The books Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Animal's People, by Indra Sinha, both explore what it is like to be an outsider finding your identity amongst the rest of ‘normal’ society. Adiche does this through her character Ifemelu, a Nigerian woman who immigrates to the United States for college, experiencing culture shock and the inevitable changes she makes to her identity in order to fit into this new place. Indra Sinha explores the concept through a very different character: a disabled man in India who, because of his handicap walks around on all fours, and is given the name Animal. Eventually, this becomes his whole identity . Through these contrasting characters, both authors deal with how identity can be shaped by society's
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Yes, soon I shall walk like a human being, I will think clever thoughts, amaze people, and no longer will I do things that shame me” (Sinha 247). In both novels, America exists on a pedestal : a place that makes dreams happen, the standard for which everyone should be striving to live. They are presented this way so that the authors could criticize this way of thinking. Why does Animal believe that people in America are smarter than those in India, that they’re amazing, that they don’t do anything shameful? There’s a sort of dark irony in this, that he idolizes the home of the company that caused the chemical leak that killed thousands and caused him to be crippled in the first place. Even as he is actively fighting the American company, he still thinks of America as the pinnacle of modern society. Ifemelu struggled with this intrusive thought throughout her own story. When she finally decides to move back to Nigeria she reminisces with her ex about when she first immigrated and she wrote him, "It's wonderful, but it's not heaven"; she reflects more on this by saying, "I like that you buy into the dream, it's a lie but …show more content…
It was not until Elli came with the first-world view of his home that he began to see his village "covered in shit and plastic". Ifemelu struggles with this as well after moving back to Nigeria. Everyone asks her why she would do that, why would she leave America, and when she tries to transfer her money she has to argue with bank tellers " telling her Nigeria was a high-risk country; if anything happened to her money, they would not be responsible…They read her caveat after caveat, and she began to fear for her money…and she worried even more when she came to the bank and saw the gaudy garlands of security at the entrance. But the money was safely in her account” (Adichie 526). She is challenged at every step in trying to move back to her home country by people attempting to warp her idea of her own home. She did not fear for her money until she had this person tell her planting a seed that Nigeria is a "high-risk country" and was allowed to grow in the back of her mind until she completely believed
Yes, soon I shall walk like a human being, I will think clever thoughts, amaze people, and no longer will I do things that shame me” (Sinha 247). In both novels, America exists on a pedestal : a place that makes dreams happen, the standard for which everyone should be striving to live. They are presented this way so that the authors could criticize this way of thinking. Why does Animal believe that people in America are smarter than those in India, that they’re amazing, that they don’t do anything shameful? There’s a sort of dark irony in this, that he idolizes the home of the company that caused the chemical leak that killed thousands and caused him to be crippled in the first place. Even as he is actively fighting the American company, he still thinks of America as the pinnacle of modern society. Ifemelu struggled with this intrusive thought throughout her own story. When she finally decides to move back to Nigeria she reminisces with her ex about when she first immigrated and she wrote him, "It's wonderful, but it's not heaven"; she reflects more on this by saying, "I like that you buy into the dream, it's a lie but …show more content…
It was not until Elli came with the first-world view of his home that he began to see his village "covered in shit and plastic". Ifemelu struggles with this as well after moving back to Nigeria. Everyone asks her why she would do that, why would she leave America, and when she tries to transfer her money she has to argue with bank tellers " telling her Nigeria was a high-risk country; if anything happened to her money, they would not be responsible…They read her caveat after caveat, and she began to fear for her money…and she worried even more when she came to the bank and saw the gaudy garlands of security at the entrance. But the money was safely in her account” (Adichie 526). She is challenged at every step in trying to move back to her home country by people attempting to warp her idea of her own home. She did not fear for her money until she had this person tell her planting a seed that Nigeria is a "high-risk country" and was allowed to grow in the back of her mind until she completely believed