 VALUE

 Her mother asked, “Is he a Christian?”

 “No. He is a devil-worshipper.”
 “Blood of Jesus!” her mother shrieked.
 “Mummy, yes, he is a Christian,” she said.
 “Then no problem,” her mother said.

I believe that this conversation between Ifemelu and his mother of him, which takes
place in chapter 34, is one of the several references that are made in the novel
regarding the value that culture places on religion. Since Christianity, both for
Ifemelu's parents and their community, is a very important value to take into account
to have a relationship and later marry.

 BELIEF

"Second, ideology. Liberals and conservatives. They don't merely disagree on

political issues, each side believes the other is evil."

This is a good example from one of Ifemelu's blogs about a belief. It not only shows
us the pre-existing beliefs among the American idiologies, but also the belief of
Ifemelu, who contemplated and observed that this ideology affected daily life,
relationships and communication between people.

 TRADITION

"On Easter Saturday...in Ifemelu’s life...there would have been cooking and
bustling, many pots in the kitchen and many relatives in the flat, and Ifemelu and
her mother would have gone to night mass, and held up lit candles, singing in a sea
of flickering flames, and then come home to continue cooking the big Easter
lunch."

This fragment of the novel that I extracted from chapter 3 shows us what is the
usual tradition carried out by the Ifemelu family on the important date of Easter. I
think it belongs to the "tradition" section because it implies a practice that takes
place every year on the same date.

 CULTURAL NORM

“her friend Ginika told her was that “fat” in America was a bad word, heaving with
moral judgment like “stupid” or “bastard,” and not a mere description like “short”
or “tall.” So she had banished “fat” from her vocabulary.”
 In this case, Ifemelu's friend teaches her that certain words have a negative
connotation in American culture. Although this cultural norm is learned through
the process of enculturation or primary socialization, in the case of Ifemelu she
learns what is considered polite (and impolite) behavior in American culture
through her unconscious mistake.

 Common SCHEMA

“Ifemelu joined the taxi line outside the station… She was next in line. Her taxi
driver was black and middle-aged. She opened the door and glanced at the back of
the driver’s seat”

This is a perfect example of the common scheme used in American culture for the
action of ordering, waiting and getting in a taxi.

 Typical SCRIPTS

"You know at home when somebody tells you that you lost weight, it means something
bad. But here somebody tells you that you lost weight and you are expected to say thank
you. It’s just different here."

This phrase, taken from chapter 12, shows how Ginika makes a contrast between her
native culture and American culture and explains a typical script that happens in the
American culture when someone mentions that you have lost weight.

 Belonging to an INGROUP or an OUTGROUP

"Ifemelu sat on a lone armchair at the end of the room, drinking orange juice, listening to
them talk. That company is so evil. Oh my God, I can’t believe there’s so much sugar in this
stuff. The Internet is totally going to change the world. She heard Ginika ask, “Did you
know they use something from animal bones to make that breath mint?” and the others
groaned. There were codes Ginika knew, ways of being that she had mastered."

This fragment, taken from chapter 12, shows us perfectly the example of belonging to an
ingroup, by Ginika, whom has a sense of belonging and feels comfortable when she is in
the company of this particular group of her age in America. On the other hand, and at the
same time, this fragment shows Ifemelu's perception of this group of people as outgroup,
since she feels distant from them and there is no personal connection with the people
who belong to the group.

 ETHNOCENTRICIST VIEWS
 “The hardest thing is raising my kids. Look at Elizabeth, I have to be very careful
with her. If you are not careful in this country, your children become what you
don't know. It's different back home because you can control them. Here, no. "

I believe that this extract taken from chapter 10 of the novel shows us an
ethnocentric point of view, since Jane compares her own culture with that of the
Americans, and affirms that in the matter of parenting she would have greater
advantages raising her children within the culture in which she grew up.

 ETHNORELATIVE VIEWS

"Ginika’s parents had been talking for a while about resigning from the university
and starting over in America. Once, while visiting, Ifemelu had heard Ginika’s
father say,“ We are not sheep. This regime is treating us like sheep and we are
starting to behave as if we are sheep ..."

I believe that this passage, extracted from chapter 5, shows us how the father of
Ifemelu's friend presents a point of view that states that no one culture is superior
to another and that his culture should be respected despite being different.

 USE OF POWER TO CONTROL EXCHANGES

 “Join that group, Ifemelu,” Sister Ibinabo said.

 Ifemelu folded her arms, and as often happened when she was about to say something
she knew was better unsaid, the words rushed up her throat. “Why should I make
decorations for a thief?”
 Sister Ibinabo stared in astonishment. A silence fell. The other girls looked on
expectantly. “What did you say?” Sister Ibinabo asked quietly, offering a chance for
Ifemelu to apologize, to put the words back in her mouth.

In this small extract from chapter 3, a conversation that Ifemelu has with Sister Ibinabo, a powerful
woman of the church, is shown. Here we can see how the power of Sister Ibinabo, both religious
and adult, directs the exchange in a way in which, although Ifemelu expressed what she thought,
this brought her many problems as the church woman accuses Ifemelu of being unwilling to do
God's work.