Americanah is an incredibly powerful book, in that it covers so many levels of a “coming of age” and identity. At its core Americanah is a book about love. Whether it is love for a country, a dream, one's family, a friend, a lover, or oneself, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie does an amazing job of conveying this love in a way that every reader can relate.
Ifemelu is a strong, smart, opinionated individual who at the same time experiences insecurities and self-doubt throughout the book. Readers can see over and over again her assessment of others and their attitude towards life. She is quick to draw on “weakness” and superficiality within the characters she interacts with throughout the book. A reoccurring criticism we see from Ifemelu from the start of the book is her disapproval of women who rely on men.
Beginning with Aunty Uju, Kimiberly, Ranyinudo, and even Shan are characters Ifemelu see’s as somewhat broken, because of their fixation on material goods and an obsession with image as opposed to true happiness. The repercussions of this can be seen specifically with Aunty Uju. During Chapter 6 The General dies and his family comes to take away Aunty Uju’s possessions. At this moment Aunty Uju helplessly cries to Ifemelu, “I have nothing. Everything is in his name” (Adichie 105). Within this we see how much of Aunty Uju's world depends on The General and when he is no longer there her world begins to fall apart. In contrast to this, Ifemelu admires Obinze’s mom who as a widower is reliant on no man and therefore is truly genuine in Ifemelu’s eyes.
As Ifemelu explores who she is and who she wants to become, readers can see the evolution of her self identity in regards to her nationality, mental health, the men she dates, her blog, her hair and many other facets of her life. One thing that I found particularly interesting was the change in her accent. We see that at first she adopts an American accent to combat assumptions that she doesn’t speak English fluently and is a foreigner. She switches back to her natural accent however, when she becomes more comfortable with who she is and is proud of her Nigerian background and difference.
Adding on to this, when Ifemelu returns home to Nigeria Ranyinudo teases her about being an Americanah. She says, “But the problem is that you are not even a real Americanah. At least if you had an American accent we would tolerate your complaining” (Adichie 476). When Ifemelu goes to the Nigerpolitan Club they make fun of Nigerian expressions as though being abroad has made them superior (Adichie 499). This is an interesting dynamic and highlights a theme explored throughout the novel of trying to be someone you're not. Adichie's book is incredibly resonant because it explores what it means to be an outsider and find self love despite the challenges that life presents.
I agree that this story is about love and like that you said "whether it is love for a country, dream, one's family, a friend, a lover or oneself..." However I also believe that this love is different for everyone with different results and journies. Almost all of the characters in the story had something they loved and the author portrays this well through the perspectives of Obinze and Ifemelu. Specifically Aunty Uju despite having her fixations of material objects and being broken, her love situations. After Aunty Uju lost the General and moved to America it seemed as though she lost love entirely. Just in the first day Ifemelu notices this in their own relationship saying it was as if "an old intimacy had quite suddenly lapsed" (Adichie 110). When it comes to finding love for herself, all she wants is to settle to give Dike better opportunities and for another child and she does this through Bartholomew. Ifemelu describes Bartholomew as a man who should not be up to Uju's standards except that he was Nigerian and that "In Nigeria, a man like him would not even have the courage to talk to you" (Adichie 122). At this point in the story Aunty Uju isn't looking for a partner for love but to settle and to have support from someone else. Even though Aunty Uju never to our knowledge find love, she at least breaks off from Bartholomew to focus on herself and Dike. Even though the story follows Ifemelu and Obinze's life and love story, the book does a good job of showing other's love failures and successes to bolster their love story.
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