In chapters 24-40 of Americanah the theme of escapism is depicted in the life of Ifemelu, who resorts to distractions and excuses, when she is confronted with the unpleasant aspects of her life. Everything ranging from a blog, an affair, lies, and Obama are used by Ifemelu to put distance between herself and a reality that disagrees with her.
The pattern starts with her shutting-out Obinze, a decision she made while feeling guilty for taking the job with the tennis coach. She then, however, shifted the blame onto Obinze, convincing herself that the very thought of him would be enough to revive the guilt she felt that night, and, therefore, silence was her only option. Obinze became a bogeyman of sorts, no longer the faithful lover who had …show more content…
This time, present in her decision to cheat on Curt. The idea of an affair blossoms in her head, not out of spite for Curt, but as a way for her to cope with her insecurity about their relationship: “she often fought the urge to create rough edges, to squash his sunniness.”(pg.355) Instead of facing her fears and talking to Curt, Ifemelu looked for reasons to do something irrational, anything that would let her get away with not doing the right thing. All of the sudden, the fact that Curt is white and she is black says something bad about him and his love for her: “she wished it were obvious to him.”(pg.363) Whats more, Ifemelu admitted to being in love with Curt, but still had the affair, and with a man she felt nothing for other than curiosity. The affair happens all because Ifemelu didn’t want to admit that there was no big problem that threatened her relationship with Curt, but if there ever was one, it was her, the same goes for her relationship with Obinze. I believe, judging from these relationships, that Ifemelu prefers to accept things that bother her as unfixable rather than try to fix it. Why does she do this? From what I can tell, Ifemelu behaves this way because she doesn’t want to confront her problems, perhaps because she still can’t forgive herself for abandoning Obinze. She simply wants the things that bother her to disappear entirely from her life, as if they were never there in the first …show more content…
In the case of Ifemelu, this theme finds relevance in the stubborn demeanor she assumes when encountering scenarios involving compromise, adult responsibility, and self-accountability. To be honest, I found this side of Ifemelu to be immature, but interesting, nonetheless, as it added the human element of biasness to Adichie 's depictions of race and racism in the United States. And by doing, I found myself understanding Ifemelu’s character, her motivations and reasoning, than at any other point in the book so
The pattern starts with her shutting-out Obinze, a decision she made while feeling guilty for taking the job with the tennis coach. She then, however, shifted the blame onto Obinze, convincing herself that the very thought of him would be enough to revive the guilt she felt that night, and, therefore, silence was her only option. Obinze became a bogeyman of sorts, no longer the faithful lover who had …show more content…
This time, present in her decision to cheat on Curt. The idea of an affair blossoms in her head, not out of spite for Curt, but as a way for her to cope with her insecurity about their relationship: “she often fought the urge to create rough edges, to squash his sunniness.”(pg.355) Instead of facing her fears and talking to Curt, Ifemelu looked for reasons to do something irrational, anything that would let her get away with not doing the right thing. All of the sudden, the fact that Curt is white and she is black says something bad about him and his love for her: “she wished it were obvious to him.”(pg.363) Whats more, Ifemelu admitted to being in love with Curt, but still had the affair, and with a man she felt nothing for other than curiosity. The affair happens all because Ifemelu didn’t want to admit that there was no big problem that threatened her relationship with Curt, but if there ever was one, it was her, the same goes for her relationship with Obinze. I believe, judging from these relationships, that Ifemelu prefers to accept things that bother her as unfixable rather than try to fix it. Why does she do this? From what I can tell, Ifemelu behaves this way because she doesn’t want to confront her problems, perhaps because she still can’t forgive herself for abandoning Obinze. She simply wants the things that bother her to disappear entirely from her life, as if they were never there in the first …show more content…
In the case of Ifemelu, this theme finds relevance in the stubborn demeanor she assumes when encountering scenarios involving compromise, adult responsibility, and self-accountability. To be honest, I found this side of Ifemelu to be immature, but interesting, nonetheless, as it added the human element of biasness to Adichie 's depictions of race and racism in the United States. And by doing, I found myself understanding Ifemelu’s character, her motivations and reasoning, than at any other point in the book so