How Does Ifemelu Change In America

Alexandra Torres

English 101

5/25/2018

“Americanah” Americanah, is a novel full of social commentary on race and how it affects the lives of black immigrants, especially female immigrants living in America. The main protagonist of the story, Ifemelu constantly points this out through the novel. Ifemelu experiences in America a new way of thinking, racial bias, social differences, cultural and social pressures that lead her to become a different person in her journey in America and eventually her home in Nigeria. In this essay we will discuss how this changes lead to Ifemelu to change in her character and adapt to a new way of thinking. Americanah offers an outside view on what it means to be colored skinned in America and contributes

His visa has expired and he finds himself using a fake identity to find work, just how Ifemelu had to also get a fake identity, Obinze finds himself marrying for a green card. Obinze finds himself being caught in racism, mistreated and encounters the fear that people have of colored people. Obinze is caught and is deported back to Nigeria and creates a new identity for himself. In Nigeria Obinze becomes very successful and starts to make a lot of money and also marries a beautiful woman, and has been labeled a “big man” in Nigeria. People around him consider him to be very successful but deep down Obinze never fully feels that confident until he encounters Ifemelu again. Ifemelu is also having an identity crisis and returns to Nigeria and reaches out to Obinze because it is familiar and comfortable for her. These two characters have reached a point in their life where they can discuss the new identities they have formed all these years and discuss how they have changed and adapted. The story and characters of the novel share in their life experiences the struggle and need of using someone else’s identity to find work, cultural difference, racial bias, and personal

Americanah focuses on the life experiences and relationships Ifemelu and Obinze, and discusses the life experiences both have encountered in United States from an African point of view. The novel discusses issues of race and the difficulty of true love, family affairs, and romantic relationships in the United States and also in Nigeria. The story follows Ifemelu through her teen years as an outspoken Nigerian that travels to America and in this new county she becomes an outspoken American that finds herself assimilating to this new culture and also begins to date white men. Ifemelu provides an outside view on what it means to be colored skinned in America and contributes to understanding the concept of race and gender identity in African American literature. Ifemelu life struggles must overcome social class disparities in America and in Nigeria, racism towards dark skinned people, and focusing on the cultural and social pressures of her new identity, and the return of a lost