Adichie's Americanah

ericanah Literary Essay

“There are some novels that tell a great story and others that make you change the way you look at the world. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah is a book that manages to do both.” This quote was taken from an article out of The Guardian. The novel Americanah written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, is a novel that deals with real human issues regarding race, identity and culture. Whilst dealing with and addressing these issues, Adichie tells a beautifully real love story about two souls that have always been in love but lose touch and try find their way back into each other’s lives.

Americanah is a deeply thought out book, it is clear that every page is written with such passion as well as knowledge. This makes the story real, sometime brutal and honest but real, Adichie herself has experienced the things that she writes about and is passionate about sharing these experiences. This is clear in her writing a it can be seen that she does not hold back and write about the truth no matter how harsh. One of the most prominent themes that she writes about is race. Race is often a topic that people tiptoe around and do not often

She explains that in America, race is something that people are aware of, she is considered black whereas in Nigeria people are not labeled as ‘black’, people are just people. When visiting Curt’s aunt, Curt is one of Ifemelu’s American boyfriend, she says that Curt’s aunt would be “an interesting women if she’d just be herself. I don’t need her to over-assure me that she likes black people.” Curt then proceeds to explain that “it was not about race, it was just that his aunt was hyper-awareof difference, any difference” this statement is ironic as it is completely contradictory. This shows us the complete ignorance of American people when it comes to issues that they themselves to not have to