Americah Ifemelu Analysis

Americanah reflects Ifemelu’s strugglings with the aspect of immersion into American life. The entire process of adjustment into American culture creates a lot of insecurities for this girl. She tries to be a Nigerian woman in America, but her fears of assimilation, losing the original culture, and trying to fit in, hinder this process.While in America, Ifemelu faces many obstacles,ranging from her appearance to language, which cause her to pause in development as a human being.
In Americanah Ifemelu's hair plays a very important role and creates her first major insecurity. This anxiety is the main factor for whether Ifemelu keeps her culture and traditions or accepts a new life style. For example, many people say that “you have to take your braids out for the interviews and relax your hair. If you have braids they will think that you are unprofessional.” This quote shows Ifemelu and the reader the fact that Americans do not accept outsiders, are extremely judgemental, and have their own standards of beauty. Ifemulu …show more content…
She feels ashamed to see her own people for a reason.The old culture has been exchanged for American life, she was not comfortable to admit that. When " Ifemelu joined the taxi line outside the station. She hoped her driver would not be a Nigerian, because he, once he heard her accent, would either be aggressively eager to tell her that he has a master's degree, and the taxi was a second job, and that his daughter was on the dean's list at Rutgers, or he would drive in sullen silence,..as humiliation...that a fellow nigerian a small girl at that, who perhaps was a nurse or an accountant or even a doctor was looking down on him." Ifemelu tries to avoid this interaction because she still struggles with a dilemma inside herself. “To embrace another culture you must love your culture first”.This quote describes Ifemelu ultimate feelings and reflects her soul