For starters, Adichie has taught me
that it is possible to be continuously offended by the ideas of a main
character and still be astounded by a novel.
The character of Ifemelu has so
many admirable characteristics that evolve throughout the novel. As a young
woman, I gravitate towards her ideas of feminism and her understanding and
recognition that men and women are not seen as equal in society. However, one
can argue that the most prevalent social topic discussed in the novel is race,
and how race inevitably leads to racism, especially in the United States. While
I agree that racism is still an issue in America, I often found myself trying
to “defend” America to Ifemelu and even Adichie herself. I found myself getting
frustrated with Ifemelu and the way she categorized and stereotyped the white
characters in the novel. On the topic of children, Ifemelu is certain she does
not want “Americanized” children:
“I don’t want them to have American childhoods. I don’t want them to
say ‘Hi’ to adults. I want them to say ‘Good morning’ and ‘Good Afternoon.’ I
don’t want them to mumble ‘Good’ when somebody says ‘How are you?’ to them. Or
to raise five fingers when asked how old they are. I don’t want a child who
feeds on praise and expects a star for effort and talks back to adults in the
name of self-expression.” (564)
Ifemelu’s idea of American
children was one of many that frustrated me. I believe that racism evolves from
stereotypes. Ifemelu desires that Black stereotypes will deteriorate someday,
however, I feel as though she is stereotyping towards the American culture in the
same way. So why is Ifemelu’s view accepted or justified and stereotypes
towards black culture are not? Where the line between pointing out a culture’s stereotypes
and judging a culture because it is different? Being a white American who grew
up saying ‘Hi’ to adults and being rewarded for my efforts in music and academics
on a daily basis, I have a hard time wrapping my head around why this is such a
terrible way to raise children. I was very offended when reading this due to
the fact that Ifemelu is expressing the underlying idea that a simple, American
‘hi’ would corrupt her children into American ways. My frustration towards this
quote got me thinking about the “privilege of criticism.”
If you are not a direct product
of a certain culture, do you have the privilege to criticize the culture? I
think this question is something Ifemelu struggles with throughout the entire
novel, and honestly, it is something I struggle with as well. We are quick to
judge “different,” and this often leads to the 21st century racism experienced
today. In the novel, I feel as though Ifemelu judges the white characters as
much as she assumes they judge her. For example, she criticizes Curt for “believing
in good omens and positive thoughts and happy endings to films.” (243) When
reading about Curt, I often asked myself: “Is she criticizing Curt because of
who he is or because of the culture he is a part of?
As I stated above, for me, this
book has been an excellent read. At the same time, I struggle with the idea of hypocrisy
throughout the novel. Americans are not supposed to be racist, but we are also
supposed to smile and nod when people assume our entire culture is
narrow-minded, needy, ungrateful, and privileged. This book helped me clarify
my stance on the topic of racism: there should not be a hierarchy of
oppression, but there should be an understanding that racism and stereotyping
can happen to ALL races and cultures, not just the underprivileged ones or minorities.
I am interested to see how people
respond to these comments (I am expecting some to complete disagree with me). To concise my thoughts into a few questions:
Can privileged cultures also be discriminated
against?
Do you think Ifemelu is racist
towards white Americans?
How does your race/culture affect
your view on the novel?
I’m not sure I would say that Ifemelu is truly racist towards whites - I don’t, for instance, believe that she would refuse to hire a white person for a job - but she has a definite prejudice. Her bitterness is understandable, since she does suffer from the effects of racism, both major and minor, throughout the book, but her angry rhetoric does turn me off to a certain degree. Her blog posts are powerful and give a real window into the problem of race in America, but she offers very little in the way of constructive and practical solutions to racial problems. For instance, in one of her blog posts, she says that, “the problem of race in America will never be solved” (367) because romantic love between the races, which she believes is the solution, is so unusual. Is someone who believes that racism is an insoluble problem truly suited to be one of the most prominent voices of race in America, as Ifemelu seems to become?
ReplyDeleteThe only real solution she offers is on page 406, at the end of one of her longest blog posts. “So after this listing of don’ts, what’s the do? I’m not sure. Try listening, maybe. Hear what is being said. And remember that it’s not about you. American Blacks are not telling you that you are to blame. They are just telling you what is. If you don’t understand, ask questions.… Then listen some more. Sometimes people just want to feel heard.” This is an excellent solution, but does Ifemelu really subscribe to it? I’m not sure she does, because she seems to feel extremely annoyed every time anyone, especially anyone white, asks her questions about Africa. This post may be just an attempt to make her blog palatable to white readers, which her angrier posts are not.
I think this is a great expansion upon what our group was talking about in class, with regards to Ifemelu exhibiting ambiguity in her attitudes towards America. On one hand, she finds herself drawn to America and the opportunities it offers. The 2008 election signifies the promise and hope she associates with the United States, as after Obama’s win, Ifemelu feels there was “nothing that was more beautiful to her than America” (448). This idealization of America’s values, however, contrasts to the experience of America in practice, as she explores the issue of white privilege. Ifemelu criticizes the idea of white privilege and how Americans tend to racialize every issue, noting a general conviction that “white people earned their place at jobs while black people got in because they were black” (448). Here, I do think you have a point in that she consistently condemns White Americans for their tendency to stereotype Black individuals, yet she draws on stereotypes of White group members to support her own arguments. This issue becomes even more complicated as she returns to Lagos, and the extent of America’s impact upon her behavior surfaces. Landing in Lagos, she is assaulted by the disorder and chaos of Nigerian life, and is teased for “looking at things with American eyes.” (476). Additionally, she snaps abruptly at the hairdresser for making a mistake, saying “Can’t you people think?” (557). The use of ‘you people’ implies Ifemelu is an outsider to her hometown, and complicates her national identity, which sheds light on the apparent double-standard of her criticism.
ReplyDeleteI think possibly the answer might lie in the idea that Adichie is trying to get the reader to understand how it feels to be denied one’s individuality, and to be grouped together with one’s race. By generalizing the White population, it might be Adichie is communicating how it feels to be assigned attributes based on group membership that are not personally reflective of yourself. I think through this strategy, Adichie allows the reader to experience the same feelings of anger and injustice that Ifemelu experiences in America. This rhetorical strategy therefore does not suggest a gaping flaw in Ifemelu’s argument, rather serves to open the reader’s eyes towards how it feels to be stereotype. Ultimately, though this strategy might appear to be a fallacious hole in her argument, it might be operating as a perspective-taking strategy that is meant to foster understanding and empathy in the reader.
Adichie wrote this novel knowing that many people, mostly white Americans, would find it offensive. When Ifemelu starts talking about race at her first “diversity” talk she presents her true ideas about racism the way she would in her blog, but the people from this small, all white company in Ohio ended up calling her the racist. So she had to tame her own ideas at these events (377). Adichie certainly doesn’t tone down any of her ideas in this book and as a result, it is hard for a white American to read the book and feel good about themselves afterwards, I certainly did not.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think the point of the novel is to offer a solution to racism, but to show that there are advantages to belonging to certain races in modern culture. Ifemelu does have her own stereotypes and expectations about how white people will act because it is human nature to stereotype and put people into groups based on how they look. What Adichie is saying is that the effects of stereotypes about black people are worse than they are for whites. White people don’t have to worry about being seen as financially unstable, illiterate, a criminal, etc. because of the existing stereotypes about them (431). I don’t see the novel as contradicting itself. I think it is just observing that people have their own stereotypes about people from every race, but the stereotypes about African Americans have caused, and continue to cause the most damage.
For me, more so than finding myself offended by both Adichie as the author and Ifemelu as the main character in the ways in which they stereotype white Americans, I find myself more intrigued by it. I enjoy reading about the experiences of someone coming to America for the first time. I think we often take the opportunities that we have for granted. For example, Ifemelu has to go to extreme measures to make money when she first arrives, leaving her lonely and depressed. She is so ashamed of what happened with the tennis coach that she cuts off all contact with Obinze. The narrator explains, “She would have to tell him what happened, and she could not bear the thought of telling him what happened. She felt shamed; she had failed” (196). Obinze was Ifemelu’s rock and she stopped talking to him just like that because she felt ashamed of an action that she took to stay afloat in America.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that Ifemelu works so hard not to conform because a majority of her friends, Ginika for example, want to be, sound, and look American. But when she gets told that she sounds very American by a telemarketer, it upsets her. She wonders, “Why was it a compliment, an accomplishment, to sound American?” (215). The way American culture directly affects Ifemelu’s life shapes her views on white Americans. I also think part of why some of her judgments sound so harsh is because she wants her blog to be raw, real, relatable, and thought provoking. It makes me wonder what it would be like to move to a country where I knew hardly anyone, had only a small amount of money, and had to find my way to success and happiness all on my own. Ifemelu shows us that life can be harsh but also beautiful. She just wants to tell it how she sees it.
Many times, the things that piss us off the most can be the most thought provoking. Adichie has Ifemelu write these extremely critical blog posts, so the average reader of this book can take a few minutes to put down the book and think about what they just read. These posts can be viewed as offensive by the average white American; however, it allows us to see how subtle racism can actually be and gives us the opportunity to see racism from a different point of view. It goes to show that we often believe that racism has a little part in today’s society, but any stereotype or negative belief about someone’s culture is racist and causes discrimination.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with some individuals who mentioned that Ifemelu sometimes goes too far with her blog posts and can be a little racist. She likes to talk about how “racism should have never happened and so you don’t get a cookie for reducing it”, but often contradicts herself by hating on Americans (378). She continuously judges the American culture on topics from raising children to Americans trying to be polite and talk about her home country. I feel like Ifemelu does this because her journey in America was such a struggle at times. Other individuals had nice houses and were financially stable, while she had a tough time getting out of poverty. Being in these hard situations made Ifemelu envious of many Americans and it caused her to slowly hate the differences between the Nigerian culture and American culture. Ifemelu talks about how naïve Americans are with racism, but then in return, she views America with a close-minded harsh view. She seems to have a belief that the oppressed can’t be racist. This isn’t true, every person on this Earth can be racist. That’s why I believe the best way to eliminate racism is to treat everyone justly, not equally. Treating individuals equally denies them the fact to individuality and expressing their culture.