Connection Between Nigerian Women And Religion In Americanah By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel, Americanah, explores a connection between Nigerian women and religion. Throughout the story, female characters are influenced by religion in different ways. Many of these characters find stability in religion, because it justifies seemingly un-explainable things and allows them to put their problems into the hands of a God. Because they feel that God has control over their lives, they are willing to make sacrifices – usually in the form of fasting – for Him. However, these sacrifices have negative physical and psychological effects on the characters. In addition to these negative effects, the churches that the female characters attend perpetuate the notion that a woman’s most important trait is her virtue, and that that virtue comes from modesty. There is also an enormous pressure on women – from both inside and outside the churches – to find and keep a husband. Instead of teaching women that they can be independent and successful, religion in the novel serves to perpetuate the idea that a woman’s goal in life should be to find a husband. Because religion acts as a stabilizing force for many female …show more content…
However, this portrayal of religion in the lives of women is only apparent in the Nigerian characters in the novel. Ifemelu and Obinze both live in countries outside of Nigeria and neither character encounters women – or people in general – who are religious in the way Nigerian women are. The novel only explores religion in the context of Nigerian women, and emphasizes the role of religion in Nigerian women’s relationship to marriage. Even though in this particular context, religion has detrimental effects, religion is constantly evolving. It can be a force for good or for evil, depending on who wields