A system or organization in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority is known as a hierarchy. In the United States hierarchy is not uncommon. In the novel Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ifemelu an African immigrant from Nigeria experiences the reality of what the “American Dream” as an immigrant is truly like. Adichie uses her character's life as African immigrants to show how race affects her in America. Ifemelu moved to the United States thinking that she would easily be able to get a job, go to school, find love and be able to send money home in Nigeria but instead was faced with many obstacles. Racism is one of the major social issues of the modern world. It affects millions of people
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While both African Americans and African immigrants may have come from the same continent or even the same country, there are immense historical experiences and traumas that have created a divide. Ifemelu and other immigrants witness the long reaching after-effects of slavery’s historical trauma which had a huge effect on American life. And for this reason, it’s not just racism in American that Ifemelu experiences, but a great trauma that has slowly transformed the way races interact and recognize each other. In the novel, Ifemelu has her own blog where she writes about her experience in America. She gets called out for it in front of her friends for it is an outsider’s view, "It was true that race was not embroidered in the fabric of her history; it had not been etched on her soul" (Adichie 70). Without voices like Adichie, the majority of Americans who are living in this society, and who don’t acknowledge how inappropriately they treat other races, would never change or even admit that change is needed. Adichie helps highlight that racial issues in America are not just African-Americans “complaining” about race, as there are African immigrants, individuals completely separated from this country’s past, who are saying this is a problem
While both African Americans and African immigrants may have come from the same continent or even the same country, there are immense historical experiences and traumas that have created a divide. Ifemelu and other immigrants witness the long reaching after-effects of slavery’s historical trauma which had a huge effect on American life. And for this reason, it’s not just racism in American that Ifemelu experiences, but a great trauma that has slowly transformed the way races interact and recognize each other. In the novel, Ifemelu has her own blog where she writes about her experience in America. She gets called out for it in front of her friends for it is an outsider’s view, "It was true that race was not embroidered in the fabric of her history; it had not been etched on her soul" (Adichie 70). Without voices like Adichie, the majority of Americans who are living in this society, and who don’t acknowledge how inappropriately they treat other races, would never change or even admit that change is needed. Adichie helps highlight that racial issues in America are not just African-Americans “complaining” about race, as there are African immigrants, individuals completely separated from this country’s past, who are saying this is a problem