Comparison Essay

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini and Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie are both Bildungsroman novels where many challenging situations lead to individual growth in the protagonists. And the Mountains Echoed published in 2013, is a historical fiction novel which is situated when the Soviet-Afghan war took place and it explores Afghanistan culture and traditions. Americanah published in 2013, is a contemporary literary fiction that is set post 9/11, Nigerian traditions and culture shape the protagonist, thus being a foundation of the book. Both authors incorporate imagery to establish values and cultural context through characterization.

Symbolism is utilized to convey the values of family, home and identity held by the protagonist,

“She touched Ifemelu’s hair. ‘Why you don’t have relaxer?’ ‘I like my hair the way God made it.’ ” (Adichie, p. 12) Ifemelu getting her hair braided expresses her struggle with her identity in America, therefore it dictates the way she behaves and acts. In America, Ifemelu is told to relax her hair as her natural hair is seen “abnormal” and by doing this she will appear more like an “American woman,” this results to the protagonist to distance herself from her true identity as being black automatically has baggage and negative connotations in America. (Adichie, 2014). She is in conflict of whether to succumb to society’s pressure or to protect her true self; though her observations of Nigerians who have altered their values and identity to “fit in,” Ifemelu no longer recognizes the people she once knew which results to Ifemelu to embrace and value her cultural identity. From the quote it is apparent that although society believes that relaxing kinky hair is the best method, the protagonist believes that her natural hair is a part of her and she doesn’t want to display a fake image of herself to others. Ifemelu treasures her ethnic identity, after viewing the loss of her friends’ cultural identity. And the Mountains Echoed explores values of family and home whereas Americanah explores the value of identity, through symbolism. The values of each protagonist impact on the decisions they make in their

In ‘You wouldn’t leave us. You wouldn’t do that Father.’… ‘That’s enough of that now,’ ” (Hosseini, p. 38) from And the Mountains Echoed, Abdullah wakes up in the night when he and his family are in the middle of a desert. It is apparent that the desert represents what Abdullah is feeling as the desert evokes emotions of disorientation in the protagonist (And the Mountains Echoed Imagery ). Abdullah’s mind depicts the desert as he is lost however he is also open to any circumstances that made his father leave them; many thoughts race through Abdullah’s mind from his father simply abandoning them to his father’s throat being slit by bandits. Tension slowly engulfs Abdullah as his allows himself to believe that his father is gone for good, it is obvious that there is not a strong relationship between the young boy and his father as he continues to doubt his father and his intentions even when Saboor returns. This causes Abdullah’s beliefs to clash as he starts to question his own father and if he is who he claims to be, the desert featured symbolises Abdullah’s feelings in this