Although Americanah is written as a novel, I found the book to be very informative about American culture. The impact and presence of race in America is heavily discussed in the story. As a white American, I never realized the extent to which race is an issue for people of color. Adichie uses the characters in the novel to give realistic examples of struggles that black people face due to racism. Dike is a teenager when he recounts an incident of racism he faced at church. He tells Ifemelu “about the pastor at church, a white woman, who had said hello to all the other kids but when she came to him, she said ‘What’s up bro?’” (Adichie 433). Dike is treated differently solely because of the color of his skin. Direct incidences of racism like these are not always made apparent to white people, so the novel informs these groups of readers about similar situations that occur in real life.
I found the author’s comments on race particularly interesting because of the unique perspective given. Ifemelu is African and only becomes viewed as black by society when she moves to America. Although her encounters with racism are similar to those faced by African-Americans, she perceives these situations differently due to her African background. When Ifemelu goes shopping with her friend Ginika, there are two female staff members at a store and their manager asks which one of them assisted Ginika. Although the two staff members are of different races, both Ginika and the manager are careful not to mention these differences. Ifemelu wonders, “Why didn’t she just ask ‘Was it the black girl or the white girl?’” and Ginika informs her that “…this is America. You’re supposed to pretend that you don’t notice certain things” (Adichie 155). Ifemelu learns that race is not addressed by American society, and the issues pertaining to race go largely unspoken. Adichie uses Ifemelu’s experiences and thoughts to convey a new understanding of what racism is in America. Race is not directly discussed as an issue because of its huge impact on society and the discomfort that such discussions cause many Americans.
My perception of Americanah as a learning tool made me wonder if the novel was meant to inform others about race in America by giving the perspective of a black African. The novel includes race in both the background and foreground of the characters’ lives which makes it especially informing on the topic of race. Adichie also includes Ifemelu’s blog posts within the book which further demonstrates a informative purpose in writing the novel. The blog posts are used to clearly show the perspective of a black American on the topic of race. The authentic examples and commentary of how race plays a role in American culture make the novel useful as an informational tool despite this information being told through a fictional story.
I think it’s really important that you identified the differences between how race is treated in Nigeria and the United States as presented in the novel. For instance, as you mention, Ifemelu did not think of race as being an issue before coming to America, as further evidenced by the fact that she changes her blog when she returns to Nigeria because "race doesn't really work here ... I got off the plane in Lagos and stopped being black" (Adichie, 476). However, as you noted, the issue of race in America is often dealt with passively, as in, people pretend not to notice because society has deemed acting and commenting on race as being inappropriate. The idea that race relations are avoided more so than fixed in America is an obvious source of frustration for Ifemelu throughout the novel, verbalizing this frustration when she states, "we say that race doesn't matter because that's what we are supposed to say" (Adichie 291). The key difference in how the two countries deal with race relations has to do with the extent that race is truly acknowledged in each country. In Nigeria, there are clearly still differences in people's complexions, Ifemelu teases Ginnika that in Nigeria "all the boys chase the half-caste girls" (Adichie, 124), yet race is not an issue because whatever history contributes to differences in how racial groups are treated in Nigeria have been acknowledged and dealt with. Race became trivial. However, in America, rather than recognizing that race relations in the past have impacted the lives of different races in America and working to alleviate prejudice, Adichie argues that Americans have put the blinders onto race, as it were, simply concluding that it no longer ought to matter. You mentioned that the novel works as a commentary on race in America, which is spot on, but it also works as a call to action. Adichie, in showing Ifelemu's experiences as a black immigrant in America is able to show the differences between how the topic of race is dealt with in Nigeria and America, and in doing so, is able to encourage her readers to have conversations about race rather than simply ignore the concept all together.
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