Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Dialectical Journal #8: Part 7 (Pages 475 - 588)
Directions: As you read and annotate, identify eight (8) literarily rich passages and copy them
into the column on the left. On the right, analyze each passage fully. There should be a FLISS
technique identified for each passage - do not use any one technique more than two times.
At first, Lagos assaulted her; the sun-dazed Ch. 44
haste, the yellow buses full of squashed limbs, Pg. 475
the sweating hawkers racing after cars, the
advertisements on hulking billboards (other
scrawled on walls–PLUMBER CALL
080177777) and the heaps of rubbish that
rose on the roadsides like a taunt. Commerce
thrummed too defiantly. And the air was dense
with exaggeration, conversations full of
overprotestations.
The coolness dissipated quickly. Warm, humid Ch. 44
air gagged the room, and soon Ifemelu was Pg. 481
tossing in the wetness of her own sweat. A
painful throbbing had started behind her eyes
and a mosquito was buzzing nearby and she
felt suddenly, guiltily grateful that she had a
blue American passport in her bag. It shielded
her from choicelessness. She could always
leave; she did not have to stay.
The speedboat was gliding on foaming water, Ch. 49
past beaches of ivory sand, and trees a Pg. 506
bursting, well-fed green. Ifemelu was laughing.
She caught herself in mid-laughter, and looked
at her present, an orange life jacket strapped
around her, a ship in the graying distance…
Figurative - In this passage, Adichie is describing the
metaphor overwhelming sensations Ifemelu is
and experiencing when she first gets back to
personifica- Nigeria. She uses figurative language and
tion imagery to express the over-the-top sights and
sounds of Lagos, which she describes as
Imagery - having’‘assaulted’ Ifemelu’s senses
auditory and (personification). The language is harsh and
visual the attitude it creates for the setting is hot,
loud, fast-paced, chaotic, ugly and somewhat
threatening. This setting contributes to
Ifemelu’s sense of strangeness with the place
that should be familiar to her, causing her to
feel unsure of herself.
Imagery - In this passage, Adichie uses imagery and
tactile and figurative language to describe how Ifemelu is
auditory feeling physically the first night of her return to
Nigeria. ‘Warm, humid air gagged the room’
Sound - (personification) suggests that Ifemelu is
alliteration feeling suffocated. Further negative tactile
descriptions–‘the wetness of her own sweat’
Figurative - and ‘a painful throbbing…behind her eyes’ all
personifica- express the discomfort that Ifemelu is sensing
tion in her transition to this new environment. The
sound of the ‘buzzing’ mosquito adds to that
feeling. Finally, Adichie uses alliteration
(‘guiltily grateful’) to stress the relief Ifemelu
has at having an American passport, which
offers her a way out if this suffocating
atmosphere she is feeling continues.
Imagery - In this passage, Adichie uses literary
visual (color) techniques to show how happy Ifemelu is to be
back home in Nigeria. She describes an idyllic
Sound - scene, full of beautiful images and light or
assonance vibrant, life-filled colors (‘ivory sand,’ ‘well-fed
green’ of the trees, and her ‘orange’ life jacket).
Adichie also uses words to describe an easy
motion in Ifemelu’s new life back home–she is
on a speedboat ’gliding on foaming water.’ The

At work, she felt an encroaching restlessness. Ch. 49
Zoe stifled her. It was like wearing a scratchy Pgs.
sweater in the cold: she longed to yank it off, 506 -
but was afraid of what would happen if she 507
did. She thought often of starting a blog,
writing about what she cared about, building it
up slowly, and finally publishing her own
magazine. But it was nebulous, too much of
an unknown. Having this job, now that she
was home, made her feel anchored.
She heard his words like a melody and she felt Ch. 51
herself breathing unevenly, gulping at the air. Pg. 543
She would not cry, it was ridiculous to cry after
so long, but her eyes were filling with tears
and there was a boulder in her chest and a
stinging in her throat. The tears felt itchy.
She made no sound. He took her hand in his, Ch. 51
both clasped on the table, and between them Pg. 543
silence grew, an ancient silence that they both
knew. She was inside this silence and she
was safe.
only color in the passage that is not vibrant
describes a ship in the ‘graying distance,’
which could suggest Ifemelu’s past. Ifemelu’s
relative unhappiness in America is being
compared to her happiness now that she has
returned to her real home.
Figurative - In this passage, Adichie describes how Ifemelu
simile and feels about her new job at the magazine, Zoe.
metaphor Through the use of figurative language, she
shows how Ifemelu is dissatisfied in her job,
feeling ‘restless’ and ‘stifled’ by it. Ifemelu
describes her job ‘like wearing a scratchy
sweater in the cold’ (simile). She thinks about
perhaps leaving and starting her blog on her
own again, but feels uncertain about that
‘nebulous’ future. Adichie uses the metaphor of
an ‘anchor’ to describe the job, which has
negative and positive connotations.
Imagery - This passage takes place when Ifemelu and
tactile and Obinze are reconnected in Nigeria. Adichie
auditory uses imagery to describe the mood of their
meeting and the impact Obinze has on
Figurative - Ifemelu. To Ifemelu, Obinze’s words sound
simile ‘like a melody’ and when she is with him she
tells the story of her time with the tennis coach
and unexpectedly breaks into tears. Adichie
describes her as breathless–’breathing
unevenly, gulping at the air.’ She also uses
tactile imagery in describing Ifemelu’s tears as
‘stinging’ and ‘itchy,’ making the reader feel her
discomfort. Finally, Adichie uses metaphor
when she describes Ifemelu as having a
‘boulder in her chest’--which suggests the
emotional weight of the memory that is making
her cry.
Structure - In this passage, Adichie continues to describe
repetition the impact that Obinze has on Ifemelu when
they reunite in Nigeria. She repeats the idea of
Figurative - or the word silence four times in this passage,
metaphor reinforcing the power of that silence when they
are together. Calling it ‘ancient silence’
suggests that this has been an aspect of their
relationship since the very beginning. It is an
aspect that Ifemelu finds comfort and safety in.
Adichie also uses metaphor, describing
Ifemelu as ‘inside the silence’ as if it is a
physical thing embracing and protecting her.
And so began her heady days full of cliche:
she felt fully alive, her heart beat faster when
he arrived at her door, and she viewed each
morning like the unwrapping of a gift. She
would laugh, or cross her legs or slightly sway
her hips, with a heightened awareness of
herself.
Obinze looked at his almost-empty bottle of
Gulder. It was strange how lost of luster
everything was without Ifemelu; even the taste
of his favorite beer was different.
She had called him a coward, and there was
indeed a cowardliness in his fear of disorder,
of disrupting what he did not even want: his
life with Kosi, that second skin that had never
quite fit him snugly.
Ch. 53 Figurative - This passage describes Ifemelu’s increased
Pg. 553 simile sense of her physical self when she is seeing
Obinze more regularly. Adichie uses several
references to Ifemelu’s body and movement of
her body (heart beating, legs crossing, hips
swaying) to suggest that Ifemelu is feeling ‘fully
alive’ with a ‘heightened awareness of herself’
when Obinze is around. Adichie describes the
joy and anticipation at seeing Obinze that
Ifemelu is feeling: ‘she viewed each morning
like the unwrapping of a gift.’ (simile)
Ch. 54 Sound - In this passage, Obinze is alone on a business
Pg. 562 consonance trip missing Ifemelu. Adichie uses literary
and techniques (consonance and imagery) to
alliteration express the level at which he is missing
Ifemelu and how it has impacted his senses
Imagery - and how he interacts with the world. For
gustatory example, even the taste of his favorite beer
has ‘lost’ its ‘luster’ (consonance). Adichie also
uses consonance again along with alliteration
to reinforce Obinze’s feelings about his
relationship with Ifemelu and his life with his
wife. The repeated consonants of ‘disorder’
and ‘disrupting’ and the alliteration of ‘second
skin’ give a rhythm to the passage and help to
convey the dilemma he is in between the two
relationships.