a backup plan for a life in Nigeria or anywhere
else. His lack of effort at continuing with his life is what spurs
his mother to take action. She wants to see her son happy,
even if it means him living halfway around the world.
Obinze feels like more of a failure in England than he ever did
in Nigeria. Living with his cousin and cleaning toilets was
definitely not what he or his mother had in mind for him. He
feels guilty that she went against her moral code and lied to
Americanah Study Guide Chapter Summaries 38

get him out of the country and ashamed that he hasn't lived up
Part 3, Chapter 25
to her unspoken hopes and expectations. Life as an immigrant
in a white European nation is much, much more difficult than When they were teenagers, Obinze's friend Emenike told
Obinze ever expected. everyone his father was an igwe, or Igbo king, who had sent
Emenike to live in Lagos "to avoid the pressures of princely
The conversations Obinze overhears at Nicholas and Ojiugo's
life." All the boys laughed when his father appeared one day,
house about race and ethnicity are different from the ones
hunched over and in tattered clothing. Obinze was kinder to
Ifemelu hears in the United States. In England, ethnicity and
Emenike. Their mutual love of reading brought them together,
wealth—not race—are the foundations of social division. For
and they lived together at Obinze's mother's house during
example, Ojiugo and her children are often looked down upon
university. Still, Obinze never knew much about Emenike's
by British black people because of their foreignness.
personal life beyond his friend's hunger to leave Nigeria and
Obinze also learns that the status divisions that existed back in "make it" abroad.
Nigeria have no meaning in London. Here, all Nigerians are the
Emenike left Nigeria for England after his second year of
same. Ojiugo's friends talk about this in relation to the quality
university. Obinze tries to get in touch with him when he goes
of Nigerian men who pursue them, but Obinze also
to England a few years later, but Emenike is too busy to see
experiences it firsthand. He graduated from university near the
him. He's married to an Englishwoman and has an important
top of his class, yet he cleans toilets for a living. In England, his
job at the housing authority. So Obinze calls on other friends to
foreignness matters more than his grades and capabilities.
help him get settled. Iloba, who is from his mother's village,
Like Aunty Uju in the United States, Obinze is forced to start at
connects Obinze with Vincent, who will lend Obinze his
the bottom despite his credentials.
National Insurance number for 35 percent of Obinze's wages.
The moment Obinze finds feces on the toilet seat is probably Obinze desperately needs a job, so he accepts.
his lowest point. He's working illegally for just a few pounds an
hour with the threat of deportation hanging over his head. He
has no desire to return to Nigeria and admit his failure, so he
Part 3, Chapter 26
needs to find a way to stay in the country. This brings him to
The first job Obinze gets with his borrowed National Insurance
the arrangement with the Angolans and Cleotilde, which
number is the janitorial job where he had to clean feces off the
happens months after he quits his janitorial job. According to
toilet seat lid. After he quits that job, the employment agency
British law at the time, foreigners who married British residents
sends him to a janitorial position at a warehouse. After that is a
could become British citizens after a year. Sometimes people
job delivering kitchen cabinetry, where the other employees
work the system so they can stay in the country when all other
call him "laborer" and make fun of him. He ultimately ends up
paths to citizenship have been exhausted. This is what Obinze
doing deliveries for a different company. Its warehouse chief,
is attempting to do with Cleotilde, and the Angolans are
Roy Snell, is unfailingly kind to Obinze. Thinking Obinze's name
profiting from it. Dishonest and corrupt, it's something Obinze
is Vincent, he immediately starts referring to him as "Vinny
never would have done at home in Nigeria. Since coming to
Boy" and always makes sure to give him the deliveries that pay
England, however, it seems he has done nothing but lie.
the most. He usually pairs Obinze with Nigel, a lovelorn
Englishman whose friends recently shaved his eyebrows
during a night of drunken debauchery. Nigel, who knows
Part 3, Chapters 25–26 Obinze is "new from Africa," is awed by people with "posh"
accents, including Obinze. The time spent in the delivery truck
together forges their friendship. Nigel shows Obinze around
Summary town, asks for romantic advice, and unfailingly splits the
customers' tips. The other drivers pretend to forget they're
supposed to give Obinze half.

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Americanah Study Guide
Analysis
Anyone who wants to work in England needs a National
Insurance number. It's an identification number that allows the
government to record National Insurance contributions and
taxes. People who are born in England are automatically
assigned their National Insurance number just before their 16th
birthday. Those who immigrate to England are assigned one
when they are approved to work or study. Employers often use
the number to verify one's legal residence in England. Because
he is only granted a six-month visitor's visa, Obinze doesn't
have a National Insurance number. He can't work without one,
which means he can't earn money. This is why he agrees to
give over a third of his salary to Vincent for the use of his
number.
Success abroad changes people. Obinze notices this every
time he tries to connect with Emenike, who is always too
important and busy to help his old friend. He finds he gets the
most from people who have the least to give, such as Iloba and
Nigel. Obinze was always irritated with Iloba at home but is
incredibly grateful to have him in England. He probably would
never have befriended the socially awkward and
unsophisticated Nigel, who is his best British friend in England
and one of the few British nationals who treats him like an
equal. Kindness is a form of currency for Obinze, who pays
back Nigel with interest years later.
Part 3, Chapters 27–28
Summary
Part 3, Chapter 27
Once a week, Obinze goes to a bookshop, buys "an overpriced
caffeinated drink," and becomes himself again as he reads
book after book of contemporary American fiction. He still
longs for a life in the United States, but he finds the books
unsatisfying. Nearly all "dissolved into ironic nothingness."
Although he reads American newspapers and magazines,
Obinze stays away from British publications, which are full of
fearmongering articles about the rising influx of immigrants.
"The wind blowing across the British Isles was odorous with
fear of asylum seekers," the narrator says before pointing out
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Chapter Summaries 39
that "the influx into Britain of black and brown people [came]
from countries created by Britain."
After one of his outings, Obinze finds himself unable to stop
thinking about the widow and her young son—who he met at
the bookstore—then his mother, and finally, Ifemelu. This is not
the life he once imagined for himself. He is desperately lonely.
Part 3, Chapter 28
Obinze goes into work one morning in early summer and
immediately feels like something is amiss. He's certain
someone has turned him in for working in the country illegally.
Moments later, a paper hat is put on his head and he's ushered
into an impromptu birthday party just for him. He had forgotten
it was Vincent's birthday, the date stamped on his employment
papers. As the other men pass around the birthday treats,
tears spring to Obinze's eyes. He feels safe.
Vincent calls Obinze that night. He wants a 10 percent raise, or
45 percent of Obinze's salary. Obinze is certain Vincent is
bluffing—he wouldn't dare risk losing the money Obinze puts in
his bank account every week. But Obinze is wrong. The next
week, Roy Snell tells Obinze that someone called with an
anonymous tip that "Vincent" was working under a fake name.
He tells Obinze to bring in his passport the next day to clear up
everything. As Obinze leaves the building for the last time that
night, he regrets not telling Roy and Nigel his real name.
Years later, back in Lagos, Chief tells Obinze to find a white
man he can "present as his General Manager." Obinze calls
Nigel and offers him a job.
Analysis
Whenever Obinze thinks of love, whether platonic or romantic,
his thoughts turn to Ifemelu. She filled the role of best friend
and lover for so long that even though he's furious with her,
he's unable to give her up completely. Perhaps not
coincidentally, Obinze feels the same way about the United
States. The passion he once felt for America and its culture is
starting to wane. It's not because England has replaced it in his
heart—far from it—but because the stories of life there seem
so trite and unimportant compared to the struggle that is his
everyday life. The United States and its culture still intrigue him,
but the United States also appears to lack the depth he once
Americanah Study Guide
thought it had.
Obinze's greatest fear is that someone will figure out he's in
England illegally. If this happens, he will be arrested and sent
back home to Nigeria, which he views as the ultimate
admission of his failure. Even thinking about being discovered
makes him nervous, which is why he stays away from British
newspapers altogether. Adichie brings up an important point in
the descriptions of the anti-immigration news articles Obinze
avoids: the people coming to England are from the territories
the British colonized during the late-19th and early-20th
centuries. The primary purpose of British colonialism in Africa
was twofold: to gain economic power over other European
countries and to control more territory than other European
nations. Completely ignoring existing kingdoms, villages, and
cultures, the British forcefully took over the land and peoples
living in modern-day Nigeria, the Gold Coast of West Africa,
Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika. The British (and other
European nations) justified this by saying they were "civilizing
savage people" through the introduction of Christianity and the
European trade, justice, and education systems. Those
systems eventually took root and, in most places, lived on after
the end of colonialism in the mid-20th century. Adichie points
this out to help the reader realize how ridiculous it is to be
upset that people are flocking to a place they have been told is
the best of all nations.
The immigration fears in Great Britain and other European
nations are a good thing for people such as Vincent who are
happy to turn one person's strife into their own profit. Vincent
isn't afraid to demand more from Obinze because he knows
there are other people in similar situations who would be willing
to give him almost 50 percent of their salary just to stay in
England. The Angolans who are arranging Obinze's marriage to
Cleotilde take a similar view of the immigrant situation.
Although they are immigrants themselves, they feel little
compassion for those facing struggles similar to the ones they
overcame not so long ago.
Part 3, Chapters 29–30
Summary
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 40
Part 3, Chapter 29
The Angolans arranging Obinze's marriage keep adding more
fees for their services. Obinze is running out of money. He has
already asked his cousin Nicholas for a loan, so he turns to the
one person he knows has money: Emenike. They meet at a
restaurant, where Emenike talks about his recent trip to
America. He indirectly brags about his wife's status and their
wealth, and every story he tells is about someone who belittles
him getting their comeuppance in the end. He hands Obinze an
envelope and says, "I know you asked for five hundred but it's
one thousand. You want to count it?" Obinze is mortified—in
Nigeria, counting borrowed money in front of the person
loaning it would be considered the height of rudeness. He
counts anyway, "wondering if Emenike had hated him all those
years in secondary school and university." Emenike assures
him it's not a loan. Emenike's wife, Georgina, joins them for
dinner at a new and overpriced trendy restaurant. She doesn't
think Obinze will like it, but Emenike insists. Over dinner,
Georgina invites Obinze to a dinner party at their home the
following night.
Emenike and Georgina live in a beautiful home full of "good
pieces" of antique furniture. The table is laden with
mismatched, handmade plates purchased from a bazaar in
India. Back in Nigeria, people would be embarrassed to have
these kinds of things in view of guests, but Emenike shows
them off proudly.
The dinner conversation touches on several controversial
subjects, including American nationalism, a movement to
prevent African health care workers from practicing in Europe
so they can help "their people," and immigration. Obinze is
tense while the other guests talk about the difference between
American and European immigration policies. Georgina points
out that in America, immigration is about race. Alexa, one of
Emenike and Georgina's friends, asks Emenike if the United
States is "an iniquitously racist country." Emenike replies that in
America, "blacks and white work together but don't play
together," whereas in England, it's the opposite. Obinze adds
that in England, class "is in the air that people breathe.
Everyone knows their place."
Alexa refuses to believe that Emenike has faced any racism in
England, so Georgina makes Emenike tell the group a story
about a cab driver who pretended to be off duty so he wouldn't
have to take Emenike's fare. Obinze has heard this story
before, and he's struck by the difference in how Emenike tells
Americanah Study Guide
it for a white audience, never mentioning the feelings of rage
that coursed through his body after it happened. Now he
speaks "in a tone cleansed of anger, thick only with a kind of
superior amusement." Alexa changes the subject back to
immigration. "People who have survived frightful wars must
absolutely be allowed in!" she says heatedly. Obinze knows
neither she nor anyone else at the table would ever
"understand the need to escape from the oppressive lethargy
of choicelessness."
Part 3, Chapter 30
Obinze and Iloba go to Newcastle for Obinze's wedding to
Cleotilde. Two policemen watch them carefully as they enter
the civil center. Obinze's pang of fear turns into a "dull echo of
an aftermath" as he is arrested for being in England beyond
the expiration date of his visa. He is handcuffed, taken to a
police station, and placed in a jail cell. When his state-
appointed lawyer arrives, Obinze says he is willing to go back
to Nigeria. He can feel his dignity slipping away.
Obinze is first taken to a holding area in the Manchester
Airport. Three other men, two of whom are from Nigeria, are
already there. Obinze asks an immigration officer for
something to read, but she just laughs at him. He goes to the
TV room, where men talk about how they were caught and how
many times they've been deported. Iloba, Nicholas, and Ojiugo
visit. They want to help, but there's nothing they can do. Obinze
thinks of Ifemelu. Then he is taken to Dover, a former prison,
where he is imprisoned with another Nigerian who seems to be
crumbling under the stress of the situation. Obinze stops
eating.
After an untold number of days, Obinze and seven other
Nigerians are handcuffed and marched onto an airplane for the
flight home. The paying passengers stare at them and the
Nigerian flight attendants treat them with disdain. After the
other passengers disembark, an immigration officer leads the
deportees into an office, where he asks for a bribe. Obinze
hands him a £10 note and then goes outside where his mother
is waiting for him.
Analysis
Back in Nigeria, Emenike lied about his heritage and put on a
false air of superiority to impress his friends. Now he is living
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Chapter Summaries 41
the life he always imagined. But instead of using his good
fortune to help Obinze, he lords his wealth and position over
him. Emenike's monetary gift to Obinze is nothing more than a
power play. He wants Obinze to feel embarrassed for asking
for a loan and hopes to embarrass him even more by insisting
it's a gift. While Obinze would normally find Emenike's actions
embarrassing, he's so tired of struggling just to get by that he
finds himself relieved that he doesn't have to repay the loan.
Emenike is extraordinarily careful when he speaks about race
to his British friends, all of whom are white. He adopts a light,
nonconfrontational tone when talking about race and racism.
Since his ultimate goal is to be envied by all, he does
everything he can to avoid the stereotypes of his ethnicity and
race. He's incredibly good at it, as evidenced by Alexa's
disbelief that he ever experienced racism in England.
Alexa is another example of a white character who doesn't
understand the nuances of race, immigration, and life in Africa.
Her privilege blinds her to the inequities and racism in her
homeland. She truly believes that racism doesn't exist in
London, at least in the parts of London where she lives. Racism
doesn't directly affect her, so she thinks it doesn't exist.
Adichie uses the dinner party scene to compare the cultural
differences pertaining to race in England and the United
States. As Obinze puts it, a black child and white child who live
in the same British neighborhood could easily be friends while
a white child from a poor neighborhood probably wouldn't be
friends with a white child from a wealthy neighborhood. The
opposite is true in the United States, where people are
separated by race more than social class. Class is more
important than race in England and vice versa in the United
States.
Obinze is going to have to settle for what Nigeria has to offer,
at least for a while. Vincent turns him in, and he is apprehended
before he can marry Cleotilde. Had the ceremony taken place,
Obinze would have been safe. Everything he has worked for
over the past three years is suddenly moot and he's back
where he started.
Obinze is different from the other immigrant waiting to be
deported. This is the first and only time he will try to immigrate
to England. Many of the other men he is detained with are on
their second attempt and have plans for future efforts. They
are not bothered by the consequences or embarrassed to
have been caught and sent home in shame. They feel like
heroes. The reader and Obinze don't know these men's
Americanah Study Guide
histories and backgrounds, but one can infer that the dreams
they're chasing abroad outweigh the risks of being sent home
again. They will do anything to rise above their station, even if
they have to lie to get there. This kind of behavior never felt
right to Obinze, and he won't attempt it again.
Part 4, Chapters 31–32
Summary
Part 4, Chapter 31
Ifemelu cheats on Curt with her neighbor, a scruffy guy named
Rob who wears ripped jeans and flannel shirts. Curt at first
doesn't believe Ifemelu when she confesses, but then he
becomes angry. He insults her and refuses to see her or talk to
her ever again. Ginika thinks Ifemelu is a "self-sabotager"—first
she ghosted Obinze and now she ruined her relationship with
Curt. Ifemelu insists the dalliance with Rob was a mistake, but
in private, she admits "she had not entirely believed herself"
while she was with Curt. His life was too perfect. Sometimes
she wanted to "create rough edges, to squash his sunniness,
even if just a little."
Years later, Ifemelu and Blaine are at a party celebrating
Barack Obama's first presidential inauguration when Ifemelu
gets into a fight with a Haitian poet who says race was never
an issue when she had a long-term white boyfriend. Insisting
that race is always an issue, Ifemelu describes how race
affected her relationship with Curt and why interracial couples
say race doesn't matter. "That's what we're supposed to say,
to keep our nice liberal friends comfortable," she says.
Ifemelu remembers how Curt yelled at an Asian salon
employee who told Ifemelu they couldn't wax her eyebrows
because they didn't "do curly" and how white women stared at
her when they realized she and Curt were together. She thinks
about the time Curt told off his mother when she said America
was "color-blind" but how he also turned a blind eye to his
aunt's constant references to Kenya, Nelson Mandela, and
Harry Belafonte. "There were, simply, times that he saw and
times that he was unable to see," the narrator says.
Ifemelu usually kept her thoughts about race to herself, but
there was one time when she couldn't help but show Curt he
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Chapter Summaries 42
was wrong. After he pronounced Essence magazine as being
"racially skewed," Ifemelu took him a bookstore and made him
flip through women's magazines. Out of thousands of pages,
only three black women were pictured. She explained how
magazines written for white women completely ignored hair
care and makeup for black women. Ifemelu wrote about the
experience to Wambui that night, who said Ifemelu should start
a blog. A few weeks after breaking up with Curt, she did.
At the dinner party, Ifemelu recited the last lines of her first
blog post, which was about how the solution to racism is
romantic love, "the kind that twists you and wrings you out."
She believed this because that type of love is so rare and that
"the problem of race in America will never be solved." Everyone
around the table, save the hostess, looks uncomfortable.
The chapter ends with a post from Ifemelu's blog about hair as
a metaphor for race. It was prompted by a white friend who
was shocked that Michelle Obama's hair doesn't naturally grow
silky and straight. Writing anonymously, Ifemelu says that
Barack Obama would lose the independent and undecided
Democratic vote if his wife had natural hair. She ends the post
with her own hair care routine.
Part 4, Chapter 32
Ifemelu spends weeks after the breakup trying to remember
who she was before she met Curt. Work is boring and
meaningless, and her apartment no longer feels like home. She
spends every weekend with Dike and Aunty Uju, who has a
kind and devoted Ghanaian boyfriend named Kweku. Uju thinks
Ifemelu is crazy for letting her relationship with Curt end.
Ifemelu's parents finally come to the United States for a visit.
Their appearances haven't changed, "but the dignity [Ifemelu]
remembered was gone, and left instead something small, a
provincial eagerness." She is horrified to find herself sneering
at the things they find exciting—the industrial carpeting in her
apartment, faux-leather purses from Kmart, a photo of
themselves in front of the J.C. Penney sign. Before they leave,
her mother asks if she has a boyfriend and then encourages
her to find one because "a woman is like a flower. Our time
passes quickly." Not long after they depart, Ifemelu suddenly
quits her job. She is just as surprised about it as her manager.
The chapter ends with a brief excerpt from a blog post about
how scientists and doctors can't seem to agree whether race
is an indicator of genetic difference or not.
Americanah Study Guide
Analysis
Ifemelu's visit with her parents is an eye-opener. She has lived
in the United States for at least seven years, but she doesn't
really see how Americanized she has become until she sees
her parents again. Just as many Americans think of Africans,
she views her parents as being unsophisticated. She's
ashamed of her feelings and irritated with her parents for not
automatically fitting in. Assimilation has become second nature
to Ifemelu, and she expects the same of others.
Even though Ifemelu managed to assimilate into American
culture, she wasn't able to break her bad relationship habits.
Ginika is right: Ifemelu is a self-sabotager. In her previous
relationship with Obinze and her relationship with Curt, she
always had to resist the desire to pick fights or find faults in
her partner. Ifemelu loved both men and wanted to be with
them, but their perfection scared her. Ifemelu isn't interested in
a perfect life. It might be fun for a while, but it also doesn't
seem real.
Cheating on Curt shows Ifemelu a side of her boyfriend she'd
never seen before. "How could you do this to me? I was so
good to you," he says. He viewed their relationship as one
where he was the giver and she was the taker, not an equal
partnership. He liked being the one with the money and the
status, and he viewed Ifemelu as both a reward for and an
emblem of his generosity and open-mindedness. His friends
know him as the "brave" man who is dating an African woman.
Without Ifemelu's devotion, he loses that prestige. Curt did
truly love Ifemelu, but part of that love stemmed from how their
relationship made him look to others.
Race is a major theme throughout Americanah. Part 4, Chapter
31, examines the differences in how white people and black
people experience it, think about it, and talk about it. Through
Ifemelu's conversation with the Ghanaian poet, Adichie points
out that Americans go to great lengths to ignore race or
pretend it doesn't exist. But issues that remain ignored can't be
solved. Ifemelu (and, it can be inferred, Adichie) believes that
Americans need to acknowledge the existence of race so they
can deal with the myths and rifts associated with it.
Ifemelu's outsider's perspective allows her to see both sides of
the racial divide. African Americans don't talk about race and
their experiences with racism because they don't want to make
their white friends feel uncomfortable and they don't want to
fall into the stereotype of the angry black man or woman.
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Chapter Summaries 43
White people don't talk about race because their position of
racial privilege protects them from experiences common to
people of other races. They can't bring up what they don't
know. Often, they assume the problem of racism has been
solved because acts of racial discrimination aren't as overt as
in the past. Even when matters of racial inequity are explained
to them, such as when Ifemelu makes Curt flip through
thousands of magazine pages, many white people still don't get
it. To them, racism exists only when people are insulted, hurt,
or denied service because of the way people look. They don't
consider lack of representation, opportunity, or information to
be directly connected to systemic prejudice.
The subject of hair comes up a lot in Americanah. In many
instances, it represents Ifemelu's cultural and personal identity.
In her blog post in Part 4, Chapter 31, she uses it as a
metaphor for race. As she explains it, white people are so used
to being the majority that they assume everyone is just like
them and/or wants to be like them. That's why white American
society views relaxed and straightened black hair as more
acceptable than natural black hair. When white people do
notice something different, such as an afro, they assume
something has been done to make a black person's hair divert
from what (they believe) nature intended. Relaxed and
straightened hair makes black people look more like white
people, which makes white people feel more comfortable. If
Michelle Obama had worn her hair in an afro, dreadlocks, or
braids, she would have been perceived as different, which
would have made white voters uncomfortable and more likely
to vote for the opposition.
The details about Ifemelu's hair care routine at the end of the
blog post shouldn't be overlooked. By including this
information, Adichie is educating white readers about
something black readers have long known: a black person
caring for their hair, even relaxed hair, is vastly different from a
white person caring for their hair. Presenting Ifemelu's routine
is also a direct rebuke to the dozens of beauty magazines
whose recommendations and instructions ignore an entire
racial demographic.
Part 4, Chapters 33–34
Americanah Study Guide
Summary
Part 4, Chapter 33
The readership of Ifemelu's blog grows exponentially. Soon,
readers are asking to make donations to support her work,
then followers are asking if they can advertise their homemade
products. Before long, national brands are advertising on her
site. Ifemelu, known online and in print articles only as "The
Blogger," starts giving lectures on diversity to companies and
organizations.
Her first presentation, given to a small company in Ohio, is
about the different types and levels of racism. The response
isn't great, and that night she receives an e-mail telling her she
is a racist and she "SHOULD BE GRATEFUL WE LET YOU
INTO THIS COUNTRY." After that, "she began to say what they
wanted to hear," congratulating her mostly white audiences on
decreasing the level of racism in the United States. On her
blog, she still writes things such as, "racism should never have
happened and so you don't get a cookie for reducing it."
The blogging business is good. Even though she worries that
her identity will someday be exposed and people will discover
she's just a woman jotting down her thoughts from her home
office, she can soon afford to hire an intern and purchase her
own two-bedroom condo.
The chapter ends with a brief blog post that encourages
"Zipped-Up Negroes" to share stories about their personal
experiences with racism.
Part 4, Chapter 34
Eight years after they met on the train, Ifemelu and Blaine
reconnect at a Blogging while Brown convention. She has
thought about him frequently since then, and he has thought
about her. Their phone calls and blog comments build to a
romantic in-person relationship, and before long Ifemelu is
spending most of her time in Blaine's New Haven, Connecticut,
apartment. Ifemelu is captivated by Blaine's kindness,
intelligence, and overall goodness, yet she also sometimes
feels like a student who is disappointing her favorite teacher.
Blaine pushes Ifemelu to make her blog more factual and
seems genuinely puzzled when Ifemelu's opinions about art,
literature, and music don't mirror his. They also diverge in how
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Chapter Summaries 44
they handle racially charged interactions. Blaine is appalled
when Ifemelu allows a white woman to touch her hair while
waiting in line at the grocery store. Ifemelu later argues, "How
else will she know what hair like mine feels like?"
Ifemelu tells her parents about Blaine a year into their
relationship, just as she moves to New Haven permanently. Her
father can't believe she's dating "an American Negro" instead
of a Nigerian, but her mother doesn't mind as long as he's not a
devil worshipper. Even though Ifemelu can easily imagine her
future life with Blaine—home-cooked meals of hearty grains
and organic produce, a crib in the spare room, regular joint
trips to the gym—she assures her mother there's no rush to
start planning a traditional Nigerian wedding.
The chapter ends with an excerpt from Ifemelu's blog, titled,
"Job Vacancy in America—National Arbiter in Chief of 'Who Is
Racist.'" In it, she explains that although racism still exists in
the United States, the notion of individuals being labeled as
racists disappeared with the civil rights movement of the 1950s
and 1960s. She facetiously suggests that "somebody needs to
get the job of deciding who is racist and who isn't."
Analysis
It isn't a coincidence that Ifemelu starts her blog after her
relationship with Curt ends. Their breakup made her realize
that she had things to say about race in America but didn't
have anyone to say them to. She didn't feel comfortable talking
to Curt or to their mutual friends about race because they
were all American, and Americans don't talk about race. She
needed an audience of immigrants, but as she realized when
she ran into Kayode at the mall in Part 2, Chapter 22, she didn't
really know many other black immigrants, save Wambui. So she
took her thoughts to the Internet, which is also where she
found other natural hair enthusiasts.
The blog quickly becomes all-encompassing and takes on a life
of its own. Ifemelu begins to feel as if she were a part of it
instead of it being a part of her. For the most part, she
manages to maintain her anonymity, even when she begins
giving corporate and university presentations about diversity.
That's because the people in her diversity workshops don't
care about who she is or the name of her blog. They're mostly
white and not very interested in the realities of racial
discrimination or prejudice in the workplace. They attend her
seminars out of obligation, probably to fulfill diversity training
Americanah Study Guide Chapter Summaries 45

requirements set forth by their employers. These are not into the type of woman with whom he would fall in love instead
people who will seek out her blog for more information. They're of maintaining her own ways and expecting him to love her as
not even people who can be convinced of the existence of she is.
systemic racism. Ifemelu changes her message for these in-
person presentations because she understands she's not
being hired to educate but to simply make the company look Part 4, Chapters 35–36
like it values and supports a diverse workforce. If she said
anything remotely negative about race in corporate America,
she wouldn't get hired again.
Summary
Ifemelu instead saves her honesty for her blog. It's not just a
place where she talks about her experiences but is a space
where other people of color can also share stories about how Part 4, Chapter 35
race affects them. In sharing her views, she had inadvertently
Blaine receives a phone call from his sister, Shan. She's in the
created a community for others looking for an outlet of their
midst of "another small meltdown" about the cover selection
own, much like the hair care website that helped her embrace
for her first published book, so he and Ifemelu go to New York
her natural hair all those years ago. Ifemelu feels safe saying
City to visit her for the weekend. Shan is petite, graceful,
what she really thinks on her blog because nobody knows who
intelligent, and completely self-absorbed. "When Shan walked
she is. This anonymity, at least where the general public is
into a room, all the air disappeared," the narrator notes.
concerned, is important. Otherwise, she, too, would be one of
Despite herself, Ifemelu finds herself wanting to impress Shan.
those "zipped-up negroes" who keep their views about race to
Perhaps it's because of how much Blaine clearly adores her, or
themselves so as to keep others comfortable and keep
maybe it's simply how Shan "dripped power, a subtle and
themselves safe from harassment and physical harm.
devastating kind."
From a racial standpoint, Ifemelu and Blaine have much more in
Shan casually boasts about a wealthy Frenchman who is
common than she and Curt ever did. But Ifemelu and Blaine still
pursuing her despite the fact that she's in a relationship, then
have cultural differences. For example, Ifemelu doesn't see the
she criticizes white American men who refuse to date black
harm in a white woman touching her hair, but Blaine does. He
women. When Ifemelu points out that she personally gets "a lot
equates the white woman's actions with the historical racial
more interest from white men than from African American
supremacy, when white people owned black people and felt
men," Shan dismisses her experiences as nothing more than a
they had the right to use their bodies as they saw fit. Ifemelu
product of her "exotic credential." Ifemelu becomes irritated
doesn't have this same reaction because she didn't grow up in
with Shan and then with Blaine, who doesn't stick up for her.
the United States. The history of white supremacy and slavery
Still, Ifemelu finds herself asking Shan to be a guest blogger
is not part of her social context. The cultural barrier between
once Shan's book is published.
Blaine and Ifemelu is perhaps even harder to overcome than
the racial barrier she faced with Curt. It was easy for Curt and The chapter ends with a blog post called, "Obama Can Win
Ifemelu to look at one another and to know they came from Only If He Remains the Magic Negro." By this, Ifemelu means
different backgrounds. But when Blaine and Ifemelu look at that Barack Obama will not win the presidential election if he
one another, they see someone who looks like them, which acknowledges the existence of "a harsher, uglier America"
makes it easy to forget their differences. when it comes to race relations.

Blaine is the third of Ifemelu's long-term boyfriends. Like

Obinze and Curt before him, Ifemelu finds him to be full of
goodness and perfection. He eats organic food, fights against
social injustice, goes to great lengths to be environmentally
friendly, and exercises often. He even flosses regularly (which
to Ifemelu seems absurd). As with Curt, Ifemelu quickly molds
herself to Blaine's lifestyle and standards. She changes herself
Part 4, Chapter 36
Ifemelu feels ill at ease with Blaine's friends, who are mostly
professors or attached to Yale University through fellowships
or other academic pursuits. They gather on the evening of
Barack Obama's presidential announcement to celebrate the

Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.

Americanah Study Guide
birthday of Blaine's friend, Marcia. Blaine's white ex-girlfriend,
Paula, is there, as is Paula's partner, Pee (short for Paula). As
they celebrate, they also discuss Obama's prospects for the
presidency. Pee says she's "ready" for a black president, but
she doesn't think the rest of the country is. This upsets Paula,
who accuses Pee of getting her opinions from Paula's mother.
Grace, a Korean American professor of African American
studies, thinks Obama isn't ready to be president. He will "ruin
it" for future black candidates. Michael, an African American
photographer, thinks Obama will be murdered before he can
become president. Ifemelu is rooting for Hillary Clinton.
Ifemelu likes Paula, but she's also jealous of the shared
romantic and cultural history she has with Blaine and the way
she has an "air of a real ideologue." At one point, Paula reads
aloud one of Ifemelu's blog posts that she assigned to her
class. It instructs American nonblacks on what not to say when
talking about race with American black people and points out
multiple examples of privilege that most white people take for
granted.
The chapter ends with a blog post called "Traveling While
Black," which is about a friend of a friend who is writing about
his experiences as a dark black man traveling around the
world. Ifemelu invites readers to share their own travel stories.
Analysis
Ifemelu's relationship with Blaine is threatened by two people:
Shan and Paula. Shan is the more immediate threat. She wants
all of Blaine's attention—really, everyone's attention—for
herself. She gets it by revolving through a variety of personas:
needy, distant, enigmatic, confident, blunt, and charming.
Ifemelu doesn't like Shan at all, but she desperately wants
Shan to like her. Perhaps it's because she knows no woman
stands a chance of staying with Blaine without Shan's
approval, but it's also likely that Ifemelu simply craves Shan's
seal of approval. Although she would probably deny it, Ifemelu
is constantly bending herself to please others during her time
in the United States. She's not trying to come off as American
or African American—she's moderating her views to be more
likable to people by avoiding conflict and disagreement at all
costs. Obinze does the same thing during Emenike's dinner
party in Part 3, Chapter 29. Neither one of them behaved that
way in Nigeria, nor with each other.
Paula is also a threat to Ifemelu's relationship with Blaine but in
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Chapter Summaries 46
a different way. Paula no longer stakes any claim on Blaine.
She has Pee, and she and Blaine are simply good friends. But
Ifemelu feels threatened by her because of the personal and
cultural history she and Blaine share. Even though Paula is
white, she has a better grasp of the history of oppression in
the United States than Ifemelu, which means she can
understand and empathize with Blaine's worldview better than
Ifemelu. Even though Ifemelu and Blaine are technically the
same race, their different ethnicities prevent them from fully
understanding one another. Ifemelu's awareness of this and
concerns about it threatens to crack their relationship.
The conversation at Marcia's birthday party about Barack
Obama's presidential candidacy subtly reveals how each
character feels about race in the United States. Michael, an
African American, has a very negative view of race relations in
the United States, as evidenced by his declaration that Obama
will be shot before he gets the chance to take office.
Grace—the Korean American professor of African American
studies—and Pee both think that the majority of white people
aren't ready to elect a black president. Grace worries that a
defeat will set racial equality back by about 50 years. But the
most telling endorsement is Ifemelu's. Race is not the first
thing she looks at when thinking about presidential candidates.
Unlike everyone else in the room, it doesn't matter to her that
Obama is black. A lot of this has to do with the fact that she
never considered herself black until she moved to the United
States. Skin color isn't an immediate social cue for her. Coming
from a country where there are few, if any, women in power,
she's more likely to gravitate toward someone because of their
gender. This is why she initially aligns herself with Hillary
Clinton.
Blaine supports Obama, which is one of the reasons why
Ifemelu begins supporting Obama too. She often blogs about
Obama and what he means to Americans. Her blog post at the
end of Part 4, Chapter 35, calls him a "Magic Negro." This term,
which was first used by sociologists in the 20th century, is
used to describe black men who seemingly appear out of
nowhere to help white people get over their guilt about slavery
and segregation. Magic Negroes are unfailingly kind,
comforting, and never ask for anything in return. Ifemelu's blog
post suggests that if Obama wants to win the 2008
presidential election, he cannot say anything remotely negative
about the current condition of race relations in the United
States. Even though he is black, he must in essence publicly
take the white perspective that the problems of racism were
solved during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and
Americanah Study Guide
1960s. Ifemelu's views of race coincide with those of Grace
and Pee—most white people aren't ready for an authentically
black president.
Part 4, Chapters 37–38
Summary
Part 4, Chapter 37
Dike is growing up. He's a lanky teenager with a girlfriend and a
solid group of friends—most of whom are white. He's the
indisputable leader of the pack, but Ifemelu doesn't understand
why he adds words such as "ain't" and "y'all" to his vocabulary
when he talks to them. Ifemelu is certain Dike is going to be
one of those people who is adored by everyone he meets.
Ifemelu and Blaine go to New York City for one of Shan's
salons, which are gatherings of intellectual friends over
cocktails. The crowd that evening includes writers, professors,
lesbians, heterosexuals, and people of all races. Shan tells
everyone about how her editor wanted her memoir to
"transcend race," meaning that he wanted her to pretend race
wasn't a factor in situations where it clearly was. At the end of
her monologue, she declares, "You can't write an honest novel
about race in this country." This steers the group into a
conversation about American fiction, which Shan says just
shows "dysfunctional white folk doing things that are weird to
normal white folks."
The atmosphere in the room changes when Shan tells
everyone Ifemelu can get away with writing her blog because
she's "writing from the outside. She doesn't really feel all the
stuff she's writing about." If Ifemelu were African American,
nobody would be hiring her to give diversity talks or fawning
over her essays. "She'd just be labeled angry and shunned,"
Shan says. Ifemelu finally breaks the silence by acknowledging
the fairness of Shan's assessment, then she gets mad at
herself "for bending to Shan's spell." Blaine kind of defends
Ifemelu, but his words are "too limp, too late."
The chapter ends with a blog post titled, "Is Obama Anything
But Black?" The content is about racism being based on
appearance, not heritage.
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 47
Part 4, Chapter 38
Ifemelu and Blaine have their first big fight. Blaine organizes a
protest in front of the library in honor of Mr. White, the African
American security guard at the Yale library, who was
befriended by Blaine long ago. A white library employee saw
Mr. White hand his car keys to a black friend, who then handed
Mr. White some cash to pay back a loan. The white employee
thought it was a drug deal and called a supervisor. The police
got involved, and Mr. White was taken away for questioning. He
ultimately wasn't arrested, but Blaine is deeply distressed by
the situation.
Blaine assumes Ifemelu will come to the protest, but she has
other plans he doesn't know about, namely a going-away lunch
for a professor she knows tangentially. It is only while at the
lunch that she starts to feel guilty for not attending the protest,
so she goes home early and texts Blaine that she woke up late
from a nap. Blaine learns the truth the next day. He's incredibly
upset that Ifemelu lied to him and even more upset when she
says, "I just didn't feel up to it." He accuses her of writing about
a life she doesn't really live. Ifemelu interprets this as a
criticism "not merely about her laziness, her lack of zeal and
conviction, but also about her Africanness." Blaine's best friend
Araminta assures Ifemelu he will get over it, but after three
days, he's still not speaking to her. She packs her bags and
goes to Willow.
The chapter ends with a blog post about white privilege, which
includes a questionnaire so that readers can evaluate their
own level of privilege.
Analysis
The cracks in Ifemelu and Blaine's relationship begin to form at
Shan's salon. These gatherings aren't a conversation between
intellectuals, as Blaine insists, but a captive and receptive
audience for Shan's melodramatic monologues. She always
makes sure she is at the center of attention and conversation,
even if it means putting other people down to get a reaction. In
a word, she's a bully. Shan isn't wrong when she says that
Ifemelu is able to write her blog because she isn't American.
The whole point of Ifemelu's blog is that she's not American,
which allows her to look at race from a different perspective.
But Shan is misinterpreting Ifemelu's intent. She thinks
Ifemelu's blog is a commentary on racism in the United States
from the perspective of a black person. However, it's not that
Americanah Study Guide
simple. Ifemelu isn't speaking for black people in general—she's
speaking from the point of view of an outsider.
Shan is being particularly hurtful when she says no one would
advertise on Ifemelu's blog or hire her for diversity training if
she weren't from another country. She's at once implying that
Ifemelu isn't a good enough writer or speaker to deserve
money for her work and buying into the stereotype of the
"exotic" other. She conflates Ifemelu's value with her
"otherness," just as Curt did. She's also being unfair when she
says Ifemelu "doesn't really feel all the stuff she's writing
about." Ifemelu has many feelings about the situations she
addresses in her blog: confusion, anger, annoyance, gladness.
Shan approaches the topic of race as if there is only one right
position: hers. She does not allow for other people's feelings or
curiosities and slams anyone who does not parrot her point of
view.
Ifemelu suspects that Shan's hostility toward her and her blog
have affected Blaine's opinion of her. Their fight isn't so much
about Ifemelu's choice not to go to the protest but about how
she is still African, not African American. Blaine is angry that
his causes aren't her causes. He wants her to share in his
anger and pain. He wants her to be more like him. This is one
change Ifemelu can't make. She does not have the cultural
context that fuels Blaine's outrage about the way Mr. White
was treated. Blaine acts as if this will change, as if Ifemelu will
at one point have lived in the United States long enough to feel
the weight and betrayal of the past. But this won't
happen—Ifemelu has her own country and her own past. Blaine
is tacitly asking her to give up one for the other, which is
impossible.
The blog post that ends Part 4, Chapter 38, is about white
privilege. White privilege is the term used to describe the
inherent societal advantages white people have because of
their race. For example, white people and black people in the
United States use drugs at similar rates, but black people are
six times more likely to be imprisoned for drug charges. Implicit
bias related to the color of their skin puts black people at an
automatic disadvantage and gives white people the advantage.
It happens all the time in employment, education, politics,
health care, the legal system, and social interactions. Adichie
places this blog post in the chapter about Mr. White to
emphasize that Mr. White was suspected of dealing drugs not
because money changed hands but because he was black.
Were he and his friend white, the police would never have been
called.
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 48
Part 4, Chapters 39–40
Summary
Part 4, Chapter 39
While Ifemelu is staying with Aunty Uju and Dike in Willow,
Aunty Uju tells her that Dike was suspected of hacking into the
school's computer network on a Saturday when they were out
of town. "The boy is not even good with computers," Uju says.
When Ifemelu asks why they singled out Dike, he laughs and
says, "you have to blame the black kid first." Later, Dike tells
Ifemelu how the pastor at church talks to him differently from
how she talks to the white kids and how his friends always ask
if he has any marijuana.
Blaine refuses to speak to Ifemelu for nine days. When he
finally answers the phone, he agrees that Ifemelu can come
home and cook them coconut rice.
The chapter ends with a blog post titled, "Understanding
America for the Non-American Black: A Few Explanations of
What Things Really Mean." In it, an anonymous Ifemelu
explains that Americans are uncomfortable with race, which
they sometimes refer to as "culture" or "diversity."
Part 4, Chapter 40
Things are not the same between Ifemelu and Blaine when
they get back together. She still admires him, but she's not
attracted to him. The only thing sustaining their relationship is
Barack Obama's presidential candidacy. Ifemelu was a Hillary
Clinton supporter until she read Obama's memoir, Dreams from
My Father. When she this to told Blaine, "she felt between them
the first pulse of a shared passion." They track the election
obsessively. Their moods change based on polling numbers
and campaign news, and Ifemelu gets online every morning to
make sure Obama is still alive. When Ifemelu learns she has
been awarded a research fellowship at Princeton University,
she and Blaine agree she won't leave until the election is over.
Ifemelu no longer feels excluded when hanging out with
Blaine's friends. She's not even jealous of Paula anymore. They
all have Obama in common. The only person who isn't on the
Americanah Study Guide
Obama wagon is Shan, who says she's "not following this
election." When Ifemelu suggests Shan read Obama's book,
Shan complains that nobody is reading her book.
Ifemelu can't vote in the election—she won't become a citizen
for a few more weeks—but she goes with Blaine when he casts
his. They watch election coverage with their friends that
evening. Everyone is ecstatic and tearful when Obama wins,
and Dike sends Ifemelu a text: "I can't believe it. My president is
black like me." At that moment, "nothing ... was more beautiful
to [Ifemelu] than America."
Part 4, Chapter 40, ends with a blog post about the "special
white friend" who understands racism and has no fear of
putting other white people in their place.
Analysis
When Ifemelu was in college, she often wondered whether
Dike would join the African Students Association (ASA) or the
Black Student Union (BSU). It is now clear that Dike would best
fit in with a BSU. He identifies as black, just like his new
president, who is also of African parentage and grew up in the
United States. Society, including Dike's teachers and the
administrators at his school, view him as African American and
assume he lives up to the stereotypes of his appearance. It
doesn't matter that Dike doesn't know the first thing about
computers or that he wasn't near one when the hacking
happened—all that matters to them is that he is one of the only
black kids in a predominantly white school.
Ifemelu hits the nail on the head when she blogs about the way
Americans aren't comfortable talking about race. When it is
talked about, language is coded so as not to offend or cause
controversy. That's how words such as diverse come to mean
different things to different people. As Ifemelu points out, white
people tend to think diversity is when 10 percent of a group
isn't white. Black people say "diverse" when the group is close
to 50 percent nonwhite. Her explanation about the word
culture brings to mind her former employer Kimberly, who
always said that nonwhite people come from "such rich
cultures." Ifemelu has often pushed readers on her blog to talk
about race with others who don't look like them or have the
same experiences. In addition to telling readers what language
to use, she is also suggesting that people use the words they
actually mean. Ignoring the existence of race doesn't make it
go away.
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 49
The "special white friend" mentioned in Ifemelu's blog post at
the end of Part 4, Chapter 40, is meant to be a generic
composite of people, but it quite closely resembles Paula. She
gets in Pee's face in Part 4, Chapter 36, when Pee says she is
ready for a black president but America isn't. Were Blaine or
Michael to say that, they would come across as the angry
black man. Paula's privilege allows her to say things that would
get people of color chastised or dismissed. In addition to
encouraging other white people to speak up for their friends of
color, Ifemelu's blog post is also a subtle thank you to Paula for
being an advocate.
Ifemelu isn't jealous of Paula anymore because she and Blaine
have something in common: Barack Obama. Obama's inclusion
injects a recognizable dose of reality for readers, especially
those old enough to remember his election, which opened
national discussions about race, politics, and privilege. It would
have been easy for Adichie to cast all her black characters as
Obama supporters, but she chose instead to show the
nuances of political affiliation and that looking alike doesn't
always mean thinking alike. Ifemelu first supports Hillary
Clinton, and Michael never gets on the Obama bandwagon.
With this, Adichie is implying that there is more to politics and
social alliances than sheer tribalism. There are many things in
the world that are more important than race.
Part 4, Chapter 41
Summary
Everyone else has gone home for the day, and Aisha and
Ifemelu are alone in the salon. Aisha is upset that her boyfriend
never came by to talk to Ifemelu. Suddenly, she asks Ifemelu
how she got her papers, meaning how she became an
American citizen. Ifemelu is offended at first—that's not a polite
question to ask—but softens after Aisha tells her she tried to
marry an American but the man was too demanding. Ifemelu
says her green card was sponsored by her employer.
Aisha tells Ifemelu that she didn't go home for her father's
funeral last year because she was afraid she wouldn't be
allowed back in the country. Her mother is sick now. If her
boyfriend marries her, she might be able to come back. Against
her will, Ifemelu finds herself offering to go to Aisha's
boyfriend's workplace and talk to him. It feels like the least she
Americanah Study Guide
can do since she will soon be able to go home and see her
parents.
On the train platform, Ifemelu takes a call from an inconsolable
Aunty Uju. She had found Dike nearly comatose on the couch
after he ingested an entire bottle of Tylenol.
Analysis
Ifemelu's and Aisha's immigration stories are very different.
Because of her education and social connections, Ifemelu was
able to find a job with an employer who would sponsor her
green card, or certification of permanent residency, which can
be an expensive and daunting process. Aisha doesn't have that
luxury. Mariama isn't in the position to sponsor her employees
for citizenship and may not even be a citizen herself. So Aisha
has to look for other ways to become a legal citizen, such as
marrying an American. This is why she's so upset that one of
her boyfriends didn't come to visit. As a citizen, he holds the
key to her future here.
Ifemelu doesn't want to get involved, but she can't help it. She
knows how relatively easy she has had it, and she feels guilty
when she's around those who are still trying to make their way
in this strange country. She also feels a sort of kinship with
Aisha and the other women in the salon. They may not be from
Nigeria, but they are foreigners from the same continent. In
some respects, she feels more understood by them than by
her American friends. At the same time, she's irritated with how
provincial, or small town, they seem. They remind her of why
she misses home and why she's nervous about going back.
Ifemelu won't be returning to Nigeria as soon as she hoped.
Dike's incident with the Tylenol wasn't an accident—it was a
suicide attempt. As Aunty Uju indicates when she tells Ifemelu
about the anti-nausea medication he took, it wasn't a mistake.
Ifemelu's carefree, quick-to-laugh cousin is not as happy as
she had thought.
Part 5, Chapter 42
Summary
Obinze checks his Blackberry relentlessly for a message from
Ifemelu. He is jealous of Blaine and worries that Ifemelu will be
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 50
a different person after so much time in the United States.
Without meaning to, he writes to her about his mother's death,
which happened some time ago. She writes back an hour later
with emotional condolences and tells him how much his mother
meant to her. She says she's "going through something right
now that gives [her] a sense of that kind of pain" but doesn't
elaborate. Instead, she asks for his phone number. He gives
her all five and tells her that he has thought of her at every
major event in his life and has known she would be the only
person to understand what he was going through.
Ten days go by without an e-mail or phone call. Obinze feels he
should apologize for doing "too much too soon," but he instead
writes long, detailed e-mails about his time in England. He has
never told these things to anyone, not even himself. "Writing
her also became a way of writing himself," the narrator says.
Ifemelu finally writes back. She tells him what happened with
Dike. Aunty Uju thinks Ifemelu is depressed, but instead of Dike
seeing a doctor or taking medication, he just spends a lot of
time with Ifemelu. She has loved reading about Obinze's time in
England and gives him the link to her now-defunct blog.
Ifemelu is all Obinze can think about during a visit with his wife,
Kosi, and some friends to a prospective preschool for his
daughter, Buchi. On the way home, Kosi says, "your mind is not
here." When he gets home, he reads all of Ifemelu's blog posts.
He can't imagine her writing them and feels "a sense of loss, as
though she had become a person he would no longer
recognize."
Analysis
Even when he was hurt by her and angry, Obinze has never
stopped loving Ifemelu. She was "always clasped in the palm of
his mind," even during the long stretch of time when they
weren't speaking. First love is powerful, but Obinze and
Ifemelu's connection goes beyond that. They are meant to be
together, or at least this is what Obinze thinks. It doesn't
matter that he has a wife and a child—as soon as Ifemelu
reenters his life, he devotes everything to her again. This is why
he's distressed by her blog. The Ifemelu he knew in secondary
school and university didn't talk like the one who wrote
Raceteenth. She didn't use American slang back then nor that
irreverent tone. And she knew nothing about race, a concept
that didn't crystallize for her until she set foot on American soil.
Obinze worries that he won't love the new Ifemelu as much as
Americanah Study Guide
the old one. If that's the case, he doesn't think he will ever have
the opportunity to experience the type of all-encompassing
passion and devotion he felt with Ifemelu. He has never met
another woman like her, and he probably never will.
Obinze doesn't yet know that Ifemelu broke up with Blaine, but
she gives him one very blatant clue: she calls him "Ceiling." It's
the pet name Ifemelu started using after they began having sex
during their university years. It was a reference to the time she
told him in Part 1, Chapter 2, "my eyes were open but I did not
see the ceiling. This never happened before." The first time
Ifemelu e-mailed Obinze after she stopped talking to him, she
called him by his first name. She and Blaine were still dating
and Obinze was about to marry Kosi. Calling him Ceiling now
shows her desire to reconnect as more than just friends.
Writing to Ifemelu about his time in England becomes a form of
therapy for Obinze. He was too confused and upset when he
first returned to Nigeria after his deportation to process
everything he'd been through. His constant fear of being
caught in the country illegally shaped the way he does
business today—even if he doesn't get the best end of the deal.
His dealings with Angolans resulted in his dislike for the
rampant corruption in his industry and in Lagos at large.
Obinze's experiences in England could have made him like the
Angolans or any of the deportees who were already planning
their return trips while in detention. Instead, it pushed him in
the opposite direction, crystallizing his sense of responsibility,
morality, and fairness.
Part 6, Chapter 43
Summary
Ifemelu stays with Dike and Aunty Uju for several weeks. She
alternately blames herself for Dike's suicide attempt, then
blames Aunty Uju. She reminds Uju of the time Dike referred to
himself and his mother as "we black folk" and Aunty Uju told
him he was not black. "You told him what he wasn't but you
didn't tell him what he was," Ifemelu accuses. Instead of getting
angry, Aunty Uju quietly and gently reminds Ifemelu that Dike
has depression. Ifemelu insists his depression "is because of
his experience."
Ifemelu begins to relax as the weeks pass. She takes Dike to
Miami for his 17th birthday. They talk about everything except
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 51
what happened. As she wishes he would stay a child forever,
he tells her, "Coz, you should go," meaning she should go to
Nigeria. She makes him promise to visit her.
Analysis
Ifemelu feels partially responsible for Dike's suicide attempt.
Like many family members and friends of those who attempt
suicide, she thinks she wasn't there for him enough when he
needed her. She takes the event decidedly worse than Aunty
Uju, who as a doctor understands that Dike's suicide attempt is
related to a disease. Although she has suffered from
depression herself and has lived in the United States for 13
years, Ifemelu still can't bring herself to view depression as a
medical condition. Depression isn't named in Nigeria, and
Ifemelu still finds it strange that feelings of sadness and
despair can be classified as sickness and be treated with
medication.
It is also hard for her to reconcile the sadness and despair Dike
must have been feeling with the boisterous, laughing boy she
always saw during her visits. Now she realizes his jovial
demeanor might have been "a shield, and underneath, there
might have been a growing pea plant of trauma." The trauma of
which the narrator speaks is Dike's uncertainty of his identity.
Not only does he not know anything about his birth father, but
he is constantly trying to figure out where he belongs in his
mostly white school and community. He and his friends
perceive him as African American, but his mother insists he
isn't. She tells Ifemelu this is because she didn't want him to
start acting like an African American and "thinking that
everything that happens to him is because he's black." Like
Ifemelu, Aunty Uju cannot fully grasp the impact race has on
the everyday life of African Americans. But Dike grew up in the
United States. He knows the country's history, and from a
young age he has known what it's like to be perceived as
"other." No matter what his mother tells him, he identifies as
African American.
Part 7, Chapters 44–45
Americanah Study Guide
Summary
Part 7, Chapter 44
Ifemelu is back in Nigeria. Driving through Lagos with her friend
Ranyinudo, she finds Lagos dizzying and overwhelming but
also feels like she's "falling into the strange familiar." Ranyinudo
jabbers about the wedding she just left, talking about a
handsome man who she believes is "serious husband material"
and how the bridesmaids were forced to wait outside during
mass because their spaghetti-strapped dresses "were
indecent." Ifemelu is too busy watching the city pass by to pay
much attention.
While watching TV at Ranyinudo's apartment that night,
Ifemelu and Ranyinudo talk about the married man Ranyinudo
has been dating for two years. Ranyinudo tells Ifemelu about
their mutual friends from school—this one is an event planner,
this one works in a bank—and Ifemelu wonders what her life
would have been like had she stayed. As Ranyinudo complains
about the car her married boyfriend bought her, Ifemelu feels
"something between fascination and longing for Ranyinudo's
life," the kind where a person wants something and it appears.
Generators are running everywhere in Lagos—there has been
no electricity for a week. Ranyinudo turns hers off before they
go to bed. The air quickly becomes warm and humid without air
conditioning. Suddenly glad to have an American passport in
her bag, Ifemelu complains about the humidity. Ranyinudo
laughs and calls her "Americanah!"
Part 7, Chapter 45
Ifemelu is hired to be the features editor at a relatively new
women's magazine called Zoe. Onenu, the publisher, invites
Ifemelu to her home for a chat, which Ifemelu finds odd. But
after all, "this was Nigeria, where boundaries were blurred,
where work blended into life." Without prompting, Ifemelu
begins offering ideas about how the magazine can be
improved. Aunty Onenu, as she insists on being called, doesn't
say much in response. When they leave, Ranyinudo says she
can't believe Ifemelu talked to her new boss like that. "If you
had not come from America, she would have fired you
immediately," she says. On the way home, Ranyinudo raves
about how beautiful Aunty Onenu's house is and the size and
silence of her generator. Ifemelu, who thought the house was
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 52
ugly, is annoyed she didn't notice the generator. "This was
what a true Lagosian should have noticed: the generator
house, the generator size," the narrator says.
Ifemelu rents an apartment in Ikoyi, a wealthy suburb of Lagos.
The landlord says he doesn't usually rent to Igbos, but he
makes an exception because Ifemelu lived in the United States.
The apartment isn't in great shape, so Ifemelu arranges for air
conditioners to be installed and the bathroom tile to be
replaced. The tiler does a terrible job. Ifemelu refuses to pay
him what they agreed upon unless he fixes it, and then she
threatens to call the police commissioner. "Do you know who I
am?" she shouts. Later, she relays the story to Ranyinudo, who
says she's no longer acting like an Americanah.
Ranyinudo doesn't understand why Ifemelu hasn't called
Obinze since she's been home. He could have helped her find a
good apartment, or at least a good tiler. Ranyinudo doesn't
know that Ifemelu has e-mailed him briefly a few times but
hasn't yet told him she is back.
Analysis
Ifemelu and the city of Lagos have both changed during the 13
years Ifemelu spent in the United States. As the narrator says,
she is "no longer sure what was new in Lagos and what was
new in herself." The most notable change in Lagosian life is the
influx of Western culture. Before Ifemelu went to the United
States, everyone watched state-owned Nigerian television.
Now, no one does. Instead, they watch Western channels such
as E!, CNN, and the BBC. Adichie includes this detail to help
American and European readers understand that Nigeria isn't
politically, socially, or culturally sequestered from the rest of
the world, nor is it the "Third World" developing nation that so
many Westerners imagine when they think of Africa. It has
roads, cars, restaurants, cell phones, and cable television.
Ifemelu has changed a lot more than her hometown. Nigerian
architecture no longer appeals to her, humidity that was once
normal now seems oppressive, and the rules about what a
woman can wear inside a church seem too conservative. Even
though she grew up in Lagos, Ifemelu is used to the American
way of life. Ranyinudo is teasing Ifemelu when she calls her
"Americanah," but she's also telling her that she needs to get
over herself. Lagos is Lagos. It's not going to change just
because Ifemelu lived somewhere else for 13 years. She will
have to be the one to adapt. But Ifemelu is not sure if she can
Americanah Study Guide
do that. She's glad to have her American passport in her bag
because it represents her ability to leave. Unlike most of her
friends and family, she has a choice about where she lives. The
mere thought of this helps her relax.
Ifemelu also looks at relationships differently since she first left
Nigeria. She no longer believes that employees need to agree
with everything their boss says and does. This is partly
because employment in America is generally viewed as a
business transaction without the facade of friendship like the
one Aunty Onenu insists on. Ifemelu isn't used to those lines
being blurred. She also hasn't yet realized that Aunty Onenu
didn't hire Ifemelu to help Zoe beat the competition—she just
wanted the social cachet that comes along with having an
American returnee on staff.
The transactional nature of Nigerian romantic relationships is
also a sticking point for Ifemelu. She has always known that
power and money can be powerful aphrodisiacs—she saw that
firsthand with Aunty Uju and The General. Now she sees her
friend engaging in similar behavior. Ranyinudo's first priority
isn't love—it's material comfort. "You should have seen his
watch! He's into oil," she brags to Ifemelu about the man she
met at the wedding. This, plus the business card with
international phone numbers, makes him seem like "serious
husband material." It doesn't matter that Ranyinudo already
has a married boyfriend who bought her a car and will probably
buy her another one—she's always looking for someone who
can provide more and who will be willing to marry her.
Ifemelu doesn't share this view. She searches not for material
comfort but for emotional, intellectual, and cultural connections
in her romantic partners. It is situationally ironic that she's
jealous of Ranyinudo for having the kind of life where she can
want something and it appears—this is pretty much what
Ifemelu's life was like with Curt. But nice things and trips
weren't as important to Ifemelu as they are to Ranyinudo, "for
whom men existed only as sources of things." If they were, she
and Curt would probably still be together.
Part 7, Chapters 46–47
Summary
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 53
Part 7, Chapter 46
Ifemelu spends her weekends in her parents' apartment,
chatting with the neighbors and listening to her parents' stories
about their visit to Baltimore all those years ago. She humors
them and hopes they don't bring up Blaine, who she says has
delayed his trip because of an issue at work. She lies to her
friends about Blaine too. It's easier to say they're together than
to listen to them feel sorry for her because she isn't married. It
seems as if her old friends only want to talk about who is
marrying whom, whose husband is a lout, and who is
suspected of cheating.
Ifemelu's only school friend who doesn't want to talk about
marriage is Tochi, who spends their visit bashing the United
States. Ifemelu appeases her by only talking about the bad
parts of America. She's glad when Tochi's baby throws up,
ending the visit.
Priye is an up-and-coming wedding planner. She and
Ranyinudo judge the success of a wedding based on how
many governors are in attendance. Ifemelu thinks this is
absurd. Priye and Ranyinudo also agree that "you do not marry
the man you love. You marry the man who can best maintain
you." Priye tells Ifemelu she'll do her wedding at no
commission. Ifemelu says she and Blaine will probably get
married on the beach.
Part 7, Chapter 47
Ifemelu begins her job at Zoe. On her first day, she meets
Esther, the receptionist; Doris, the editor who used to live in
the United States; and Zemaye, the assistant editor. Esther,
who is older than Ifemelu, calls her by the honorific ma and
expects Ifemelu to "play the madam." Doris speaks "with a
teenager American accent that made her sentences sound like
questions." Doris and Zemaye, an inscrutable woman who isn't
impressed by people who have lived abroad, don't get along at
all. Doris invites Ifemelu to the Nigerpolitan Club, which is a
regular gathering of people who have recently moved back to
Nigeria from the United States or England.
After Doris leaves for a meeting at Aunty Onenu's house,
Zemaye asks about Ifemelu's former job as a race blogger and
her American boyfriend. Ifemelu is irritated that Aunty Onenu
seems to have told everyone in the office about Blaine. She's
even more shocked when Zemaye asks, "Why is it only black
Americanah Study Guide Chapter Summaries 54

people that are criminals over there?" before explaining that might be changing with the influx of Western culture. Cops is
she watches a lot of Cops and the criminals are always black. an American TV show in which real-life police officers arrest
Ifemelu doesn't have a good answer. real-life criminals. Because Cops shows a disproportionate
number of black people being arrested, Zemaye assumes that
only black people commit crimes in the United States. Even
Analysis though Nigerian society doesn't share the stereotype of the
African American criminal, its citizens are learning it through
An invisible gulf has formed between Ifemelu and her Western media.
secondary-school friends. The differences between the two
aren't so much about American culture versus Nigerian culture,
but about their life goals. There are still a lot of things Ifemelu Part 7, Chapters 48–49
would like to achieve professionally, such as starting a new
blog and eventually developing her own magazine. Her friends
really only care about getting married. This most likely would
have been the case had Ifemelu stayed in Nigeria. She enjoys
Summary
having a partner and being in love, but getting married is not
her top priority. Even if she were married, she would continue
pursuing her professional passions. Priye seems to have a
Part 7, Chapter 48
passion for her job, but Ranyinudo doesn't. All she cares about
Ifemelu goes to a Nigerpolitan Club gathering with Doris. She
is settling down with a man who can support her lifestyle.
runs into a few people she knows, including Bisola and
Yagazie. They talk about the local salons and how annoying it
Ifemelu's new colleagues also aren't what she expected.
is when the "salon girls" tell them they should relax their hair.
Esther, Doris, and Zemaye represent three stereotypes of
"It's ridiculous that Africans don't value our natural hair in
Nigerian women. Esther is the uneducated, unsophisticated
Africa," Yagazie says. Others in the group, including Doris,
lower-class rural woman who has moved to the big city.
complain about poor Nigerian customer service and the local
Around her, Ifemelu feels like a "madam," or a wealthy and
restaurants. Bisola tells everyone about a new restaurant,
socially powerful woman. Ifemelu acts differently around
which she says has "the kind of things we can eat."
Esther than she would her academic and class peers, and she
doesn't like it. Doris is the American returnee who has adopted
The conversation makes Ifemelu feel uneasy. She wishes she
some of that culture's worst qualities—a strange sense of
wasn't so interested in the new restaurant and that she didn't
fashion and the habit of speaking in questions even when
miss "fresh green salads and steamed still-firm vegetables."
making statements—and makes it a point to mention the United
She doesn't want to be the kind of person who dumps on
States every chance she gets. Zemaye is who Ifemelu would
Nigeria after living abroad. Because of this, she purposefully
most closely resemble had she not lived in the United States.
disagrees with Fred, who has recently returned from Harvard,
Forthright and unimpressed by the Western way of doing
when he puts down Nigerian movies. Fred invites Ifemelu to a
things, Zemaye is proud to be Nigerian and gets annoyed with
concert the next night, but she isn't interested in his well-oiled,
those who act like they're too good for the way things are done
West-centric personality. She declines and goes home.
at home.

Zemaye's questions about Ifemelu's blog and race signal a few

Part 7, Chapter 49
things to Ifemelu and to the reader. First, Zemaye wasn't
confused that Ifemelu was a blogger—blogging exists in
After a few months, Ifemelu finally starts to feel like she's
Nigeria just like everywhere else and she understands it's
home. She hasn't contacted Obinze yet—she wants to lose
possible to make a living doing it. For her, the weird part of
weight before she sees him again. Although she would like to
Ifemelu's former career is the subject of race. Just like Ifemelu
start a new blog and build it until she can publish her own
found race to be a strange concept 13 years ago, Zemaye
magazine, she decides to concentrate on Zoe, which makes
doesn't really get it today. In Americanah, race as Americans
her "feel anchored" and as if she belongs. But Ifemelu quickly
think about it just doesn't exist in Nigeria. Adichie suggests this

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Americanah Study Guide
tires of Zoe. She spends her days interviewing society madams
and her nights attending social events. It feels like she could
write about both without leaving the office. At a staff meeting,
Aunty Onenu calls out Ifemelu for writing snarky things about
one of the women she interviewed. Ifemelu asks, "Why do we
have to play it so safe?" She argues that they will never beat
their closest competitor, Glass, if they keep writing such
mundane stories. Aunty Onenu doesn't respond.
Later that day, Ifemelu learns that Esther has typhoid, a
bacterial infection. Doris gave her money earlier in the week so
she could go to the doctor. Esther shows Ifemelu the unlabeled
pack of pills the doctor gave her. Ifemelu thinks they should
write an article about how dangerous it is to take unknown
medication. When Doris points out they're "not doing
investigative journalism here," Ifemelu envisions creating own
blog, which she will call The Small Redemptions of Lagos. It will
have stories about health care and affordable fashion and
people who help others. Ifemelu suggests to Doris that they do
an article about churches like the one Esther goes to, which
tells its congregants to tithe their entire salary some months
and claims its leaders can perform miracles.
When they are alone, Doris tells Ifemelu that the people they
profile in the magazine pay Aunty Onenu for the honor. Ifemelu
is appalled, but Doris doesn't seem to care. "I never know
where you stand or if you stand on anything at all," Ifemelu
says. Doris tells Ifemelu the magazine belongs to Aunty Onenu,
not to her. Ifemelu retorts that Doris needs a good moisturizer,
new lipstick, and a life. On her way out the door, Esther tells
her she is "too hard" and has "the spirit of husband-repelling."
Analysis
Ifemelu has enough self-awareness to know how ridiculous she
sounds when she complains about things the United States
has that Nigeria lacks. It's snobbery, and had she not lived in
the United States herself, she would think terribly of herself
and of the people who spend more time talking about what's
wrong with Nigeria than how great it is to be back home. It's
like when she was in secondary school and everyone bragged
about their passports and where they intended to go when
they got older. Living in Nigeria was beneath them. Ifemelu was
never one of those kids—her parents didn't have a telephone,
let alone the means to travel internationally. Even though she
lived in the United States when she was older, she still feels a
fierce devotion to the country that raised her. Ifemelu gets so
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Chapter Summaries 55
annoyed with the Nigerpolitan Club because of their sense of
entitlement, even when it comes to the way an entire culture
operates. Ifemelu never felt entitled to anything, and she thinks
poorly of people who do.
Ifemelu also thinks poorly of Aunty Onenu for accepting money
in exchange for glowing profiles of society women. This isn't
journalism—it's advertising. Ifemelu is well aware of the
corruption in business and politics, but she didn't consider that
it would extend to a women's magazine. It's fine when
someone else is doing it, but she doesn't want to be part of it.
Ifemelu wants a serious career and she wants her writing to
make a difference. The society events and interviews aren't
cutting it. This is why the thought of a new blog is so appealing
to her. It would allow her to reconnect with her former home,
celebrate the things that are good about it, and comment on
the ways things could be improved. She doesn't want to turn
Lagos into a mini-America—she just wants it to be a safe and
fair place for everyone, including people like Esther who are
taken advantage of because of their lack of power and
knowledge.
Even though Ifemelu is consciously trying to not to be an
Americanah, she still hasn't given up the American way of
thinking about some things. One of those things is American
beauty standards. Based on the majority of images shown in
popular media, Americans believe that the ideal woman should
be very thin. Ifemelu described herself as "slim" when she
moved to the United States, but when she returns to Nigeria,
she considers herself to be fat. She has gained weight, but this
is a natural part of growing older. Ifemelu was a teenager when
she left the United States, and now she's in her 30s. Bodies
change. Even though she is back in Nigeria, where beauty
standards have traditionally celebrated softer and more filled-
out female physiques, she holds herself to American ideals. It
doesn't matter that she thinks "big, firm, curvy" Ranyinudo is
beautiful—Ifemelu sees herself only in the mind of the
American eye, not the Nigerian one.
Part 7, Chapters 50–51
Summary
Americanah Study Guide Chapter Summaries 56

could buy it. He visited a few times after leaving England, but it
Part 7, Chapter 50
wasn't that great. They never mention his wife.
Despite Aunty Uju's misgivings, Dike visits Ifemelu in Lagos a
Ifemelu can tell Obinze wants to ask why she stopped talking
week after she resigns from Zoe and the day after she starts
to him so many years ago, but she's not ready to bring it up
her new blog. Her first post is about Priye's wedding planning
during their first meeting. She finally tells him the next day
business. The second is about the Nigerpolitan Club. Ifemelu is
during lunch at her house, after they kiss. He is silent for a
thrilled that so many people are reading and commenting. But
moment and then says, "I can't imagine how bad you must have
it isn't long before she makes a misstep. She writes a post
felt ... I ... wish you had told me." She starts to cry and he grabs
about "women in Lagos who define their lives by men they can
her hand in the comfortable silence. She feels safe.
never truly have" and are "crippled by their culture of
dependence." In it, she describes the life of an anonymous
friend, who Ranyinudo immediately identifies as herself. She's
Analysis
furious with Ifemelu. "How is it different from you and the rich
white guy in America?" Ranyinudo asks over the phone. Ifemelu
Dike's visit is therapeutic both for him and for Ifemelu. Dike left
takes down the post and apologizes in person. Ranyinudo
Nigeria when he was just a little over a year old. Aunty Uju
accepts the apology and says, "Your problem is emotional
raised him with the same expectations other Nigerian mothers
frustration. Go and find Obinze, please."
have for their children, but Dike is decidedly American and
even views himself as African American. This is because of the
Dike thoroughly enjoys his time in Lagos. One day, he tells
pervasiveness of American culture, but also because Aunty Uju
Ifemelu he wishes he could speak and not just understand
refused to tell him about his father or their relationship. As a
Igbo. She says he can still learn, but he's not so sure. Days
result, Dike felt disconnected from his heritage. Being in the
later, she takes him to see where he lived as an infant and tells
places where his parents stood and hearing how much his
him about his father. She wants him to stay forever, but he
father loved him help forge a connection to Nigeria that was
returns to the United States.
missing. By the time he leaves, he feels he at least partly
Ranyinudo can't believe Dike wanted to kill himself. "A boy belongs there. As for Ifemelu, she needed to see that Dike was
living in America with everything. How can? That is very foreign truly okay after his suicide attempt. Spending uninterrupted
behavior." Ifemelu snaps back, "Foreign behavior? What ... are time with him and watching him adapt to his new surroundings
you talking about?" She asks if Ranyinudo has read Things Fall assures her he's going to be okay.
Apart. She knows Ranyinudo means well, but this is exactly
Ifemelu still isn't convinced that depression is an illness and not
why she hasn't told anyone else in Nigeria about Dike's suicide
the result of a terrible situation. Still, she doesn't agree with
attempt.
Ranyinudo that Dike's suicide attempt was a very American
thing to do. Ifemelu's mention of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall
Part 7, Chapter 51 Apart is a reference to the end of the book, in which the main
character, Okonkwo, hangs himself. As Ifemelu has come to
Ifemelu sees a man at the bank who, from behind, looks like realize, depression and the desire to end one's life are not a
Obinze. This isn't the first time—every short man looks like wholly American invention. It does exist in Nigeria, but people
Obinze to her. She finally decides to get it over with and calls pretend it doesn't happen.
him. They meet a half hour later at a bookshop. Obinze seems
The rest of Americanah concentrates on Ifemelu and Obinze's
so familiar and yet so different. They talk about Dike and Aunty
rekindling relationship. They pick up in pretty much the same
Uju, how Lagos has changed, and how they are suddenly
place they left off, with the exception that Obinze is married
aware of the wealth and palm-greasing that keeps Nigeria
and Ifemelu is terribly nervous to see him again. She has tried
running. "It's as if we are looking at an adult Nigeria that we
to suppress her longing for Obinze for over a decade and
didn't know about," Ifemelu says. She teases Obinze about his
simply can't do it anymore. Suddenly, everything that she has
wealth, and he admits he sometimes finds himself swaggering
missed about him comes flooding back—his quiet confidence,
and acting like the big man he doesn't want to be. He also tells
his calm demeanor, the way he thinks before he speaks. This
her how he lost his interest in America when he realized he

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Americanah Study Guide
was the man she was searching for in America but could never
find.
Ifemelu and Obinze both act out of character upon reuniting.
Obinze dislikes dishonesty and isn't the type of man who would
easily cheat on his wife. Ifemelu's morals are a little less rigid,
but she, too, would have difficulty being with another woman's
husband. Their shared past softens whatever feelings of guilt
they might have. "They had a history, a connection thick as
twine," the narrator says. "It did not have to mean that they
were doing anything" or that they needed to talk about their
intentions. Obinze and Ifemelu are clearly still in love.
Part 7, Chapters 52–53
Summary
Part 7, Chapter 52
Ifemelu and Obinze play table tennis at his club and have lunch
together. He chides her for spending so much time looking at
her phone and then gets angry when she says she's going to
have dinner with a music producer she wants to interview for
the blog. On the way home, Obinze plays Ifemelu a song that
reminds him of her. He sings along in Igbo as the song's
vocalists tell each other that they are beautiful and "true
friends."
Obinze and Ifemelu see each every day. On their fifth date, she
tells him she has condoms. "Who are we kidding with this
chaste dating business?" she says when Obinze doesn't react.
They argue about his marriage. Then Obinze says, "You know
this isn't about sex ... This has never been about sex."
They kiss and end up in the bedroom. Ifemelu has always
thought the phrase "making love" to be too sentimental, but
that's exactly what it is. Her entire body feels alive. Afterward,
she says she "always saw the ceiling with other men." He tells
her he has been waiting to be happy for a long time.
Part 7, Chapter 53
Even though they never talk about her, Kosi's presence looms
large in Ifemelu and Obinze's relationship. Over dinner at
Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.
Chapter Summaries 57
Ifemelu's apartment one night, Obinze tells Ifemelu he feels "a
great responsibility" toward Kosi, but that's all. Ifemelu is the
one he loves, the "great love of [his] life." Ifemelu says she's
going to have dinner with the music producer after all and then
asks Obinze what happens when he goes home to his wife's
bed. She suddenly feels as if "something had cracked and
spoiled between them."
Obinze invites Ifemelu to Abuja, Nigeria's capital, for the
weekend on a business trip. Days later, he rescinds the
invitation by text. "I need some time to think things through. I
love you," he writes. She calls him a coward. Obinze is waiting
for her when she gets home. He says he wants "to take some
time to put things in perspective" and figure out what to do.
She's not sure what he means. When he doesn't clarify, she
tells him to go to hell.
Analysis
Dating a married man isn't unheard of in Ifemelu's social circle.
Ranyinudo does it and Aunty Uju did it, and although the
national government doesn't recognize polygamous marriages,
many individual states and communities do. But Ifemelu isn't as
nonchalant as some people are about sharing "her man,"
especially Obinze. Obinze is right when he says what they have
isn't common and that it's not just about sex. They connect on
emotional, cultural, and intellectual levels in a way neither of
them has with anyone else. White and privileged Curt had a
completely different upbringing in the United States than
Ifemelu had in Nigeria, and their experiences in the United
States as adults were also dramatically different because of
their races. Ifemelu and Blaine shared similar views, dreams,
and skin tones, but their cultural differences were too vast.
Obinze and Kosi don't connect, either. They share the same
culture, but they don't have the same interests and goals. Kosi
is focused on family and the appearance of perfection, while
Obinze wants to learn and debate.
Ifemelu is terribly jealous of Kosi. It's not just that Kosi gets to
be married to Obinze—Ifemelu never really considers what it
would be like to be married to him—but that she gets to share
every mundane part of daily life with him. Ifemelu wants to be
the one to watch him brush his teeth and sit in the car next to
him. She wants to be a part of every aspect of his life, not just
his secret pastime. It drives her crazy. She suggests they have
sex in part because she thinks her desire to be with him all the
time will wane if they finally act on their carnal desires. That's
Americanah Study Guide
what has happened with other men. But sex only makes things
worse because it is just as good as she remembered. She
doesn't see the ceiling when they're together because she is
entirely focused on him and how she feels. Other men have
never come close to holding her attention like that. Now, she
wants him more than ever.
So far, Obinze has been able to justify their affair because it
doesn't feel like cheating. He was always meant to be with
Ifemelu, so it is really Kosi who is the interloper, not Ifemelu.
Yet, Obinze can't allow himself to carry on with one woman
while he's married to another. It goes against his values and
ultimately hurts everyone he cares about. He cancels his
weekend with Ifemelu not because he doesn't want to be with
her, but because he feels obligated to do the right thing. He
just doesn't know what that is yet.
Part 7, Chapters 54–55
Summary
Part 7, Chapter 54
Obinze regrets not bringing Ifemelu to Abuja with him. Life is
dim and uninteresting without her. He can barely pay attention
during his business meeting because he's thinking about her so
much. There's no question that he loves her. He wonders if
"she knew how it consumed him, how each day was infected
by her, affected by her." He wants to know about every
moment of her life, both past and present. He is warmed by the
memory of Ifemelu telling him how much time she and her ex-
boyfriends spent explaining things to each other. She never
has to do that with Obinze.
After an uncomfortable birthday dinner with Nigel, who has
moved to Lagos to work for Obinze, Kosi snuggles up to
Obinze in bed. He isn't interested and insists he's tired. They
haven't had sex since Ifemelu's return. He wishes Kosi would
figure out that something has happened, that he has changed.
The next morning, he tells her he's unhappy and wants a
divorce. It turns out that she has known about Ifemelu the
entire time. Kosi refuses to divorce Obinze and insists they
need to keep their family together for Buchi. Obinze feels guilty
for marrying Kosi in the first place. He feels like he has to stay.
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Chapter Summaries 58
But "without Ifemelu, the future loomed as an endless, joyless
tedium."
Obinze sleeps in his study that night. The next day, Kosi acts
as if nothing is wrong. They go to the christening party for a
friend's baby, and Obinze thinks of Ifemelu the entire time. He
has called and texted incessantly over the past few days, but
she refuses to speak to him. He ends up in a room with other
wealthy men, some of whom are friends and others who are
too slick to be trusted. They discuss the corruption in Nigerian
government and business, which most agree is just the way the
world works. They tease Obinze for being so quiet and serious
and are startled when Obinze suddenly lashes out against the
oil industry. Before he leaves, he tells his friend Okwudiba that
Ifemelu is back and he wants to leave Kosi to be with her. "You
can keep seeing her, but no need for this kind of white-people
behavior," Okwudiba tells him, "We don't behave like that,
please."
Part 7, Chapter 55
Ifemelu watches a peacock do a mating dance from the
balcony of her apartment. Uninterested, the peahen walks
away. Ifemelu takes a picture for her blog and wishes she
could tell Obinze. They haven't talked for months. She knows
he is still out there—she's sure an anonymous comment on her
blog is from him—but she isn't moved by his texts and e-mails.
"He loved her ... but he lacked a certain strength; his backbone
was softened by duty," the narrator says.
Ifemelu calls Blaine, who sounds stilted over the phone but
says he's glad she called. Then she calls Curt, who asks if she's
still blogging about race. "Race doesn't really work here," she
says, "I feel like I got off the plane in Lagos and stopped being
black." She wonders what it would be like to be with him again,
to be "in a relationship free of depth and pain."
Ifemelu finally agrees to go on a date with Fred. When he isn't
trying to impress people with his travels and his knowledge of
American culture, he's rather interesting and endearing. After
they sleep together, Ifemelu wishes "she could feel what she
wanted to feel."
Seven months after he was supposed to take her to Abuja,
Obinze shows up at Ifemelu's door. He left Kosi earlier that
day. "I'm chasing you. I'm going to chase you until you give this
a chance," he says. Ifemelu looks at him for a moment and then
tells him to come in.
Americanah Study Guide
Analysis
Part 7, Chapter 54, is one of 11 out of 55 chapters in
Americanah told from Obinze's point of view. The rest are told
from Ifemelu's perspective. This is significant. The first and
second waves of postcolonial literature were generally written
by men and told from a male perspective. Like other third-wave
postcolonial writers, Adichie is a woman who has chosen to tell
her story from a mostly feminine perspective. By doing so, she
gives a voice to a population that has been traditionally left out
of postcolonial narratives. Adichie provides a nice balance
between Ifemelu's and Obinze's perspectives and
experiences—the reader knows what both of them think and
what each of them had to get through to get where they are
today—but the emphasis is on Ifemelu. This is particularly
meaningful in the chapters in which sexual experiences are
described. In Nigeria and the rest of the world, sex is often
portrayed in popular culture as existing for the enjoyment of
men. The fact that every description of sex comes from
Ifemelu's point of view flips the stereotype and shows that
women desire and enjoy sex just as much as men.
When Adichie does dedicate a chapter to Obinze's point of
view, she makes sure to layer the action and conflict with
moving descriptions of his emotions and feelings. This too is a
departure from postcolonial literature as well as popular
culture in general, which often ignores the emotional and
sentimental aspects of the male psyche. By doing this, Adichie
makes her characters equals. Although they misunderstand
each other's intentions, neither loves one more than the other.
No one is the victim, and no one is the villain. They are simply
regular people trying to navigate their way back to each other.
Nigerian culture and Obinze's own moral code are standing in
the way. As Okwudiba bluntly tells Obinze, marriage isn't
necessarily about love. "We married the woman that was
around when we were ready to marry," he says. Once the
marriage ceremony is complete, that's that. According to a
2016 article in The Economist, less than 1 percent of married
couples in Nigeria divorce. When it does happen, it's for a
"good" reason, such as abuse or giving birth to the child of
another man. Okwudiba says that divorcing because you're in
love with someone else just isn't done. Those who are divorced
are often stigmatized in Nigerian society, which is the last thing
Kosi wants. As the narrator says in Part 1, Chapter 2, Kosi
"always chose peace over truth, was always eager to conform."
The image of a perfect family is more important to Kosi than
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Quotes 59
actually having a perfect family.
Obinze has the opposite opinion. For him, there is no pleasure
in conforming to cultural norms if one isn't emotionally fulfilled.
It is instead his sense of responsibility for Kosi's and Buchi's
well-being that makes him hesitant to leave. By marrying Kosi,
he promised that they would be together forever. Breaking this
promise goes against his self-imposed moral code. But Obinze
also feels a sense of duty to himself. He has been unhappy for
a long time, perhaps since Ifemelu stopped talking to him 13
years ago. Now that she is back in his life, he realizes that
every day without her is a bad one. He doesn't want to live like
this anymore. His resolve grows even stronger after realizing
that Kosi has known about the affair all along. By not
confronting their problem, she let him feel guilty and suffer in
silence. He interprets this not only as her way of avoiding
conflict but as a sign that she doesn't care for his well-being as
much as she should.
Adichie had two choices for ending Americanah—keep Ifemelu
and Obinze apart and create "the poetic tragedy of [their]
lives," or have them act and get together. She chose the latter.
It doesn't happen until the last few paragraphs of the book's
final chapter, but she hints at the happy ending a few pages
beforehand. After months of watching him walk around with his
feathers dragging on the ground, Ifemelu finally sees the
peacock next door performing its mating ritual. This is
symbolic of Obinze's later decision to make the grand gesture
Ifemelu was waiting for. She didn't want words of apology or
promise—she just wanted Obinze to take action. He does so by
leaving Kosi. This is his version of a mating dance. Unlike the
peahen who walks away, Ifemelu is receptive.
g Quotes
"He felt a hollow space between
himself and the person he was
supposed to be."
— Narrator, Part 1, Chapter 2
Obinze has everything a Nigerian man is supposed to want: a
good job, a nice house, a beautiful wife, and a healthy child.
These things are nice, but they don't fill the void in his soul.
Americanah Study Guide
Image and material things aren't important to Obinze. He cares
more about emotional connections and intellectual stimulation,
neither of which he gets from his job or his relationship with
Kosi. The only time he has ever known the contentment he
craves was when he was with Ifemelu. She is his missing piece.
"If you are not careful in this
country, your children will become
what you don't know."
— Jane, Part 2, Chapter 10
Jane and Aunty Uju both believe the stereotypes they've heard
about African Americans. They share the fear that their
children will grow up to be ill-mannered delinquents like the
ones they hear about in the news and in popular culture. Jane's
comment to Ifemelu is a concern held by many immigrants who
raise their children in the United States. They want their kids to
benefit from the opportunities the country has to offer, but
they don't want them to adopt American culture and customs
as their own. This is a fine line to tread. As Aunty Uju later
learns, the local culture is often more influential than parental
guidance.
"If you have braids, they will think
you are unprofessional."
— Aunty Uju, Part 2, Chapter 11
Hair comes up a lot in Americanah—how it is styled, who styles
it, and what it all means. Aunty Uju decides to take out her
braids, which are common in Nigeria, because corporate white
America does not view traditionally black hairstyles as
professional. American media and culture pressure black
women to straighten their hair using chemicals and heat so
they look more like white women, who are deemed more
"professional" simply because of their appearance. It's a not-
so-subtle indicator of racism that is rampant in the United
States but doesn't exist in Nigeria.
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Quotes 60
"I didn't know I was even supposed
to have issues until I came to
America."
— Ginika, Part 2, Chapter 12
One of the ways Nigerian culture differs from that of the
United States is how each country describes the race of
people who have one white parent and one black parent.
Ginika grew up calling herself half-caste, but when she moved
to the United States she was told that was an insult. Instead,
she should call herself biracial. Until she got to the United
States, Ginika never thought twice about having a white parent,
but now it seems like everyone who is biracial is "so full of
issues." What's completely normal in one part of the world is
loaded with meaning and emotional baggage in another.
"That was what Curt had given her,
this gift of contentment, of ease."
— Narrator, Part 2, Chapter 19
Ifemelu genuinely likes Curt, but she also likes how free and
easy her life has become since she started dating him.
Handsome and wealthy, Curt is a grown-up child who is
entirely focused on having fun. With him, Ifemelu's worries
about money and career simply melt away because Curt takes
care of everything. This is what she had hoped to find in
America: a brighter, easier life.
"When you make the choice to
come to America, you become
black."
— Ifemelu, Part 2, Chapter 21
This is an excerpt from a post on Ifemelu's blog titled, "To My
Fellow Non-American Blacks: In America, You Are Black,
Baby." She argues that it doesn't matter where a person is
Americanah Study Guide
from or how light their skin is—it is American culture, not the
individual, who decides how the individual will be categorized.
Once a person is labeled "black," they are expected to adopt
the same feelings about race as their African American
counterparts.
"These white people think that
everybody has their mental
problems."
— Ojiugo, Part 3, Chapter 24
Mental health comes up frequently in Americanah. The way
Adichie presents it, mental health is not a concept that exists in
Nigeria. When her Nigerian characters move to Western
countries, they are confused and amused by the Western habit
of assigning every bad feeling or experience a name and a
diagnosis. Ojiugo mentions this when she attends a meeting
for people wanting to lose weight and is told she has "internal
issues." She replies that she just likes the taste of food.
"Are they between you and the
sunset?"
— Emenike, Part 3, Chapter 29
Obinze reconnects with his school friend, Emenike, in Great
Britain. This question, which Emenike asks while talking to a
friend about the construction next to his house, encapsulates
just how much he has changed since he left Nigeria. Obinze
doesn't know anyone in Nigeria who would care about the
sunset or even think to ask that question.
Since he moved to Great Britain, Emenike has molded himself
into what he thinks a perfect Brit should be. He collects
antique furniture, dines at pretentious restaurants, and boasts
about his designer clothing. He has bought so heavily into
British culture that he even identifies as British.
"He expected her to feel what she
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Quotes 61
did not know how to feel."
— Narrator, Part 4, Chapter 34
Ifemelu has more in common with Blaine than she does with
Curt. In addition to the color of their skin, they are also both
well-read intellectuals who feel strongly about social change.
The one thing they don't have in common is cultural context.
Ifemelu grew up in Nigeria, where race isn't even a concept.
Blaine grew up in the United States, where race impacted
every part of his life. Blaine becomes irritated with Ifemelu
because he thinks she doesn't care deeply enough about race
relations in the United States. He doesn't understand that race
doesn't define her experiences the way it defines his.
"You can't write an honest novel
about race in this country."
— Shan, Part 4, Chapter 37
Shan published a memoir about her experience growing up
black in the United States. The editing process was tough on
her because her editor wanted her to add more "nuance" and
downplay the role race had in her formative experiences.
During a gathering of friends, Shan insists it is even harder to
talk about race in fiction, which forces writers to be so subtle in
their commentary that most people miss it. This conversation is
humorous because Adichie places it in the middle of a novel
that is not at all subtle about its commentary on race.
"I feel ... I have vegetables instead
of ears, like large broccoli sticking
out of my head."
— Dike, Part 4, Chapter 39
Aunty Uju and Dike live in fictional Willow, Massachusetts, a
predominantly white city. Dike is the only black kid in his group
of friends and one of the only students of color in his school.
He stands out from the crowd, which makes him feel like he
doesn't belong. Ifemelu and Aunty Uju, both of whom grew up
Americanah Study Guide
in Nigeria, didn't have this experience as children. Where they
grew up, nearly everyone was black.
"I can't believe it. My president is
black like me."
— Dike, Part 4, Chapter 40
As Dike grows up, Ifemelu often wonders whether he will self-
identify as African or African American. She gets her answer
when Dike texts her following Barack Obama's election to the
U.S. presidency. When Dike talks about "his" president, he's
showing that he identifies as an American, not an African.
Despite his mother's efforts to the contrary, he thinks of
himself as African American.
"She was no longer sure what was
new in Lagos and what was new in
herself."
— Narrator, Part 7, Chapter 44
Ifemelu doesn't visit Nigeria during her 13 years in the United
States. When she returns for good, everything seems different.
It's not just the new construction that attracts her attention as
Ranyinudo drives them home from the airport, but also the
colors and sounds that have always been part of Lagos life.
Ifemelu has been away for so long that she is no longer a "true
Lagosian," and the feeling is disconcerting.
"They have the kind of things we
can eat."
— Bisola, Part 7, Chapter 48
The members of the Nigerpolitan Club spend most of their
gatherings talking about the things they miss about living in the
United States and complaining about the backwardness of
Lagos. Bisola's mention of a new, Western-style restaurant
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Symbols 62
excites Ifemelu, but this excitement makes her feel ashamed.
She doesn't want to be the kind of person who prefers
American cuisine over what is commonly served in Nigeria, but
she already is.
"She was inside this silence and
she was safe."
— Narrator, Part 7, Chapter 51
Obinze and Ifemelu have been through a lot in the past decade
and a half. In this scene, they have reunited in Lagos, and
Ifemelu has just told Obinze why she stopped talking to him all
those years ago. Instead of judgment or anger, Obinze
responds with compassion and love. He takes her hand, and
the silence that grows between them feels the same as when
they were teenagers. Ifemelu has not felt this at peace since
she left Lagos the first time.
l Symbols
Passports
One of the favorite topics of conversation at Ifemelu's and
Obinze's secondary school is passports: who has one, where
it's taken them, and where they want to go in the future. In their
group of friends, the passports have a distinct hierarchy.
American passports are the best, followed by British
passports. The passport a person has (or doesn't have) is a
symbol of their family's wealth and status. Kayode, the most
popular and one of the wealthiest boys in school, has a British
passport, but he would trade it immediately for an American
passport. Yinka, whose family is also very wealthy, has a British
passport.
Ahmed doesn't have a passport, but when he was younger he
was able to travel because of his mother's credentials. Osahon
has his own. This means that Ahmed's family probably isn't as
well off as Osahon's because they don't travel as much
internationally. They are lower on the social hierarchy than
Americanah Study Guide
Kayode and Yinka but above Obinze, who "very nearly" had an
American passport because he traveled there with his parents
when he was eight months old.
Emenike and Ifemelu don't have passports, and neither do their
parents. Ifemelu's family isn't wealthy at all—they don't have a
telephone, much less passports. She's able to attend private
secondary school because of her high test scores and her
father's determination "that she would go to 'a school that
builds both character and career.'" While Ifemelu is pretty sure
she'll never have a passport, Emenike is the opposite. It is well
known among their group of friends that he lies about his
family's wealth (or lack thereof) to cover his shame of being
poor. For him, a passport symbolizes the hope that his
imaginary life will become a reality.
Barack Obama
Ifemelu and Blaine's relationship takes place against the
backdrop of the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Although
Ifemelu is a Hillary Clinton supporter at first, she becomes a
Barack Obama devotee after reading Obama's memoir,
Dreams from My Father. Blaine supports Obama from the very
beginning.
As the first African American presidential nominee in America's
history, Obama's candidacy was a symbol of hope for millions
of people. It was also a personal symbol of hope for Blaine and
Ifemelu. At several points in their relationship, their mutual love
for Obama is the only thing keeping them together. When he
performs well, their relationship flourishes; when he or his allies
falter, their relationship does too. It seems that as long as
Obama remains a contender in the race, Ifemelu and Blaine's
relationship will continue.
The characters seem to understand this. Ifemelu even
promises Blaine that she will not leave for her fellowship at
Princeton, which is most likely slated to start at the beginning
of the next semester before Obama takes office in mid-
January. Their relationship survives after the move to Princeton
in part because of Obama's successful campaign. Whereas
before Ifemelu and Blaine were separated by their cultures,
they are now united by their shared hope for the country's
future. They don't break up until shortly before Ifemelu intends
to return home to Lagos, where Barack Obama will no longer
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Themes 63
be her president.
Peacock
Ifemelu's new apartment in Lagos is situated next to an
abandoned residential compound. A peacock and two peahens
live there. Peacocks are known for their striking plume of blue
and green feathers and their bright blue bodies. Most of the
time, the peacock's feathers trail behind its body like a long
train. When a peacock wants to impress a peahen, his feathers
unfurl in a fanlike display. When Obinze first visits Ifemelu's
apartment, Ifemelu tells him she's disappointed that she hasn't
seen the male do the mating dance.
The peacock's unwillingness to do his mating dance in front of
Ifemelu is symbolic of Obinze's own reluctance to do his own
version of a mating dance for Ifemelu, namely ending his
relationship with Kosi so that he and Ifemelu can be together.
In her mind, his calls and texts after their breakup are
halfhearted at best, and she is hurt by "the limpness of his
efforts," which are equivalent to the peacock's tail dragging
behind him. Like the peahens, Ifemelu does not engage with
Obinze's attempts to reach out.
In the book's final chapter, Ifemelu finally sees the peacock's
dance, "its feathers fanned out in a giant halo." Not long after,
Obinze shows up at Ifemelu's door. He has just left Kosi and
begun the first steps of the mating dance for which Ifemelu has
been waiting for so long.
m Themes
Cultural and Personal Identity
Throughout Americanah, Ifemelu struggles with her cultural
identity. Is she Nigerian or American? Is she African or simply
black? She never reaches an explicit conclusion, but her
decisions and behavior suggest that she ultimately finds a
happy medium between the two.
Americanah Study Guide
Despite the movies she's watched and the books she has read,
American culture is completely foreign to Ifemelu when she
first moves to the United States. Although English is spoken in
Nigeria, the slang and some of the terms are different. The
more she learns about life in the United States, the more her
speech patterns change, as do her expectations of everyday
life. These changes are most apparent when she moves back
to Lagos. Although she was once used to the heat and
humidity of southwestern Nigeria, she can't stand it when she
moves home. Good customer service wasn't important until
she experienced it repeatedly firsthand. Even the way she acts
with her social and occupational superiors has changed. After
politely but forcefully criticizing Zoe to her new boss,
Ranyinudo points out, "If you had not come from America, she
would have fired you immediately." But there are some aspects
of Nigerian culture that Ifemelu doesn't want to give up, such
as eating bananas and nuts together and looking at the world
from a global perspective, not an American-centered one. In
the end, Ifemelu still identifies as a Nigerian, but a Nigerian who
has experienced and enjoyed life in the West. She selects the
parts of each culture she likes and ignores the things she
doesn't.
Ifemelu also struggles with her personal identity, most notably
with her romantic relationships. In her American relationships
with Curt and Blaine, she molded herself according to their
image of a perfect woman. For Curt, she was light and
easygoing; for Blaine, she was politically and socially minded.
However, neither of those personas was a perfect fit. She is
happiest when she is truly herself—arguing, exploring, learning,
and striving for excellence. That's the person she gets to be
with Obinze, who doesn't expect her to change a single thing.
Ifemelu's hair presents a struggle that encompasses her
personal and cultural identity. Societal norms in Nigeria and the
United States both encourage black women to straighten or
relax their hair. In Nigeria, it is a sign of wealth and social
status, while in the United States, it is a means of assimilating
to the standards set forth by white culture. But after doing it
while living in Baltimore, Ifemelu realizes that having smooth
and sleek hair isn't her at all. "The verve was gone. She did not
recognize herself," the narrator says. Ifemelu doesn't identify
with the beauty standards set by either of the countries she
has called home. Instead, she goes her own way and lets her
hair grow naturally, first wearing it in an afro and then going
back to braids. It doesn't matter to her if she doesn't live up to
the standards set forth in beauty magazines. She likes her hair,
and herself, "the way God made it."
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Themes 64
Race in America
Ifemelu never considered herself to be black before she came
to the United States. Nearly everyone in Nigeria has dark skin,
so what a person looked like really wasn't an issue. She quickly
learns that race dictates everything in the United States,
including where a person lives, how much money they make,
what occupational opportunities they have, and how they are
treated by others. Ifemelu's blog posts clarify her views on
race. As someone who did not grow up in the United States,
she recognizes that even though the days of blatant racism
have somewhat passed, systemic racism still exists. In her post
about white privilege in Part 4, Chapter 39, she gives the
example of how a poor white person fares in the United States
compared to a poor black person. Even though both people
live in poverty, the white person is privileged because of the
way society treats him. He's less likely to go to jail for
committing the same offense as a black person. If he does end
up in jail, his sentence will be shorter.
Ifemelu also learns that people of color are held to a higher
standard than white people in the United States. She and
Aunty Uju are both expected to alter their appearance to get
"good" jobs even though the process of doing so is painful and
can inflict long-lasting damage. Dike, who is just one of a few
kids of color in the various schools he attends, is constantly
admonished for talking in class and joking around while the
white kids get away with it all the time. "He has to tone it down,
because his own will always be seen as different," Aunty Uju
explains to Ifemelu in Part 2, Chapter 21. It's the same reason
she forces him to wear clothes he doesn't like to church. She
recognizes that his race, not his ethnicity, is what makes him
different.
Perhaps the most important thing Ifemelu learns about race in
the United States comes from Ginika. Ginika has lived in the
United States for a few years by the time Ifemelu arrives, and
she has already absorbed and adapted to the culture. It is
through her that Ifemelu first learns that Americans go out of
their way to pretend race doesn't exist. This seems ridiculous
to Ifemelu, who watches as a salesperson practically ties
herself in knots trying to describe another salesperson without
mentioning the color of her skin. As Ginika later explains to
Ifemelu, "This is America. You're supposed to pretend that you
don't notice certain things." As Ifemelu later concludes,
ignoring race isn't going to solve any of America's problems
Americanah Study Guide
with it—it will just exacerbate them.
Immigration
Many of the characters in Americanah immigrate from Nigeria
to another country. Although their experiences ultimately
differ, they all begin the same way—full of confusion,
uncertainty, and fear. Aunty Uju comes to the United States
with hardly any money to her name. She works three jobs and
spends every moment of her free time studying for her medical
license because her Nigerian credentials aren't valid in the
United States. Ifemelu, too, arrives in the country with hardly
any money. Unable to legally work on her student visa, she
uses someone else's identity to find a job. When that doesn't
work, she is practically forced to do illegal, degrading work just
to survive. Lonely and bewildered by her new surroundings, she
lives in constant fear of not having money to pay rent. Obinze,
too, lives in fear. He does end up working illegally, which has
him scrambling to find ways to become a citizen, even
dishonestly. Through her characters, Adichie shows how the
daily lives of immigrants can be fraught with so much
uncertainty that they are forced to do immoral things.
Adichie also highlights how immigrants are expected to
assimilate to their host country's cultures. Ifemelu and Aunty
Uju both remove their braids and relax their hair so they can
look "professional" for their job interviews. Obinze is struck by
how strange it is that his Nigerian friend Emenike suddenly
becomes interested in antique furniture and pretentious
cuisine once he moves to England. Ifemelu ends up creating a
career out of her attempts to understand race in the United
States, which she shares with other non-American blacks, but
this still isn't enough for Blaine, who thinks her motives for
writing should be more deep-seated than curiosity. As Ifemelu
explains in a blog post titled "To My Fellow Non-American
Blacks: In America, You Are Black, Baby," black immigrants
don't just need to understand race in the United States—they
need to have the same feelings about it as a black person who
grew up there. Adichie's message is that assimilation isn't
enough. Immigrants are expected to fully transform
themselves into Americans with an American psyche. As she
shows, this isn't possible.
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Themes 65
Love
In addition to political and social topics, Americanah also
tackles the theme of love. Adichie uses Ifemelu and Obinze's
decades-long relationship to illuminate two major messages
about love. The first is that true love is based on more than
proximity and physical attraction. It is a meeting of the mind,
soul, and body. Ifemelu has two other significant relationships
over the course of the book, and each is good in its own way.
With Curt, she feels cherished and free to explore everything
American life has to offer. With Blaine, she feels purposeful
and intellectual. But each of these relationships is missing a
crucial connection. Ifemelu sometimes feels distant from Curt
because of the differences in their upbringing (rich versus not
rich) and the color of their skin. Although he becomes
indignant when Ifemelu is treated poorly because of her
appearance, he also doesn't grasp the more subtle racism she
deals with on a daily basis, such as the way American media
depicts the idea of beauty. Race also causes a rift between
Ifemelu and Blaine, who grew up in the United States.
Experiencing systemic racism since birth has given him a
different point of view from that of Ifemelu, who didn't consider
herself black until she moved to the United States. This causes
a lot of tension in their relationship. Ifemelu and Obinze don't
have any of these issues. They share intellectual interests, a
cultural background, and even the experience of being an
immigrant. They also have an incredibly physical connection.
As Ifemelu explains, she always notices the ceiling when
having sex with other men, but never with Obinze. The old
adage may say that opposites attract, but Ifemelu and Obinze
don't provide any support for this ancient wisdom.
Adichie's second point about love is that truly loving someone
else makes one love themselves more. Ifemelu notices this
when she and Obinze begin dating in secondary school. She
can see herself through his eyes when they are together,
which causes a sense of self-affection that she otherwise
doesn't have. Obinze, too, likes himself more when he is with
Ifemelu. When they are together, "he was as he had never been
with another woman: amused, alert, alive," the narrator says in
Part 7, Chapter 54. They complete each other—and for
Adichie, that is the hallmark of true love.
Americanah Study Guide Motifs 66

m Motifs

Hair

Hair is a thread that runs through and ties together Ifemelu's

experiences in Americanah. She goes through several different
hairstyles over the course of the book, from braids to an afro
and then back to braids again. Braids and twists are
exceedingly common in Nigeria but not seen nearly as much in
the United States, where societal beauty standards value
straight-styled hair. Ifemelu also contends with the beauty
standard of having relaxed and straightened hair, which is
prized in both countries over naturally full and textured hair.
Her various hairstyles throughout Americanah represent her
feelings about her cultural and personal identity at each
specific point in time as well as the ways she assimilates to,
then ignores, specific aspects of American culture.

Mental Health

Mental health also pops up throughout Americanah, particularly

in relation to depression. In the United States, depression and
mental health disorders such as anorexia and bipolar disorder
are considered to be illnesses. They are named, diagnosable,
and treatable. According to Ifemelu's experiences in
Americanah, that's not the case in Nigeria. When Ginika
suggests that Ifemelu has depression in Part 2, Chapter 16,
Ifemelu's first instinct is that depression is something that
happens to Americans "with their self-absolving need to turn
everything into an illness." Ojiugo echoes this sentiment to
Obinze in Part 3, Chapter 24, when she tells Obinze about her
weight-loss meeting, and Ranyinudo says it after Dike returns
to the United States. Each time mental health is discussed, it
illustrates the differences between American and Nigerian
cultures as well as how hard it is to shake cultural values and
beliefs.

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