One major theme I found within the novel, “Americanah,” was compromise. Numerous characters compromised what they wanted or believed in order to attain something, whether it was wealth or security. The first example that comes to mind would be the main character, Ifemelu. Although her character is portrayed as strong and stubborn, soon after moving to America, Ifemelu finds herself compromising her values with a tennis coach in order to earn money for living. Then throughout almost the entirety of the book, she continues to compromise in every relationship until they all end and leave only Obinze. The difference between these two scenarios would be that one was almost out of necessity in order to live while the other was out of a false sense of complacency. The first compromise scarred Ifemelu and left her in a pit of depression and shame. The book describes her waking up the next morning, “slowed by sadness.” (Adichie, 192). In the second example, Ifemelu believed she was satisfied in her relationships until she was not. This led her to have bad relationship after bad relationship. If she would not have compromised on who she truly loved, it would have saved her from many heartbreaks.
Another character, who displayed the same theme of compromise was Obinze. Obinze’s mother values honesty greatly throughout the book, yet that is put aside in order to get Obinze to Europe. Throughout the remainder of the book, Obinze compromises in whom he chooses to marry. The first example leads Obinze to get caught and sent back to Nigeria. Before being sent back, it also leaves Obinze ashamed and refusing to acknowledge his mother out of that shame. The second leads Obinze to divorce his wife at the end of the book saying “. . . I should never have married her” (Adichie, 588). Both scenarios did not play out as Obinze wanted when he chose to compromise his values. Through these examples of Ifemelu and Obinze compromises, a belief formed in my head. Ultimately, this theme of compromise taught me that although compromise can be used in a good way, it should not be used at the expense of one’s values.
I think Ifemelu compromises so much because at the beginning of her time in the US, she sees her wants, needs, and identities as something that can be thrown on the back burner. Talking specifically on her compromises with men other than Obinze, with Blaine it seems on the outside that she has found her group of people she can “vibe” with. But in reality, she is just doing this out of complacency like you touched on. Even though in chapter 34 Blaine is critiquing her blog for not being proper enough for cultural commentary, she agrees with irritation. Blaine says “You’re being lazy, Ifem” because she isn’t adding enough depth to his standards (Adichie, 386). Even though Blaine critiques what she’s passionate about, she stays with him because he makes her feel temporarily safe and warm. She puts her own feelings and thoughts aside because she believes that having Blaine to fall back on is more important than an argument.
ReplyDeleteObinze does display a lot of compromise at the end of the book, we see it a lot in the beginning when adult Obinze is introduced. He apologizes for having an opinion in Kosi’s conversation, saying, “he would apologize properly. He should have kept quiet, left her conversation unruffled” (Adichie, 37). Even though he wants to share his thoughts and opinions with his (ex) wife, he doesn’t want to cause any disturbances because this is the life he is supposed to have with a wife and a child and a good paying job, and he doesn’t want to risk that security. He shares that complacency aspect with Ifemelu and her relationships. I think that they both get complacent because no relationship they have will compare to the one they have with each other.
I agree with your idea that a major theme in Americahna was compromise. I think that from the start of the story, Ifemelu was forced to make compromises to achieve a sense of security and a good life. For starters, she had to make the compromise of getting an education over being with the man that she loved. Although she did not want to leave Obinze in Nigeria, she had to make the compromise of going to the United States because it appeared she would never get to complete her education in Nigeria due to protests. Throughout the story, she continues to make compromises. She compromises with her morals and goes to the tennis instructor when she has no way to pay her rent, and she compromises with her ideas of love and friendship to stay away from loneliness with men such as Curt and Blaine, yet she never seems to be happy or fulfilled with her relationships with them. The biggest compromise she makes is when she changes her hair to fit in society when told “lose the braids and straighten your hair. Nobody says that kind of stuff, but it matters. We want you to get that job,” (Adichie 250). She cared so much about that part of her identity, yet she sacrificed it when she did not have a choice to maintain stability and start her career.
ReplyDeleteI think the biggest compromises that Obinze makes are with his Kosi and Ifemelu. Although Ifemelu is back, he stays with his wife for a lot longer than he would like to give Kosi the stability and loyalty that she deserves. When Kosi finds out about Ifemelu, she states “We have a marriage. Do you think you can just destroy this family because your old girlfriend came into town?” (Adichie 572). From the start of their marriage, Obinze had never been happy with Kosi, and Kosi never appeared to be happy with Obinze. Yet, they had stayed loyal to one another up until this point in the story because they had made a commitment to one another and provided one another with a security that they both had looked for. However, as the story comes to an end, he makes the sacrifice of losing his family by leaving Kosi because he does not want to be unhappy anymore. Although this may not be looked at as the best of compromises, he made this choice knowing he may lose his relationship with his child even though there was no guarantee he would wind up with Ifemelu in the end.