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Summary and Analysis of Americanah
By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA
Copyright © 2017 Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5040-4373-1
CHAPTER 1
Summary
Part 1
Chapter 1
Ifemelu is a brilliant young Nigerian woman at a crossroads in her life. She has just broken off a long-term relationship and walked away from her provocative and successful lifestyle blog called Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negroes), known for its commentary on American black culture and how it differs from her experiences as an African living in Nigeria. Ifemelu sends an email to her ex, Obinze, to inform him she's coming home after thirteen years in America.
Chapter 2
Reading Ifemelu's email, Obinze, a successful developer in Nigeria, feels off-balance and filled with raw emotion. Trapped in a loveless marriage and the father of a young daughter, Obinze finds little joy in life. He realizes he is still in love with Ifemelu.
Part 2
Chapter 3
Taking the train from idyllic, suburban Princeton to gritty Trenton, New Jersey, to have her hair braided is a symbolic gesture for Ifemelu, allowing her to acknowledge and embrace her African heritage.
Seeing her kinky hair braided in the mirror reminds Ifemelu of her mother's silky tresses and how her mother took scissors to them as proof of her devotion to God. Ifemelu's father, who lost his job in Nigeria for refusing to defer to his female boss' demand for respect, is immersed in unemployment blues, making way for her mother's blind faith to consume the family.
Around this time, Ifemelu's Aunty Uju becomes mistress to a powerful government official, The General, in exchange for a doctor's position at a military hospital.
Chapter 4
Obinze, intelligent and introspective, is the new boy in school. Expected to be Ginika's boyfriend because she is sweet and demure, he's instead attracted to the self-assured and bold Ifemelu. Ifemelu is strongly drawn to Obinze, too, which makes her happy and insecure at the same time. The two fall in love.
Chapter 5
Obinze is obsessed with everything American, especially books. One afternoon, Obinze introduces Ifemelu to his elegant and vivacious mother, a literature scholar who takes Ifemelu under her wing. A progressive woman, she warns Ifemelu about how an unwanted pregnancy is another way that women are kept down in society. Although Ifemelu loves being with Obinze and his mother, she can't seem to shake the feeling of impending doom.
Chapter 6
Aunty Uju's deal with The General, who has a wife and family, is that she becomes a "kept" woman in exchange for her position as a doctor at the military hospital. This means that he controls all her finances and she has no money of her own. In her youth, Ifemelu looked up to Uju for encouraging her to be outspoken, and knows Uju would not have approved of a woman giving up her independence for a man. A year after Uju gives birth to The General's illegitimate son, Dike, The General is killed in a plane crash. With no place to go, Uju and Dike move to America.
Chapter 7
Obinze's mother falls ill, so he decides to go to the university in Nsukka to be near her; Ifemelu chooses to enroll at the school in Obinze's village, too. When a strike interrupts their studies, Ifemelu returns to Lagos to wait it out.
Upon Ifemelu's return to school, Obinze and Ifemelu make love for the first time. Shortly thereafter, Ifemelu thinks she's pregnant, but it turns out to be appendicitis. Knowing they dodged a bullet, the couple uses protection from then on.
Chapter 8
School strikes are becoming more frequent, so Aunty Uju encourages Ifemelu to apply to study abroad, and Obinze agrees with the idea. Ifemelu wins a scholarship to a college in Philadelphia; Obinze promises to follow her after his graduation from the university in Nsukka. Obinze's faith in her abilities steels Ifemelu for the adventure in America.
Chapter 9
The heat in the Trenton hair salon is stifling, reminding Ifemelu of the heat wave during her first summer in New York. The high temperatures, Aunty Uju's scruffy appearance, and the seedy apartment in Brooklyn were not what Ifemelu had expected. Ifemelu notices that life in America has made her aunt more subdued, but Ifemelu feels an overwhelming sense of newness and anticipation, an eagerness to discover America. Little Dike is delightful, and Ifemelu enjoys looking after him.
Chapter 10
Ifemelu likes a lot of things about America and is learning about food and traditions. She enjoys McDonald's hamburgers, bologna, and pepperoni, but is disappointed by the blandness of the fruit. Her favorite thing to watch on TV, by far, is commercials. Her days are full of wonder and excitement as she learns about a new culture.
Chapter 11
Ifemelu doesn't approve of Aunty Uju's new boyfriend, Bartholomew. He's rude, disrespectful, and arrogant, and he displays disturbing misogynistic tendencies. On top of that, he doesn't treat Dike well.
Aunty Uju passes her medical license exam just before Ifemelu leaves for Philadelphia. Although nostalgic about Brooklyn and missing Dike terribly, Ifemelu is anxious to start her new life.
Chapter 12
Ifemelu's old friend, Ginika, meets her at the bus terminal dressed scandalously. What ensues is a crash course in "how to be American." Ifemelu finds a room to rent with three other college girls. Navigating the rules of hospitality, fashion, and humor in a foreign land are challenging. Of particular bafflement is the business of tipping, which Ifemelu sees as a forced system of bribery.
Chapter 13
Feeling like a fish out of water and running out of money (with no job prospects on the horizon), Ifemelu is stressed out. Only when she speaks to Obinze and Dike on the phone does she achieve a sense of calm. Otherwise, Ifemelu feels lost, invisible, and lonely.
Chapter 14
In an attempt to fit in, Ifemelu speaks with an American accent, learns slang, and joins an African student group. Being with her compatriots helps her cope with feelings of alienation. Though connecting with other Africans allows Ifemelu to relax and be herself, she resists becoming what her country folk refer to as an "Americanah" — a Nigerian who returns from America full of pretention and superiority.
Chapter 15
After dozens of job interviews and with her rent payment looming, Ifemelu is at a loss. Out of desperation, she accepts an offer from a seedy tennis coach who pays her to let him touch her sexually. The shame plummets her into a deep depression, but her luck changes when she's offered a position as a nanny for a wealthy family.
Chapter 16
Scarred from her indiscretion with the tennis coach, Ifemelu cuts off contact with Obinze without explanation. Taking on her position as a nanny, Ifemelu at first approaches her young charges with distant professionalism, but soon grows fond of them and their mother, Kimberly.
It's during this period that Ifemelu becomes aware of her "blackness," something she hadn't experienced in Africa. This hit home the day a carpet cleaner came to Kimberly's house. At first, he seemed surprised when she — so strikingly African — opened the door of the stately home, but the expression on his face changed as soon as he figured out she was hired help, just like he was. Ifemelu sees firsthand how "blacks" are lumped in the same class category as "poor whites."
Chapter 17
On the day she decides to abandon her American accent, Ifemelu meets Blaine, an assistant professor at Yale, on the train. They flirt and he gives her his number, but he doesn't pick up when she calls later that day. For an entire weekend she calls him and leaves messages, but he doesn't respond.
Chapter 18
A pretentious and ignorant white girl comes into the hair salon for braids "kind of like Bo Derek in the movie." She asks all kinds of questions of Mariama, one of the stylists, and expresses many false assumptions about life in Africa. She reminds Ifemelu how Americans can make her feel inferior.
Ifemelu meets Curt, Kimberly's handsome cousin, who has an upbeat personality and unbridled optimism, which she finds attractive. He's blond, rich, and crazy about her. They begin spending weekends together in Baltimore.
Chapter 19
Dating Curt means white privilege is extended to Ifemelu. He offers to help her get an interview for a public relations job in Baltimore, for which her career counselor from school advises her to "lose the braids and straighten your hair."
Though she appreciates the opportunities afforded her through this romantic relationship, she resents them, too. Her guilt rears its ugly head when she sees how many of her African friends continue to struggle. She keeps Curt a secret from her parents and doesn't tell Curt about Obinze.
Chapter 20
Seeing Curt every day provides a clear picture of the lifestyles of the wealthy. She admits that she likes living on the glittery surface.
Ifemelu talks to her friend Wambui, a woman of Kenyan heritage, about her hair falling out. Wambui explains that this is the result of chemicals used to straighten her hair; she compares the process to "being in prison." Ifemelu decides to fully embrace her natural hair and has it cut into a very short Afro — a defiant rejection of white oppression and a statement of independence.
When Ifemelu finds overtly suggestive emails between Curt and a white woman with long blond hair, she angrily leaves his apartment, though Curt insists nothing happened. Rather than feeling diminished by Curt's attraction to a white woman, she feels empowered. She also comes to reject the notion that only light-skinned black women are beautiful.
Chapter 21
Ifemelu soon forgives Curt for the emails, and he joins her on a visit with Aunty Uju and Dike. They are happier to be living alone without Bartholemew, and Dike is thriving. Ifemelu is proud to be with Curt, although secretly she wishes he were more understated. She writes a blog post that asserts that many Africans in America don't think they're black, like non-white Americans do — but they are.
Chapter 22
Ifemelu runs into an old friend from home. He mentions he's in touch with Obinze. Just hearing his name sets something off inside her. She rushes home and immediately writes an email to Obinze to apologize, but he never replies. She is in pain for pushing Obinze away and knows that she is still in love with him.
Ifemelu tells Curt that she ran into an old friend but says nothing else. Curt tells Ifemelu that he wants to be the love of her life.
Part 3
Chapter 23
Unable to obtain a visa to come to America to join Ifemelu, Obinze immigrates to London instead. After hiring a questionable agent to help him broker a sham marriage for documentation, he waits for a bride.
After three years of tough times in England and embarrassed of his failings, Obinze takes his lack of success in London as a personal failure and builds a wall between himself and his beloved mother.
Chapter 24
After a tough day cleaning toilets, Obinze receives Ifemelu's email, which plunges him into fresh anguish over her five-year silence. Ifemelu's cruel dismissal without a reason has changed Obinze profoundly, turning him further inward. He deletes her message.
Chapter 25
Obinze reconnects with his cousin who is now living in London. The cousin puts him in touch with a sleazy guy that sources National Insurance card. Out of desperation, and with no choices, Obinze pays the unreasonable price for a card. He must swallow his pride if he's to survive.
Chapter 26
With a health card in hand, Obinze takes on the identity of "Vincent Obi" and is able to find a decent job at a warehouse making deliveries. His boss, Nigel, is a lovely man who calls him "Vinny Boy." For the first time since coming to England, Obinze feels hopeful.
Chapter 27
At a bookstore one weekend, Obinze strikes up a conversation with an attractive widow and her small boy. He doesn't ask for her number because he's reminded of Ifemelu and how much he misses her.
Obinze is lonely and wonders how he got to where he is. His experience abroad is in stark contrast to Ifemelu's, which is privileged and genteel. In the end he longs to return to a place where he feels he belongs, just as Ifemelu does.
Chapter 28
At work, Obinze senses something's not quite right, and fears his identity has been compromised. It turns out that his colleagues planned a surprise birthday for him. However, the "real" Vincent, the man whose heath card Obinze is using, tries to squeeze him for more money, but Obinze refuses, so he turns Obinze in to his boss. Obinze is asked to bring in his passport the next day to clear things up, but he knows he can't ever return.
Years later, after returning to Nigeria, Obinze's colleague at his company in Lagos suggests he find a white general manager for their Lagos operation. Wanting to repay Nigel for his kindness, Obinze calls Nigel in England to offer him the job.
Chapter 29
Emenike, a friend from high school who's doing quite well in London,
gives Obinze the money to "buy" a British wife. He invites Obinze to a posh dinner party at his home, but Obinze finds the guests boring, vacuous, and out of touch with the real world. The void between Obinze and the white upper class widens when he sees how easily they cling to ignorant stereotypes about Africa and Africans.
Chapter 30
Obinze and his bride-to-be are nearly at the marriage license office when an immigration officer sees that Obinze's visa has expired and arrests him. He's placed in detention, and awaits deportation, suddenly back where he started. Tired of lying and always having to look over his shoulder, Obinze is resigned to living out the rest of his life in Nigeria.
Part 4
Chapter 31
Ifemelu cheats on Curt with a man who lives upstairs, and then breaks up with him. Her friend thinks Ifemelu has a self-destructive streak, and Ifemelu agrees with her.
She is inspired to write a blog post about how hairstyles are a metaphor for race. She feels restless and hungry for something she can't name.
Chapter 32
Ifemelu can't remember what she was like before meeting Curt. After her parents' visit from Nigeria, a restless Ifemelu hands in her resignation at work. No further along in her understanding of what it means to be black or white in America, Ifemelu feels like she is drifting.
Chapter 33
Ifemelu focuses on developing her blog, and in a short time it takes off. She becomes known as a provocative blogger on matters of race, and eventually earns enough money to hire an assistant and buy a condo. Blogging makes Ifemelu feel powerful. The downside is that it's all-consuming.
Chapter 34
At a Blogging While Brown convention, Ifemelu runs into Blaine, and he explains that he never called her back years ago because he'd been in a relationship. They start dating, and a year later, they move in together in New Haven, Connecticut. There is a fundamental disconnect between them, however, especially when it comes to his friends; Ifemelu fails to understand their collective outrage about things she deems insignificant.
Chapter 35
Blaine's sister, Shan, extends an invitation for them to visit her in New York. Well-traveled and accomplished, Shan is intimidating to Ifemelu, and she brings out a side of Blaine that Ifemelu doesn't like. Blaine kowtows to his sister and doesn't stick up for Ifemelu when Shan slights her verbally.
Chapter 36
After a year together, Ifemelu still doesn't feel part of Blaine's inner circle, and also feels uneasy about the emotional attachment between Blaine and his ex-girlfriend.
Chapter 37
Attending one of Blaine's sister's chic gatherings is nerve-wracking for Ifemelu. Blaine's weak attempt to defend Ifemelu from snide remarks is too little and too late. Ifemelu begins to lose respect for Blaine, and the cracks in their relationship start to show.
Chapter 38
A Senegalese professor at Yale forms a paternal friendship with Ifemelu. He suggests she apply for a Princeton fellowship. After a nasty fight with Blaine, she packs a bag and goes to see Aunty and Dike.
Ifemelu posts on her blog that white privilege definitely exists, and that it's far more difficult to be poor when you are also a person of color.
Chapter 39
Ifemelu returns to New Haven to smooth things over with Blaine, but he remains cold and distant. She finds that he is as uncomfortable talking about their relationship as Americans are about discussing race.
Chapter 40
With their relationship leeched of all its passion, Ifemelu and Blaine finally break up, though they are both thrilled to watch Barack Obama win the presidential election. Ifemelu receives the research fellowship at Princeton and thinks about a new beginning for herself.
Chapter 41
Aisha, one of the hair-braiders from the Trenton salon, is frustrated that she can't get a green card because her Nigerian American boyfriend won't marry her. Ifemelu, who is about to return home to Nigeria, offers to help, but the news that Dike has attempted suicide brings her plans to a standstill. She drops everything and rushes to Dike's side.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Summary and Analysis of Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Copyright © 2017 Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA.
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