. Instaread - Americanah: by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Guide to

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies

Americanah

by
Instaread

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Table of Contents

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie chronicles the lives and relationships of two young Nigerians named Ifemelu and Obinze, and explores the culture of the United States from an African perspective. The novel considers issues of race and the complexities of love, family, friendship, and romantic relationships in the United States.

Ifemelu was raised by her parents in Lagos, a city in Nigeria. Her mother is a religious fanatic and her religiously indifferent father has strong opinions about the United States. Ifemelu has a close relationship with her Aunty Uju, her fathers sister, who acted as a big sister or even motherly figure to Ifemelu throughout her younger years. Aunty Uju was the mistress of The General, a military official who impregnated her, but died after their son Dike turned one year old. After The Generals death, Aunty Uju moved to the United States to raise Dike and start a new life.

In secondary school, Ifemelu meets and falls in love with Obinze, whom she affectionately calls Ceiling in reference to an intimate sexual experience they share. They date through secondary school and during their time at the university in Nsukka. However, since teachers keep going on strike, their education proceeds slowly, and Ifemelu eventually decides to move to the United States to continue her studies there. She moves in with Aunty Uju in Brooklyn and forms a close bond with her young cousin Dike. But she doesnt like Aunty Ujus lazy boyfriend Bartholomew from the start. Years later, when Aunty Uju has become a doctor and has moved with Bartholomew to a much smaller town, he ends up using Aunty Uju for her money and for her ability to care for him until Aunty Uju finally leaves him.

After her first summer in Brooklyn, Ifemelu moves on to Philadelphia to attend Wellson College. Throughout this time, Ifemelu has continued her relationship with Obinze. She also tries desperately to find a job and struggles to pay rent on her apartment. She even answers a job ad for a tennis coach who is looking to pay someone for sexual intimacy, though not sex. Horrified by what shes done, she cuts off all contact with Obinze and falls into a deep depression. Her friend Ginika eventually finds her a job babysitting for a white woman named Kimberly.

Ifemelu meets and falls in love with Kimberlys brother Curt, and they date for several years. Curt uses his wealth to treat Ifemelu to vacations abroad, material luxuries, and even helps her find a job that would assist her in getting a green card. She moves with him to Baltimore and begins her job at a press relations agency. One day, Ifemelu runs into an old Nigerian friend of hers and Obinzes at the mall. This chance meeting compels her to email Obinze, who does not respond. Though she cares for Curt, she ends up compulsively cheating on him with her neighbor, and she and Curt break up when she confesses the affair to him.

Ifemelu eventually quits her press relations job and starts her own blog about race, later called Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negroes) by a Non-American Black. Her blog becomes popular, and she begins to make money from it through advertising and speaking engagements. At a blogging conference, she encounters Blaine, an African American political science professor at Yale whom Ifemelu had first met on a train ride to visit Aunty Uju and Dike while she was still in college. He remembers her, and they begin dating. Blaine is well read and is her intellectual equal. Ifemelu gets along with his group of friends, many of whom are also educators and intellectuals. She eventually moves to New Haven to live with him. Ifemelu meets Blaines sister Shan, who is publishing a memoir that deals with race. Ifemelu finds herself disliking Shan, but to her dismay she nevertheless craves Shans acceptance. She feels Shan has gotten Blaine overly agitated about certain racial issues.

Blaine hears about an incident with an African American security guard at the Yale library and organizes a protest against the discrimination the guard experienced. Ifemelu decides to skip the protest and instead attends a luncheon with a Senegalese Yale professor named Boubacar. Blaine is upset with Ifemelu for skipping the protest, and they dont speak for several days. This marks a turning point in their relationship. However, Blaine and Ifemelu are brought together again by another shared passion: the hope instilled by presidential candidate Barack Obama, about whom Ifemelu writes a series of blog posts.

Ifemelu is offered a research fellowship at Princeton, but she decides not to move away until after Obama wins the presidency. Obama does win, and the political excitement brings Ifemelu and Blaine together for a time. She continues to date Blaine while she completes her fellowship and for a while after, but near the end of the fellowship, she begins searching for jobs in Lagos and eventually announces to Blaine her intentions to return home to Nigeria. She contacts Obinze for the first time in years, letting him know that she is returning home.

Meanwhile, Obinze has been leading a very different life of his own. When he struggles to obtain a visa to go to the United States or Europe after college, his mother invites him as her faux research assistant to travel with her to London so he can get a six-month visa and figure his life out from there. Once in London, he obtains fake papers that allow him to find a job under someone elses name. He works odd jobs and has to pay a fee to the documents owner. When the man tries to extort Obinze by demanding more money, Obinze refuses. The man reports Obinze to the authorities, and Obinze then loses the job that has been helping him save money for a sham marriage to a Portuguese woman named Cleotildea union which would allow him to remain in Europe. Then, on the day of their wedding, Obinze is approached by an immigration officer because his visa is expired, and he is thrown into jail to await deportation back to Nigeria.

Not long after Obinze returns to Nigeria, his cousin introduces him to a wealthy businessman named Chief, who eventually offers him a job in real estate. Obinze becomes rich but ends up resenting much of what he has acquired. During this time, Obinze meets and marries Kosi, a decision he comes to regret. They have a daughter together named Buchi. Ifemelu learns of Obinzes wife and daughter before she writes to inform Obinze of her return.

Not long after contacting Obinze, Ifemelu receives a call from Aunty Uju, who tells her Dike has attempted suicide. Ifemelu rushes to them and stays with Dike as he recovers. After a while, Dike assures Ifemelu that he is okay and that she should stick with her plan to return to Nigeria.

Ifemelu returns to Lagos with a job as a features editor for a womens magazine,