Racism in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah A

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RACISM IN CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE’S AMERICANAH

A THESIS

MONICA MEGASARI

REG. NO. 120705077

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES

UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA

MEDAN 2018

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UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA AUTHOR’S DECLARATION

I, MONICA MEGASARI , DECLARE THAT I AM THE SOLE AUTHOR OF

THIS THESIS EXCEPT WHERE REFERENCE IS MADE IN THE TEXT OF

THIS THESIS. THIS THESIS CONTAINS NO MATERIAL PUBLISHED

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DEGREE. NO OTHER PERSON’S WORK HAS BEEN USED WITHOUT

DUE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS IN THE MAIN TEXT OF THIS THESIS. THIS

THESIS HAS NOT BEEN SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF ANOTHER

DEGREE IN ANY TERTIARY EDUCATION.

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Date : July 20, 2018

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA COPYRIGHT DECLARATION

NAME : MONICA MEGASARI

TITLE OF THESIS : RACISM IN CHIMAMANDA NGOZI

ADICHIE’S AMERICANAH

QUALIFICATION : S-1/SARJANA SASTRA

DEPARTMENT : ENGLISH

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Date : July 20, 2018

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to the Almighty, Jesus Christ, mankind’s savior who loves me with His unconditional affection, holds my hand in every situations and blesses me with a great life that I can pass all problems in my life without changing and remove my faith in Him.

Secondly, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to those who have given me pray, advice, motivation, and help in accomplishing my thesis. They are :

1. My beloved parents, to whom this thesis is devoted, BewrlinPangaribuanand Linda Herawati, who always pray for me everytime and for everything. They are such a great motivator, supporter, advisor and my enthuasiasm charger that I can live my life until nowadays and accomplish this thesis. Thank you for your unconditional love, I cannot live without you. 2. My dearbrother Dennis MarthinYohanesPangaribuanwho have become my cheeriness and motivation, I do love you all. 3. Dr.Siti Norma Nasution, M.Hum as my supervisor and Dian Marisha Putri S.S M.Si as co-supervisor who have share their valuable ideas, times, guidance, and patience in process of completing this thesis. 4. Prof. Hj. T. Silvana Sinar, M.A, Ph.D as the head of English Department and RahmadsyahRangkuti, M.A., Ph.D the Secretary of English Department and all the lecturers of English Department who have shared many knowledge and experience. 5. KaRatnaCempaka, Bang Deril Clinton and Sardis Naviriwho always support and help me to finish this thesis. They always give their time to support me a lot. 6. Rosa, Irvan, Bang Sam, Bang Pandu, Michael Tambunan, SahatSimanjuntak, ElinaPangaribuanbecome such my family, thanks for the time, the laugh, the crazy moments we spent together, share many things in all the times, all of you are gifts from God. Also for all my friends in English Literature University of Sumatera Utara especially Class A 2012 that I can’t mention name by name, I will never forget you guys, may all us be succesfull in the future. Amin.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA 7. Jessica RachmawatiSitepu, Mey Sofia Sitohang and Lidia PutriAnggreni.My sister like my siblings who always support me and pray for me, our friendship still count. 8. Sir YunusIwanSaputra and Ibu Magdalena Panggabean as my Senior High School teacher at SMA Advent Bandung whoalways cherish me and support me to finish the thesis. 9. Finally, may this thesis be worthwhile for all of the readers, may the grace and love of God be with us forever. Amin

Medan, July 2018

Monica Megasari

Reg. No. 120705077

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA ABSTRACT This thesis entitled Racism in ChimamandaNgoziAdichie’sAmericanahdiscusses about Ifemelu is a young woman from Nigeria living in the United States. The analysis use feminism as a theory to answer the problem. It was find Racism when she begins as she takes the train from Princeton, New Jersey, a nearby city that is much poorer to get braids done before returning to Nigeria. When Ifemelu returns to Nigeria after some delay due to a suicide attempt made by her beloved cousin Dike. She and Obinze must decide where their friendship and love stand. Though Obinze faces a tough decision due to having a wife and young daughter.The conclusion many African immigrants – portrayed in Ifemelu’s character - feel and suffer the pressure of a society that hinders their individual goals in life and the development of their own identities.black women undoubtedly suffer the consequences of this inseparable relationship. Ifemelu is then a clear example of African immigrants who have to put up with different situations in which – as a result of their race. They are discriminated against. Thus, Americanah convincingly illustrates the struggle that many African women have to endure in order to adapt to a new culture in order to succeed

Keywords : racism, feminism

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ABSTRAK

Skripsi ini berjudul Racism in ChimamandaNgoziAdichie’sAmericanahyang membahas tentang Ifemelu adalah seorang wanita muda dari Nigeria yang tinggal di Amerika Serikat. Analisis ini menggunakan feminisme sebagai teori untuk menjawab masalah. Saat itu ia menemukan Rasisme ketika ia mulai naik kereta api dari Princeton, New Jersey, kota terdekat yang jauh lebih miskin untuk dikepang sebelum kembali ke Nigeria. Ketika Ifemelu kembali ke Nigeria setelah beberapa penundaan karena upaya bunuh diri yang dilakukan oleh sepupu tercinta, Dike. Dia dan Obinze harus memutuskan di mana persahabatan dan cinta mereka berdiri. Meskipun Obinze menghadapi keputusan sulit karena memiliki istri dan anak perempuan. Kesimpulan banyak imigran Afrika - digambarkan dalam karakter Ifemelu - merasakan dan menderita tekanan dari masyarakat yang menghalangi tujuan individual mereka dalam kehidupan dan pengembangan identitas mereka sendiri. perempuan kulit hitam tidak diragukan lagi menderita konsekuensi dari hubungan yang tidak dapat dipisahkan ini. Ifemelu adalah contoh nyata dari imigran Afrika yang harus menghadapi situasi yang berbeda - sebagai akibat dari ras mereka. Mereka didiskriminasikan. Dengan demikian, Americanah secara meyakinkan menggambarkan perjuangan yang harus ditanggung oleh banyak wanita Afrika untuk beradaptasi dengan budaya baru agar berhasil

Kata kunci: rasisme, feminisme

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

AUTHOR’S DECLARATION ...... v

ACKNOWLEDGMENT ...... vii

ABSTRACT ...... ix

ABSTRAK ...... x

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... xi

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study ...... 1

1.2 Problem of the Study ...... 6

1.3 Objective of the Study ...... 6

1.4 Scope of the Study ...... 7

1.5 Significance of the Study ...... 7

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 Dynamic Structuralism...... 8

2.2 Feminism ...... 9

2.3 The History of Feminism Theory ...... 12

2.4 Theory of Feminism ...... 14

2.5 Types of Feminism ...... 16

2.5.1 Liberal Feminism ...... 17

2.5.2 Radical Feminism ...... 17

2.5.3 Socialist and Marxist Feminist ...... 18

2.6 Racism ...... 18

2.7 Brief Description of Racism as Reflected in Americanah ...... 22

2.8 Hermeneutics Theory ...... 24

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA CHAPTER III METHOD OF RESEARCH

3.1 Research Design ...... 26

3.2 Data Collection...... 27

3.3 Data Analysis ...... 27

CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS AND FINDING

4.1 Racism in Adichie’sAmericanah...... 29

4.2 Ifemelu’s Struggle toward Racism ...... 36

4.2.1 Ifemelu and Obinze : Maturity through Experience ...... 36

4.2.2 Ifemelu and Curt : Maturity through White Privilege ...... 41

4.2.3 Ifemelu and Curt : Maturity through Education ...... 44

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

5.1 Conclusions ...... 49

5.2 Suggestions ...... 51

REFERENCES ...... 53

APPENDICES i.MayaAngelon’s Biography ii. Summary of The AmericanahNovel

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Literature is imaginative process as stated by Wellek and Warren in

Wiyatmi (2006: 14). Literature must be able to produce an aesthetic creation and try to transmit the needs of human life and be a spot to aspire the ideas, thoughts, and feelings of the author about human life.

Literature refers to compositions that tell stories; dramatize situations, express emotions, and analyze and advocate ideas (Roberts and Jacobs, 1995:1).

Through this statement, it can be stated that literature can make people develop language when they would like to tell stories in order to have aesthetic point.

Hence, language and literature have close relationship. Language is a medium which makes literature exist. Literature also can be a medium to express anger, happiness, sadness, ambition, and even insinuate something in a soft trick.

Literature has beautiful words, it can make the readers become more interested in discussing the topics which are reflected in literary works.

Biography, social life, psychological aspect, and also cultureof the author are the elements which can influence howhis literary work is. The authors have these elements. It is not very surprising if we look at and find out the similarities between literary works;however, the object of the works is human. In general, humans in the world have some similar characteristics.

According Suroso and Suwardi (1898:2), Indonesian literature looking women into two parts categories. The first category is the role of women in term

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA of biological (wife, mother, and a sex object) or based on the tradition of the environment. Second, that the role that gained from his position as an individual and not as a companion to her husband. Female figures such as the above two categories, usually referred to as a feminist that women who try to be independent in thought, action and aware of their right. The development of feminist have a desire to improve the position of women and the degree of order equal to or parallel to the men.

Writing with the purpose of changing people‘s pessimistic views about women of achieving gender equalities and denouncing the injustices inflicted to women became the main goal for feminist writers and activists. They aimed at creating a world, at least in literature, where women would be able to live as individuals. Women often depicted as the inferior gender, a passive object that could not survive on its own and that could do nothing for itself. Women, in literature, could only exist through the eyes, minds and lives of men but never for themselves. Beautiful and obedient, they could never think on their own. They were obliged to occupy a secondary place in the male's world not because of their capacities but rather because of imposed cultural and social forces. This representation led to deny women's dignity and even worse their identity.

Feminism is a phenomenon in the society. In discussing feminism, people will talk about women. Feminism is a kind of social changing which derives from women’s suffrage movements in the nineteenth century in Europe and America. It is closely related to the social changing of gender issues. Mary Wollstonecraft, the first feminist who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), encourages woman writers to insert feminism in their literary works. Finally,

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA feminism has been widely spreading. The term feminism can also be used to describe a political, cultural, or economic movement that is aimed at establishing equal rights and legal protection for women. Feminism involves political, cultural and sociological theories, as well as philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. It is also a movement that campaigns for women’s rights and interests.

Feminism has finally changed traditional perspectives in a wide range of area in human’s life. Many feminist activists have campaigned for women’s legal rights such as rights of contract, property rights, and voting rights. Nowadays they are also promoting women’s rights to bodily integrity and autonomy, abortion rights, and reproductive rights. They have struggled to protect women and girls from domestic violence, sexual harassment, and rape. On economic scopes, feminists have advocated for workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay. In addition to that, they also fight against other forms of gender specific discrimination against women. The reason of why feminism exists is because the patriarchal construction has subordinated and repressed the essence of women during the last decades.

Character is the actor in a story. A character which is become an actor in a literary work should be an alive character, not a dead one like a doll in the author’s hand. Alive character with his/her own personality and character. The characterization in literary work is the way of an author to describe a character through his/her characteristic and behavior.

Feminism movement is a movement of women to against anything that marginalize, supordinatedanda underestimated by dominant culture, whether in politic, economy or social domain. Women’s strugle to against the

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA interrelatedness of power relation that place women lower than men, having the strugle during their life, included in giving meaning toward refrective gender.

Gender is a concept which is formed by society in the interrelatedness of relation between men and women. So, gender is constructed socially or culturally, that it is forned because of God’s omnipotence , as men and women are differentiated based on the sex. The concept of gender is impacted by value system, whether it is social value or cultural value. There are difference between custom, culture, religion and value system of a nation and among the societies.

Because of that, position, function and role between men and women in a region is different with another region.

In this thesis that a woman has right to decide whatever she wants in her own life. Men may not underestimate others because they are physically stronger than women. Even though a wife is only a housewife, her husband should appreciate it because actually being a housewife is not easy as people think.

According to Goefel (1986: 837) in Sugihastuti (2000), feminism is a theory about the equality between men and women in politics, economic, and social; or organized activities. Based on the definition of feminism, it can be said that there must be the background why women talk about feminism now. The main reason that causes women struggle for equality is the personal experiences, living with men in society. It is reflected in the novel which is going to be analyzed.

The analysis of a literary work can be related with the social aspects in a society where the story was told. This kind of approach can be called as sociology of literature. Literature is also influenced by the culture or condition where the

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA literary work was created. Ian Watt (1964: 300 – 313) in Damono (1973: 3 – 4) classified the interrelationship among the writer, literature and the society. The writer records something unusual which happens in society by making it through his creation or imagination and creating the literary works.

In this thesis, the writer focuses on

AmericanahByChimamandaNgozieAdicie. It is a 2013 novel by the Nigerian author, for which Adichie won the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Fiction award. It tells the story of a young Nigerian woman, Ifemelu, who emigrates to the United States to attend university. The novels traces Ifemelu’s life in both countries, face some race problems and threaded by her love story with high school classmate Obinze.

There are some novels that tell a great story and others that make you change the way you look at the world. ChimamandaNgoziAdichie'sAmericanah is a book that manages to do both. Americanah is a deeply felt book, written with equal parts lyricism and erudition. More than that, it is an important book – and yet one that never lets its importance weigh down the need to tell a truly gripping human story.

This title is very interesting because it has smart story, strong-willed

Nigerian woman named Ifemelu who, after she leaves Africa for America, endures several harrowing years of near destitution before graduating from college, starting a blog entitled “Raceteenth or Various Observations About

American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negroes) by a Non-American

Black” and winning a fellowship at Princeton (as Adichie once did; she has acknowledged that many of Ifemelu’s experiences are her own). Even it is also a

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA brilliant dissection of modern attitudes to race, spanning three continents and touching on issues of identity, loss and loneliness.

Adichie understands that such fine-grained differentiations don’t penetrate the minds of many Americans. This is why a lot of people here, when thinking of race and class, instinctively speak of “blacks and poor whites,” not “poor blacks and poor whites.” Many of Adichie’s best observations regard nuances of language. When people are reluctant to say “racist,” they say “racially charged.”

The phrase “beautiful woman,” when enunciated in certain tones by certain haughty white women, undoubtedly means “ordinary-looking black woman.”

Adichie’s characters aren’t, in fact, black. They’re “sable” or “gingerbread” or

“caramel.” Sometimes their skin is so dark it has “an undertone of blueberries.”

1.2 Problem of the Study

Problems that the writer would like to analyze are:

1. How are racisms portrayed in Adichie’sAmericanah?

2. How are Ifemelu’s strugglesagainst racism portrayed in

Adichie’sAmericanah?

1.3 Objective of the Study

The objectives are arranged based on the problems of the study. This thesis tries to find out the answers of those questions, they are:

1. To find out the racismsportrayed in Adichie’s.Americanah

2. To describe Ifemelu’s strugglesagainstracism portrayed in

Adichie’sAmericanah

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1.4 Scope of the Study

As limitation of further analysis in this thesis, scoping the main cause of the problem will be needed to prevent wider analysis in the thesis. The scope of the study is only focused onracism that faced by main character, and the struggles of achieving her freedom without the description about any other character of the novel.

1.5 Significance of the Study

The significance of the study is the writer wants to represent that all of people in this world should be able to achieve gender equalities and denouncing the injustices inflicted to women and no longer be the oppressed creatures that is apassive object that could not survive on its own and that could do nothing for itself. Nowadays, people should have brilliant dissection of modern attitudes to race. Black people have no longer occupied the secondary place but they have been equal to white people in society.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 Dynamic Structuralism

Damono in his book entitled sosiologisastra explains Structure derives from

Latin word, structurameans form or building. Structure means the relationship between various elements in text. Some elements in textare plot, theme, character, and setting. Teeuw (1984: 135) says, ‘Structural Analysis aims to unpack and explain as carefully, as precisely, as much detail, and in-depth and entanglement all elements and aspects of literature that together produce a comprehensive meaning’. This theory concernsin analyzing and explaining the all elements in text to get the purpose of the text, “creativity in literature regard as something that didn’t more than extrinsic element” (Damono, Djoko:1984:36). This theory regards that creativity, reason and background of author as something unimportant in the process of analyzing literature.

Dynamic structuralism and genetic structuralism were born as a complement of classic structuralism theory which uses the analysis ofintrinsic and extrinsic.

Mukarovsky and Felix Vodicka says literary is communication process, semiotic fact, structure and moral value. As the sign the literary get the meaning from the reader. Because of this, literary should involve writer’s competence, social cultureform, and reader as interpreter (Teeuw, 1984: 93). In Dynamic Structralism,

Mukarovsky explains the chain of relationship is between four factors: the creator, literature, readers, and reality. Manifested as a sign of literary works in its intrinsic structure, in conjunction with the reality, society, creators, and readers (Teeuw,

1984:190).

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Suwardi in his bookMetodologiPenelitianSastra explained that the person who introduces the theory of Genetic Structuralism was Taine, “Taine believed that literary work was not only an imaginative fact and personal imagination, but also a reflection of culture record, a shape of certain mind when literary work was created” (2003:53). Author was person who viewed an important object and turned that object into creative words that had meaning to others, and the idea was not only taken from her creativity and experience but also from society situation. In the other side, by understanding literary text and disregarding author as the one who conveys meaning will lessen the identity and value that has been used by the author in cultural condition of society.

Lucien Goldman, the one who developed dynamic structuralism. He tried to combine structural analysis with historic materialism and dialectic; he was concernedthat literature should be understood as a whole. Goldman (1973:109-123) explained that one principal of this method is to be realistic. Sociology should have historical characteristic, otherwise, to be scientific and realistic, research of history should involve sociology.

2.2 Feminism

Human civilization is made by and for both the man and woman. They both live here in a coordinated social system. Both the species have their own right and needs to live with modest admiration. But the history of human society does not tell us the equivalent existence of both man and woman. Man always dominate on women and women had no way to complaint against it. But in time gradually a change come into women’s brains and they understood that they need to be conscious about their own right. So women move up their voice against women oppression. To do so they had no way but to take some practical actions. All these

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA actions are known as women’s movement against oppression. And the scheme to achieve the goal is called feminism.

Women’s position was changed in various times in the history. Their position did not flow in the same current at all the time. Today oppressed, suffered, violated, ignored. Dominated and so on negative terms are often used to describe women’s position in society. But if we look back to our history, we will get an elegant and striking story of women when women played as significant role as played by men now. And at time we have to confess that women did not give any pressure on men and men live a fair and free life like now they do. Probably this kindness let the men to alter the ruling system and to take over the power from women and turn the free and lively women into their subject. Men put their own made system in such a way that it seems the women are by nature and from the beginning of the history were in this oppressed and subjugated position.

French philosopher “Rousseau” in his book Social Contract (Book I : Chapter

II)said “Man is born free, but everywhere they are in chains” This comment is completely true for women in society. By nature women born free, but continue their life as a subject of men in society.

How the free and lively women turn into men’s subject, how their relation to men positioned against nature, how women become inferior to men is some unanswered questions in society which have no clear and dependable evidence. In almost all the civilizations women gradually lost their power and men took the power. Men turned all in one in the society. Men did it by a special social system known as patriarchy.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Patriarchy is such a type of society where male control of the public and private worlds and everything done according his will. Patriarchy is the structuring of society on the basis of family units, where fathers have primary responsibility for the welfare of the family and have the authority of his family. The concept of patriarchy is often used by extension (in anthropology and feminism, for example) to refer to the expectation that men take primary responsibility for the welfare of the community as a whole, acting as representatives via public office.

The word patriarchy comes from two Greek words —patēr (father) and archē

(rule). In Greek, the genitive form of patēr is patr-os, which shows the root form patr, explaining why the word is spelled patr-iarchy. The basic meaning of the Greek word archē is actually "beginning" (hence arche-ology or men-arche) — the first words of

Genesis in Greek are En archē ("In the beginning"). However, archē is also used metaphorically to refer to ruling, because rulers are perceived to "start" things.

Different scholars defines Patriarchy from their own point of view. Allan G.

Johnson said in his ‘The Gender knot’ (1997, 2005: 14) that - “Patriarchy is an obsession with control as a core value around which social life is organized. As with any system of privilege that elevates one group by oppressing another, control is an essential element of patriarchy: men maintain their privilege by controlling women and anyone else who might threaten it.” Elizabeth Cady station said in her ‘The

Women’s Bible’ (1895) that - “Women was made after man, of man and, for man, an inferior being, subject to man.” Sylvia Walby said in her ‘Theorizing Patriarchy’

(1990 : 19) that -“A system of social structures and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women.”

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Patriarchy create such a social environment where all manly behavior e.g. – assertiveness, aggressiveness, hardiness, rationality or ability to think analytically and abstractly, ability to control emotion, high ambition, independence are considered as positive for social development, beneficial and control. On the other hand all feminine traits e.g. – gently, modesty, humanity, sportiness, sympathy, compassionateness, tenderness, naturalness, sensitivity, intuitiveness, emotionality, dependence are considered as negative, faulty and against social development, control and stability. Developing a gender difference in society and putting men in higher position than women patriarchy established a false concept that, men should be the leader in society and women should stay under men’s subjugation, this system is good for society as its definitely defined by nature and the natural relationship between men and women.

2.3 The History of Feminist Theory

A feminist is to advocate or to support the right and equality of women.

Hooks, Bell. (2000). Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. Pluto Press.

Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical or philosophical fields.

It encompasses work in a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, economics, women's studies, literary criticism, art history, psychoanalysis and philosophy. Feminist theory aims to understand gender inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations, women's rights and sexuality.

The history of feminism is the chronological narrative of the movements and ideologies aimed at equal rights for women. While feminists around the world have differed in causes, goals, and intentions depending on time, culture, and country, most Western feminist historians assert that all movements that work to obtain

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA women's rights should be considered feminist movements, even when they did not

(or do not) apply the term to themselves.

Nancy Cott draws a distinction between modern feminism and its antecedents, particularly the struggle for suffrage. In the United States she places the turning point in the decades before and after women obtained the vote in 1920 (1910-

1930). She argues that the prior woman movement was primarily about woman as a universal entity, whereas over this 20 year period it transformed itself into one primarily concerned with social differentiation, attentive to individuality and diversity. New issues dealt more with woman's condition as a social construct, gender identity, and relationships within and between genders. Politically this represented a shift from an ideological alignment comfortable with the right, to one more radically associated with the left. In the immediate postwar period, Simone de

Beauvoir stood in opposition to an image of "the woman in the home". De Beauvoir provided an existentialist dimension to feminism with the publication of Le

DeuxièmeSexe (The Second Sex) in 1949. While more philosopher and novelist than activist, she did sign one of the Movement de Liberation des Femmes manifestos.

The resurgence of feminist activism in the late 1960s was accompanied by an emerging literature of what might be considered female associated issues, such as concerns for the earth and spirituality, and environmental activism. This in turn created an atmosphere conducive to reigniting the study of and debate on

Matricentricity, as a rejection of determinism, such as Adrienne Rich and Marilyn

French while for socialist feminists like Evelyn Reed, patriarchy held the properties of capitalism. Elaine Showalter describes the development of Feminist theory as having a number of phases. The first she calls "feminist critique" - where the feminist reader examines the ideologies behind literary phenomena. The second Showalter

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA calls "Gynocritics" - where the "woman is producer of textual meaning" including

"the psychodynamics of female creativity; linguistics and the problem of a female language; the trajectory of the individual or collective female literary career [and] literary history". The last phase she calls "gender theory" - where the "ideological inscription and the literary effects of the sex/gender system" are explored." This model has been criticized by TorilMoi who sees it as an essentialist and deterministic model for female subjectivity. She also criticized it for not taking account of the situation for women outside the west.

2.4 Theory of Feminism

Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies that share a common goal: to define, establish, and achieve equal political, economic, cultural, personal, and social rights for women. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment (Hawkesworth, 2006:25-27 ;Bealey

1999:3-11). Or we can say that feminism is a process that aims to create a better relationship between both genders to improve and better to the society (Nugroho,

2008:61). Mary Wollstonecraft, the first feminist who wrote A Vindication of the

Rights of Woman (1792), encourages woman writers to insert feminism in their literary works. Finally, feminism has been widely spreading.

Feminism is defined diferent by different feminist. They define feminism according their own point of view. As they think differently so their definition too is different from others. But all the definition is almost same in the main point. Here the writer is going to put some definition of the most popular feminist in the world.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA • Estelle B. Freedman (2003:285) said in his book ‘No Turning Back’: “Feminism is a belief that women and men are inherently of equal worth. Because most societies privilege men as a group, social movements are necessary to achieve equality between woman and man.”

• Rosalind Delmar (1986:13) said in her book ‘What is feminism’ that :“Feminism is usually defined as an active desire to change women’s position in society.”

• Christina Hoff Sommers (1994: 22) said, in the book ‘Who Stole Feminism’ that :

“a concern for women and a determination to see them fairly treated”

• Ratna (2004:184): "Dalampengertian yang paling luas, feminismeadalahgerakankaumwanitauntukmenolaksegalasesuatu yang dimarginalisasikan, disubordinasikan, dandirendahkanolehkebudayaandominan, baikdalambidangpolitikdanekonomimaupunkehidupan social padaumumnya." (In its broadest sense, feminism is a women’s movement which rejects the marginal, subordinated and underestimated things by the dominating culture either in politics, economics or social life in general).

• Awuy (2002:1) in his essay Feminisme di PersimpanganJalan states:

"Feminismemerupakansebuahfenomenakultural. alasankemunculannyaialahberdasarkanketidakpuasanterhadaprealitas yang dianggapsebagaikonstruksipatriarkal". (Feminism is a cultural phenomenon of unsatisfactory to the reality of patriarchal construction).

From above definitions it’s clear to us that feminism is a doctrine, a thought, a movement that tell us the oppressed position of women in the world, it is such a philosophy in where women’s worked are valued and their political, economic and

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA social rights are preserved. Feminism is for women’s equality in world. It let the women to prove their power to work in the same rhythm of men in society.

Feminism has altered predominant perspective in a wide range of areas within

Western society, ranging from culture to law. Feminist activists have campaigned for women's legal right (rights of contract, property rights, voting rights); for protection of women and girls from domestic violence, sexual harassment and rape; for workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay; and against other forms of gender-specific discrimination against women. Simone de Beauvoir wrote that " The first time we see a woman take up her pen in defense of her "sex" was Christine de

Pizan who wrote Epitre au Dieud'Amour (Epistle to the God of Love) in 15th century. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and Modesta di Pozzo di Forzi worked in the 16 century. Marie Le Jars de Gournay, Anne Bradstreet and Francois Poullain de la

Barre wrote during the 17th ".

2.5 Types of Feminism

Feminist ideology have developed over the years. They vary in goals, strategies, and affiliation. They often overlap, and some feminists identify themselves with several branches of feminist thought. There are liberal feminism, radical feminism, socialist feminism, Marxist feminism, cultural feminism,multiracial feminism, post-colonial feminism, third-world feminism, new age feminism, post-structural feminism, post-modern feminism, etc. But in this thesis, the writer only use three types of feminism in analyzing the problem of the main character in " Americanah". They are liberal feminism, radical feminism, multiracial feminism and socialist feminism which the definition of each will be explained below.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA 2.5.1 Liberal Feminism

Liberal feminism asserts the equality of men and women through political and legal reform. It is an individualistic form of feminism, which focuses on women's ability to show and maintain their equality through their own action and choices. Liberal feminism uses the personal interactions between men and women as the place from which to transform society. According to liberal feminists, all women are capable of asserting their ability to achieve equality, therefore it is possible for change to happen without altering the structure of society. Issues important to liberal feminists include reproductive and abortion rights, sexual harassment, voting, education, equal pay for equal work, affordable childcare, affordable health care, and bringing to light the frequency of sexual and domestic violence against women.

2.5.2 Radical Feminism

Radical Feminism considers the male-controlled capitalist hierarchy, which it describes as sexist, as the defining feature of women's oppression. Radical feminists believe that women can free themselves only when they have done away with what they consider an inherently oppressive and dominating patriarchal system. Radical feminists feel that there is a male-based authority and power structure and that it isresponsible for oppression and inequality, and that, as long as the system and its values are in place, society will not be able to be reformed in any significant way.

Some radical feminists see no alternatives other than the total uprooting and reconstruction of society in order to achieve their goals.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA 2.5.3 Socialist and Marxist Feminism

Socialist feminism connects the oppression of women to Marxist ideas about exploitation, oppression and labor. Socialist feminism is a branch of feminism that focuses upon both the public and private spheres of a woman's life and argues that liberation can only be achieved by working to end both the economic and cultural sources of women's oppression. Socialist feminists think unequal standing in both the workplace and the domestic sphere holds women down. Socialist feminists see prostitution, domestic work, childcare, and marriage as ways in which women are exploited by a patriarchal system that devalues women and the substantial work they do. Socialist feminists focus their energies on far-reaching change that affects society as a whole, rather than on an individual basis. They see the need to work alongside not just men but all other groups, as they see the oppression of women as a part of a larger pattern that affects everyone involved in the capitalist system.

2.6 Racism

From the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, black women were in a difficult position. Between the civil rights and feminist movements, where they fit in. They had been the backbone of the civil rights movement, but their contributions were deemphasized as black men — often emasculated by white society — felt compelled to adopt patriarchal roles. When black women flocked to the feminist movement, white women discriminated against them and devoted little attention to class issues that seriously affected black women, who tended to also be poor.

Historically, black women have chosen race over gender concerns, a choice that was especially poignant during Reconstruction when African American female

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA leaders, such as Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, supported the Fifteenth Amendment giving black men the right to vote over the objections of white women suffragists.

Stereotypes and generalizations about African Americans black people and their culture have evolved within American society dating back to the colonial years of settlement, particularly after slavery became a racial institution that was heritable.

A comprehensive examination of the restrictions imposed upon African-Americans in the United States of America through culture is examined by art historian Guy C.

McElroy in the catalog to the exhibit "Facing History: The Black Image in American

Art 1710-1940." According to McElroy, the artistic convention of representing

African-Americans as less than fully realized humans began with Justus

EngelhardtKühn's colonial era painting Henry Darnall III as a child.[1] Although

Kühn's work existed "simultaneously with a radically different tradition in colonial

America" as indicated by the work of portraitists such as Charles (or Carolus)

Zechel, the market demand for such work reflected the attitudes and economic status of their audience.

From the colonial era through the American Revolution ideas about African-

Americans were variously used in propaganda either for or against the issue of slavery. Paintings like John Singleton Copley's Watson and the Shark and Samuel

Jennings' Liberty Displaying the Arts and Sciences are early examples of the debate underway at that time as to the role of Black people in America. Watson represents an historical event, while Liberty is indicative of abolitionist sentiments expressed in

Philadelphia's post-revolutionary intellectual community. Nevertheless, Jennings' painting represents African-Americans as passive, submissive beneficiaries of not only slavery's abolition, but knowledge, which liberty has graciously bestowed upon them.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Black women have a long feminist tradition dating back to 19th-century activists such as Maria W. Stewart and Sojourner Truth as well as organizations like the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs (NACWC) and the National

Council of Negro Women, founded in 1896 and 1935, respectively. Events of the

1960s and 1970s, not to mention black men’s changing attitudes regarding the role of black women, focused awareness around new concerns such as race, gender, and class, and several organizations attempted to address these issues:

1. The ANC (Aid to Needy Children) Mothers Anonymous of Watts and the

National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO): Johnnie Tillmon was an

early pioneer of addressing the concerns of poor black women. A welfare mother

living in Los Angeles’s Nickerson Projects, Tillmon helped found ANC (Aid to

Needy Children) Mothers Anonymous of Watts in 1963. She was later tapped to

lead the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO), founded in 1966.

Through these organizations, Tillmon addressed such issues as equal pay for

women, child care, and voter registration.

2. Black Women’s Liberation Committee (BWLC): Student Nonviolent

Coordinating Committee (SNCC) member Francis Beal was one of the founders

of the Black Women’s Liberation Committee (BWLC) in 1968. In 1969, Beal

helped clarify the struggles of black women in the influential essay “Double

Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female” that also appeared in the landmark 1970

anthology The Black Woman, which ushered in a new wave of black female

writers. Beal identified capitalism as a key factor in the chasm between black

men and women. During the early 1970s, the BWLC evolved into the Third

World Women’s Alliance.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA 3. National Organization for Women (NOW): Reverend Dr. Anna Pauline (Pauli)

Murray is a cofounder of the nation’s most prominent feminist organization, the

National Organization for Women (NOW), founded in 1966.

4. The National Black Feminist Organization: While many black women remain

active in mainstream feminist organizations only, other black women have

created organizations aimed at addressing black women’s unique concerns more

effectively. The National Black Feminist Organization launched in 1973 with the

specific goal of including black women of all ages, classes, and sexual

orientation. Although it and similar organizations didn’t outlive the 1970s, the

legacy of black feminism lives on.

In 1983, Alice Walker coined the term womanism, a feminist ideology that addresses the black woman’s unique history of racial and gender oppression. Women such as Angela Davis; law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw; academics Patricia Hill

Collins, Beverly Guy Sheftall, and Bell Hooks; and historians Darlene Clark Hine,

Paula Giddings, and Deborah Gray White have greatly expanded the context in which black women and their history and activism are discussed by underscoring black women’s issues related to race, gender, and class.

For further information about the story Americanah, the writer gives the synopsis below:

“Americanah” tells the story of a smart, strong-willed Nigerian woman named Ifemelu who, after she leaves Africa for America, endures several harrowing years of near destitution before graduating from college, starting a blog entitled

“Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly

Known as Negroes) by a Non-American Black” and winning a fellowship at

Princeton (as Adichie once did; she has acknowledged that many of

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Ifemelu’sexperiences are her own). Ever hovering in Ifemelu’s thoughts is her high school boyfriend, Obinze, an equally intelligent if gentler, more self-effacing

Nigerian, who outstays his visa and takes illegal jobs in London. (When Obinze trips and falls to the ground, a co-worker shouts, “His knee is bad because he’s a knee- grow!”)

Ifemelu and Obinze represent a new kind of immigrant, “raised well fed and watered but mired in dissatisfaction.” They aren’t fleeing war or starvation but “the oppressive lethargy of choicelessness.” Where Obinze fails — soon enough, he is deported — Ifemelu thrives, in part because she seeks authenticity. Never has

Ifemelu felt as free as the day she stops hiding her Nigerian accent under an

American one, the accent that convinces telemarketers she is white. She refuses to straighten her hair (a favorite Web site is HappilyKinkyNappy.com), even if she must endure muttered disparagements from African-Americans when out with a white man — “You ever wonder why he likes you looking all jungle like that?”

Early on, a horrific event leaves Ifemelu reeling, and years later, when she returns to Nigeria, she’s still haunted by it. Meantime, back in Lagos, Obinze has found wealth as a property developer. Though the book threatens to morph into a simple story of their reunion, it stretches into a scalding assessment of Nigeria, a country too proud to have patience for “Americanahs” — big shots who return from abroad to belittle their countrymen — and yet one that, sometimes unwittingly, endorses foreign values.

2.7 Brief Description of Racism as Reflected in Americanah

One of the fundamental principles underlying human rights is that of equality between human beings. The article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

(UDHR) proclaims that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA rights”. The corollary of the principle of equality is that of non-discrimination.

Discrimination occurs when people in the same situation are treated differently for no objective reason.

Unfortunately, many factors still give rise to discrimination in the modern world, including people’s ethnic, national or social origins, their religion, language, gender. Political leanings, sexual orientation, age, state of health and so forth. Forms of discriminations based on claims of ‘race’, i.e. racism, remain among the most widespread today. Now that globalization has made our societies more multicultural, the risks of discrimination have also increased. Consequently, it is crucial to promote respect and tolerance if we are to guarantee everyone a harmonious life in diversity.

Specific legal standards have been adopted in an effort to promote these values and combat racism.

While Americanah is a tale of individual characters, it is also a sweeping analysis and critique of race and racism in America, England, and Nigeria, and the novel is peppered with Adichie’s biting observations on the subject. In Nigeria,

Ifemelu doesn’t really think of herself as black. There is still a racial hierarchy in

Nigerian culture, however, as light-skinned or mixed-race people are considered more attractive, and people use products to make their skin lighter. But when Ifemelu and Obinze go to America and England respectively, they find that racism is a much more pervasive part of life. Ifemelu first truly discovers race—and starts to consider herself black—only when she is forced to adapt to America’s complex racial politics.

Adichie gives many examples of racist incidents, like Obinze being mocked for scraping his knee because he’s a “knee-grow,” people assuming the white Curt couldn’t be dating Ifemelu, or patients refusing to have Aunty Uju as their doctor.

Ifemelu then starts a blog about race, and Adichie scatters blog posts throughout the

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA novel. Through these posts Adichie is able to be most outwardly critical of racism in

America: Ifemelu describes many microaggressions, incidents, and assumptions she has experienced that many whites wouldn’t always notice or understand, and she is able to do so bluntly and humorously. Many of these posts (as well as Ifemelu’s relationship with Blaine) involve navigating the differing experiences of African-

Americans and “American-Africans,” or Africans who come to live in America and experience racial prejudice for the first time.

Most of the novel’s discussion of race involves pointing out racism and humanizing it (both the victims and the perpetrators), but Adichie also gives some examples of people overcoming racism through close friendship and romantic love.

Characters like Curt, Kimberly, and Nigel achieve this to varying degrees of success in their relationships with Ifemelu and Obinze. As Shan complains about in describing her own book, most editors don’t want a novel that focuses on race—the issue must somehow be made more “complex” or described so beautifully that the reader doesn’t even notice it. With this Adichie comments on her own work, declaring that race and racism are big and complicated enough issues on their own, and they deserve a novel as sprawling and complex as Americanah.

2.8 Hermeneutics Theory

Hermeneutics is the theory of text interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. There have been two very different approaches to social explanation since the nineteenth century, and they differ most fundamentally over a distinction between explanation and understanding or cause and meaning (von Wright 1971). This distinction divides over two ways of understanding a why question when it comes to social events. Why did it happen?

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA may mean : what caused it to happen? or it may mean : why did the agents act in such a way to bring it about?.

The hermeneutic approach holds that the most basic fact of social life is the meaning of an action. Social life is constituted by social actions, and actions are meaningful to the actors and to the other social participants. Moreover, subsequent actions are oriented towards the meanings of prior actions; so understanding the later action requires that we have an interpretation of the meanings that various participants assign to their own actions and those of others. So the social sciences (or the human sciences) need to be hermeneutic. researchers need to devote their attention to the interpretation of the meanings of social actions.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In the analysis of the aspect of feminism in Americanah, the writer applies library research. The writer collects the data from related books and other literatures that can be connected to the object of investigation. The writer also finds suitable references from the internet in doing this analysis. The writer gets the primary source from the novel, in this case through the patriarchal system, while my secondary source is from other books that related to Feminism.

3.1 Reseach Design

The very first procedure, the writer collects the main sources of the data which is Americanahnovel by ChimamandaNgoziAdichie. The technique used is by gathering all the data from the library or from the internet and other supporting material relevant to the topic of this thesis as many as possible, and then the writer begin to read the data carefully, to take down notes and the writer composes it properly. In reading the novel the writer underlines every data that show about the struggle of life to make me easier in collecting from the whole data. The whole data, the quotation will be put in my thesis later on and find out the relations with the study. The right data are divided into parts to suit the parts of the study. All of the data are read carefully line by line to find out the relation with study. The research design can be seen from the scheme below;

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA

Researcher Data Source: Americanah

Conclusion Data: Character and Quotations from the text of the novel

Method: Qualitative Data Selected- Interpreted-

Analysed

Scheme 1: The Steps of Analyzing Data

3.2 Data Collection

The second procedure is data collection. After the writer reads the novel many times and underlines the data, then the writer selects and collects the data that show the racism. The whole data, the quotation will be put in my thesis later on and find out the relations with the study. The right data are divided into parts to suit the parts of the study. All of the data are read carefully line by line to find out the relation with study.

3.3 Data Analysis

.The data analysis is based on qualitative research method because it interprets phenomenon in terms of the meaning people bring, involving naturalistic approach to its subject matter. In addition, it is exploratory because the

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA data could not be put into a context that can be graphed or displayed as a mathematical form.

According to Wahyuni (2012:1), qualitative research methods were developed in the social sciences to enable researchers to study social and cultural phenomenon. Qualitative research is an inductive approach and its goal is to gain a deeper understanding of a person’s or group’s opinion. The writer analyzes the data which has been collected from the quotations of the novel. It concerns with the attitudes that have been done by the main character who pictures the way she breaks the social norms. In addition, this analysis also shows how a woman struggles to achieve their freedom. After getting the quotations, the writer analyzes what kind of feminisms which support the attitudes.

For the last procedure is data analysis. In composing this analysis, the writer have to combine the important data from many sources which have been collected and analyzed them well. The writer apply library research. Library research is a kind of research where researcher gains the data from related books and other literature, the writer analyze the selected data, describe clearly the analysis and then the writer can make a conclusion in the end of the analysis.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

4.1 Racisms in Adichie’sAmericanah

Ifemelu, the lead protagonist of the novel, is herself an ‘Americanah’, who travels to the US to study, remaining there for over a decade before returning to her homeland. Against this trajectory, the novel explores the various manifestations of differing cultural values; what is held in esteem and what is stigmatized; how one is perceived and how one perceives oneself: and collectively, how all are defined by the topic of race. A well-crafted and articulate read, Americanah is a pertinent reminder that while racism may be outlawed in Western countries, it is still written into institutional structures as well as outdated private opinion..

Moreover,Americanah is a tale of individual characters, it is also a sweeping analysis and critique of race and racism in America, England, and Nigeria. In

Nigeria, Ifemelu doesn’t really think of herself as black. There is still a racial hierarchy in Nigerian culture, however, as light-skinned or mixed-race people are considered more attractive, and people use products to make their skin lighter. But when Ifemelu and Obinze go to America and England respectively, they find that racism is a much more pervasive part of life. Ifemelu first truly discovers race—and starts to consider herself black—only when she is forced to adapt to America’s

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA complex racial politics. Adichie gives many examples of racist incidents, like Obinze being mocked for scraping his knee because he’s a “knee-grow,” people assuming the white Curt couldn’t be dating Ifemelu, or patients refusing to have Aunty Uju as their doctor. Ifemelu then starts a blog about race, and Adichie scatters blog posts throughout the novel. Through these posts Adichie is able to be most outwardly critical of racism in America: Ifemelu describes many micro aggressions, incidents, and assumptions she has experienced that many whites wouldn’t always notice or understand, and she is able to do so bluntly and humorously. Many of these involve navigating the differing experiences of African-Americans and “American-

Africans,” or Africans who come to live in America and experience racial prejudice for the first time.There are some quotes dealing with racism from this novel.

Obinze’s wife Kosi calls him, reminding him that they have a party that night with a man named Chief. Obinze arrives home to his huge house and thinks about his daughter Buchi and all his new possessions, and the flat comfort of his current life. Kosi greets him, and he thinks of how very beautiful she is. People always compliment her beauty, asking if she is half-white, and Obinze is uncomfortable with how much Kosi enjoys these racial compliments. (Chap. 2)

From the quotation above, Obinze remembers his old life, and now compares it to his current one. He has built up an identity for himself as a rich Nigerian businessman with a beautiful wife and child, but he is still unsatisfied. We will see that race isn’t really an issue in Nigeria, except for this aesthetic idea that lighter skin is more beautiful than darker skin.

“And after you register your own company, you must find a white man. Find one of your white friends in England. Tell everybody he is your General Manager. You will see how doors will open for you because you have an oyinbo General Manager. Even Chief has some white men that he brings in for show when he needs them. That is how Nigeria works. I’m telling you.” (Chap. 2)

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA The quotation above show that once Obinze enters the inner circle, the system is all set up to work for him. The writer see more hints of racial issues in Nigeria here, as people get more respect if they have a white “General Manager,” even if it’s only a sham position. In other words white people have higher statues than just black people.

“Dike, put it back,” Aunty Uju said, with the nasal, sliding accent she put on when she spoke to white Americans, in the presence of white Americans, in the hearing of white Americans. Pooh-reet-back. And with the accent emerged a new persona, apologetic and self- abasing.” (Chap. 9)

The quotation above shows that Aunty Uju changes her very voice to try and fit in with white Americans. She has been working multiple jobs and saving for years, but

Uju is still very poor. That's what the blackpeople have in there. Once again the writer found how racist so thickly happened. Even to speak to the white people, black people must follow their accent.

Later, she said, “I have to take my braids out for my interviews and relax my hair… If you have braids, they will think you are unprofessional.”

“So there are no doctors with braided hair in America?” Ifemelu asked.

“I have told you what they told me. You are in a country that is not your own. You do what you have to do if you want to succeed.”” (Chap. 9)

The quotation above shows that Aunty UjuaskIfemelu to keep a rule about hair for black people. Black female hair as a symbol is introduced (chronologically) here, as

Aunty Uju has learned that she must “subdue” her natural hair to be considered respectable and professional as an American doctor.

They mimicked what Americans told them: You speak such good English. How bad is AIDS in your country? It’s so sad that people live on less than a dollar a day in Africa. And they themselves

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA mocked Africa, trading stories of absurdity, of stupidity, and they felt safe to mock, because it was a mockery born of longing, and of the heartbroken desire to see a place made whole again. Here, Ifemelu felt a gentle, swaying sense of renewal. Here, she did not have to explain herself.” (Chap. 14)

From the quotation above, the writer found that Ifemelu now feels her identity and personhood being “subdued” just like Aunty Uju’s is. The oppressive power of white

America, wears Ifemelu down until a moment like this makes her suddenly feel valueless. So she starts to change herself in order to fit in better. Moreover, the author gives more observations and examples about the complexities of racial issues in America. Different black students disagree about the same subject, and there is no clear-cut answer to anything.

“Isn’t she just stunning?”

“No, she isn’t.” Ifemelu paused. “You know, you can just say ‘black.’ Not every black person is beautiful.”

Kimberly was taken aback, something wordless spread on her face and then she smiled, and Ifemelu would think of it as the moment they became, truly, friends.” (Chap. 15)

From the quotation above, the writer found that with Kimberly the author introduces a character that allows her to observe and criticize wealthy, liberal white Americans.

Racism in America isn’t always obvious or intentional. It is present even in the way

Kimberly calls every black person “beautiful”—seeing them as “other” and so being unintentionally patronizing. This moment is a rare example of real connection across races and nationalities—Kimberly accepts Ifemelu’s critique, and the two develop a real friendship because of it.

“How are you doing? Know where she wants me to start?” he asked.

“Upstairs,” she said, letting him in, wondering how all that cheeriness could have existed earlier in his body. She would never

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA forget him… and she would begin the blog post “Sometimes in America, Race is Class” with the story of his dramatic change, and end with: It didn’t matter to him how much money I had. As far as he was concerned I did not fit as the owner of that stately house because of the way I looked. In America’s public discourse, “Blacks” as a whole are often lumped with “Poor Whites.” Not Poor Blacks and Poor Whites. But Blacks and Poor Whites.A curious thing indeed.” (Chap. 16)

From the quotation above, the writer found that it has a large and complex issue behind it: racial hierarchy. Ifemelu might have been rich enough to own such a house, but the fact that she was black is enough to upset the status quo. So that, the writer found that it can be more direct in her criticisms about race, identity, and

American culture. Ifemelu is examining these things as an outsider, and so perhaps has a unique point of view. Here she shows how race and class often overlap in

America.

“Just a little burn,” the hairdresser said. “But look how pretty it is. Wow, girl, you’ve got the white-girl swing!”

Her hair was hanging down rather than standing up, straight and sleek, parted at the side and curving to a slight bob at her chin. The verve was gone. She did not recognize herself. She left the salon almost mournfully; while the hairdresser had flat-ironed the ends, the smell of burning, of something organic dying which should not have died, had made her feel a sense of loss. (Chap. 19)

From the quotation above, it found when her hair starts to become symbolic and important to Ifemelu. She has always had it braided and never felt any shame, but now she is supposed to consider braids “unprofessional” and to straighten her hair like a white woman’s. The actual smell of burning brings home the point of independence and confidence being destroyed.

“The wind blowing across the British Isles was odorous with fear of asylum seekers, infecting everybody with the panic of impending doom, and so articles were written and read, simply and stridently, as though the writers lived in a world in which the present was

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA unconnected to the past, and they had never considered this to be the normal course of history: the influx into Britain of black and brown people from countries created by Britain. Yet he understood. It had to be comforting, this denial of history.” (Chap. 27)

From the quotation above, it found this is Adichie’s own critique of the immigration situation in England. The British Empire (among other colonial European powers) divided and ruled much of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, and even after these areas won their independence, they were still deeply scarred by their colonial past.

And so poor or unsatisfied citizens of such countries eventually make their way back to England, who started it all and benefited from the colonies’ oppression.

“He was making fun of his wife, but Obinze knew, from the muted awe in his tone, that it was mockery colored by respect, mockery of what he believed, despite himself, to be inherently superior. Obinze had remembered how Kayode had often said about Emenike in secondary school: He can read all the books he wants but the bush is still in his blood.” (Chap. 29)

From the quotation above, Emenike appears as an extreme example of reinvented identity. He has willingly taken on a Western worldview and now portrays Nigeria as foreign and uncivilized. He has purposefully forgotten Nigerian etiquette and rubs his newfound wealth in Obinze’s face, creating a deep sense of disconnection between the former friends.

“Dear Non-American Black, when you make the choice to come to America, you become black. Stop arguing. Stop saying I’m Jamaican or I’m Ghanaian. America doesn’t care.” (Chap.30)

From the quotation above, the writer found thatthe author makes multiple important points in this quote. Firstly, the idea of “becoming” black affirms the fact that

“blackness” is not present in Africa because the racial baggage of America does not exist there. Secondly, she points to the combining of African cultures into one in

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA America, both by whites who do not care to understand and by Africans who often feel the need to band together, as she shows in her story, in the face of American culture. Finally, the word “choice” alludes to her decision about leaving America, making it clear that the United States is not always the best place but nevertheless a place one must choose to accept along with its flaws.

“The only reason you say that race was not an issue is because you wish it was not. We all wish it was not. But it’s a lie. I came from a country where race was not an issue; I did not think of myself as black and I only became black when I came to America. When you are black in America and you fall in love with a white person, race doesn’t matter when you’re alone together because it’s just you and your love. But the minute you step outside, race matters. But we don’t talk about it. We don’t even tell our white partners the small things that piss us off and the things we wish they understood better, because we’re worried they will say we’re overreacting, or we’re being too sensitive.” (Chap. 31)

From the quotation above, the writer found thatIfemelu’s relationship with Curt is over, she can step back (years later) and examine the social dynamic of it apart from her own emotion. This is one of Adichie’s important points of the book: that romantic love can provide true human connection across racial or cultural divides, but that there are also outside forces of racism and society trying to maintain the status quo.

As an outsider who has never before encountered hostility on account of her race, Ifemelu is the perfect character to observe the minute differences between

Nigerian and American attitudes that might go unnoticed to those accustomed to them. Going to the beautician, she is told they do not thread ‘curly’ eyebrows; her liberal white boss refers to all black women as ‘beautiful’; going for dinner with her white boyfriend, the waitress ignores her and asks if he would like a table for one.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA 4.2 Ifemelu’s Struggle toward Racism

4.2.1 Ifemelu and Obinze: Maturity through Experience

“He calmed her. With him, she could feel whatever she felt, and she did not have to force some cheer into her voice, as she did with her parents [...]. She missed him.” (Page, 161-162)

Ifemelu and Obinze’s relationship is based on love, respect and passion.

Ifemelu’sdecision to move to the United States in order to go to university for further studies is the most important decision in their life as it means a separation. As a strong character, Adichie presents this young man with affection and tenderness; he is likeable from the very beginning. Their relationship works perfectly until Ifemelu’slife takes a dramatic turn and she is incapable of keeping up with any kind of romantic relation. In a way, Obinze offers her maturity through life experience; he is the one who understands her better since he has gone through a similar situation and acculturation process. Moreover, Obinze has also endured a number of difficulties built up against him because of his condition as black. In the above passage, even though Obinze is still in

Nigeria, Ifemelu feels supported and understood by him; he is the only one who can really perceive how she feels.

This relationship is a clear reflection of the complicity and mutual understanding existing within the African community. As Frantz Fanon admittedly indicates in Black Skin, White Masks, “the black man possesses two dimensions: one with his fellow Blacks, the other with the Whites. A black man behaves differently with a white man than he does with another black man.”

(Fanon, 2008: 1). This is due to the direct consequences of colonialism and white superiority imposed over the black community. In Ifemelu’s case, her

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA complicity with Obinze is made evident through the whole novel: he is the one that can sympathize with her and acknowledge her struggles.

At the beginning of the novel, we find ourselves in a braiding salon in

Trenton, New Jersey, when Ifemelu is about to have her hair braided before returning back to Nigeria. We can decidedly say that Adichie uses the world of hair and braiding in order to show how political and personal issues –‘race’ and gender - can become definitely interwoven. The girls who work at the salon are all non- native Americans and, therefore, it would appear to the reader that they might feel somewhat related to Ifemelu. Nevertheless, as we carry on reading, we can observe that their characters are absolutely different and they cannot associate with her in any way:

Ifemelu looked at Aisha, a small, ordinary-faced Senegalese woman with patchwork skin who had two Igbo boyfriends, implausible as it seemed, and who was now insistent that Ifemelu should meet them and urge them to marry her. It would have made for a good blog post: “A Peculiar Case of a Non-American Black, or How the Pressures of Immigrant Life Can Make You Act Crazy.” (Page, 21-22)

In this case, we cannot assume that there is a comfortable environment even though both women come from the same continent, and, therefore, share a past. As we have already been able to witness, Ifemelu is a very independent woman with a very strong character; she does not follow any conventions as many other women might do: she believes in herself and does not pay much attention to other people’s opinions about her choices. Moreover, Ifemelu’s interaction with Aisha – the girl who is braiding her hair – demonstrates the controversy and intricacy within transnational relationships and between

“Nigerians in America, among Africans in America and, indeed among immigrants

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA in America” (Adichie, 19). This need to feel superior and adapted to the

American culture is clearly manifested in the urgency for Ifemelu to lie about her experience in America and the amount of years she has been living there when asked by Aisha:

Ifemelu took her time putting her phone back into her bag. Years ago, she had been asked a similar question, at a wedding of one of Aunt Uju’s friends, and she had said two years, which was the truth, but the jeer on the Nigerian’s face had taught her that, to earn the prize of being taken seriously [...] she needed more years. Six years, she began to say when it was just three and a half. Eight years, she said when it was five. Now that it was thirteen years, lying seemed unnecessary but she lied anyway. “Fifteen years,” she said. (Page, 19)

On the other hand, going back to the moment when the protagonist begins to settle down in the United States, we are explained how she meets a group of people at university who are part of the African Students Association. The following passage manifests Ifemelu’s feelings towards the other African people living in an American community:

They mimicked what Americans told them: You speak such good English. How bad is AIDS in your country? It’s so sad that people live on less than a dollar a day in Africa. And they themselves mocked Africa, trading stories of absurdity, of stupidity, and they felt safe to mock, because it was mockery born of longing, and of the heartbroken desire to see a place made whole again. Ifemelu felt a gentle, swaying sense of renewal. Here she did not have to explain herself. (Page, 170-171)

Consequently, it is made evident that, as I have mentioned above, there exists a strong relationship within the African community in the U.S.

Nonetheless, this relationship is directly affected by factors of social class and gender as well - it is not the same for Ifemelu to relate to African people who go to university with her than to feel somewhat connected to the women who work at the braiding salon and are evidently less educated than her.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Soon after moving to the United States, Ifemelu starts a blog:

Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those

Formerly Known As Negroes) by a Non-American Black. This blog, which acquires a large number of followers, features various posts that depict the experiences of African immigrants in the U.S. Through her writing, Ifemelu is able to express her opinions on ‘race’ in a very straightforward manner. In a way, it allows her to express her feelings freely, without having to think about what other people would say about her; it is also a way of helping others in her position by telling her experiences in a bitter-sweet way. Moreover, this blog is the perfect opportunity for Adichie to make some of the most relevant remarks in the novel; by combining Ifemelu’s commentaries on hypocrisy and intolerance with her experiences as an immigrant, she manages to throw a sharp critique on our current society:

Before she finally fired her, my aunt said, “Stupid woman, she thinks she’s white.” So, whiteness is the thing to aspire to. Not everyone does, of course (please, commenters, don’t state the obvious) but many minorities have a conflicted longing for WASP whiteness or, more accurately, for the privileges of WASP whiteness. They probably don’t really like pale skin but they certainly like walking into a store without some security dude following them. (Page, 253-254)

Thus, we can finally say that Ifemelu’s relationship with Obinze brings the reader the opportunity to explore in depth the rapport within the African culture while at the same time it exposes the attitudes different groups have towards ‘race’ with a mixture of ignorance, self-consciousness and fear.

Additionally, one of the major concerns for Ifemelu when she first arrived in the US is getting a job. It is extremely difficult for her to find a proper job in order to survive. As a consequence, and after many failed interviews, Ifemelu decides to take

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA a position that will decidedly alter her condition as a woman and as a black person. This is due to the fact that she decides to work for a white man who requires specific actions from Ifemelu:

She took off her shoes and climbed into his bed. She did not want to be there, did not want his active finger between her legs, did not want his sigh-moans in her ear, and yet she felt her body rousing to a sickening wetness. [...] He had not forced her. She had come here on her own. (Page, 189-190)

This is one of the incidents that, as the writer mentioned before, will affect her identity as a woman as it is the breaking point of her relationship with Obinze as she does not really know how to face reality and tell him what she has done.

This is a turning in Ifemelu’s life considering that Obinze becomes her confident and the person she trusts most in an environment where she feels totally an outsider. During her first months in the U.S. his phone calls become a soothing power over her; thanks to him she feels positive about her future.

Nonetheless, from this moment on, Ifemelu rejects Obinze’s calls and refuses to write back; she is profoundly hurt by her own actions and she does not want Obinze to suffer the consequences of her wrongs.

It is surprising how, after many years in the U.S., struggling in order to become someone who she is not, Ifemelu finally goes back to Nigeria and recovers her relationship with Obinze. It is then when we can finally see a ‘whole’ woman, ready to take up any challenge because she has finally been reunited with the love of her life. This point, the end of the novel, becomes then the closure of her search for an identity. After years of exploration, experiences and suffering, she eventually realizes that there is nowhere like home; and that is what Obinze means to her: home.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA 4.2.2 Ifemelu and Curt: Maturity through White Privilege

“She was lighter and leaner; she was Curt’s Girlfriend, a role she slipped into as into a favourite, flattering dress.” (Page, 241-242)

Even though Ifemelu feels ‘a woman free of knots and cares’, when her boyfriend

Curt introduces her to his family and friends, she finds herself in a situation of discriminatory attitudes which suggest feelings of superiority on the part of white women. This idea of being a black woman and not deserving a white man is illustrated by bell hooks when she refers to white women as the ones who have made it unattainable to share common interests and objectives as a whole group. “Historically, many black women experienced white women as the white supremacist group who mostly exercised power over them, often in a manner more brutal than that of racist white men” (hooks, 1982: 48).

After her breakup with Curt, Ifemelu asks herself whether ‘race’ must have been one of the reasons behind her continual confusion and hidden discomfort in their relationship. As I have stated before, their relationship is perfect; there is nothing wrong with them as a couple. Nonetheless, his white privilege would always cause a discomfort that would remind her of the differences between them. “It was not that they avoided race, she and Curt. They talked about it in the slippery way that admitted nothing and engaged nothing and ended with the word “crazy”, like a curious nugget to be examined and then put aside.” (Page,

360)

Their relationship - that of a black woman and a white man - reflects the real world of white privilege and racism in America. There are countless instances of covert racism in the novel, when different characters manifest attitudes of superiority and dominance. Furthermore, the lack of knowledge about

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA African countries is another point that should be taken into consideration as, indirectly, many people create and believe in stereotypes that are totally wrong and unjust.

This could be directly related to Edward Said’s Orientalism as he refers to

Europe and America as the inventors of the ‘Orient’. In this case, Said admits that the idea that Europeans and Americans have about the Orient – we shall include Africa – is an idea that can be explored through a ‘distorted lens’, that is to say, the idea we have about these countries is absolutely inaccurate and contaminated: “One ought never to assume that the structure of Orientalism is nothing more than a structure of lies or of myths which, were the truth about them to be told, would simply blow away” (Said, 1978: 6). We can say then, that the African culture is definitely stereotyped and subjugated to the white man.

In relation to Ifemelu and Curt, we can insist on the fact that there exists a racist overview on their relationship: black women are only with white men because of their white privilege. On the other hand, white men are with black women because they have this kind of attraction towards exotic cultures.

They are, in consequence, exposed to the many stereotypes and biased ideas about interracial relationships: “When you are black in America and you fall in love with a white person, race doesn’t matter when you’re alone together because it’s just you and your love. But the minute you step outside, race matters” (Adichie,

369).

Moreover, at another point in the story, when Ifemelu requires the help of a carpet cleaner, the man feels somewhat surprised to see a black woman owning a ‘grand stone house with white pillars’:

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA She would never forget him, bits of dried skin stuck to his chapped, peeling lips, and she would begin the post “Sometimes in America, Race Is Class” with the story of his dramatic change, and end with: It didn’t matter to him how much money I had. As far as he was concerned I did not fit as the owner of that stately house because of the way I looked. In America’s public discourse, “Blacks” as a whole are often lumped with “Poor Whites”. Not Poor Blacks and Poor Whites. But Blacks and Poor Whites. A curious thing indeed. (Page, 205)

Here, Ifemeluis not at home, her modest apartment; she is at Kimberly and Don’s house, a rich family who has hired Ifemelu to look after Taylor, their son.

Consequently, the carpet cleaner believes she is the owner and feels startled with the idea of a ‘black woman’ owning such a big house.

ChimamandaNgoziAdichie herself, talks about this stereotyping and the unawareness of history and context by the dominant culture – white Americans - about African people in one of her TED Talks called The Danger of a Single Story:

My American roommate was shocked by me. She asked where I had learned to speak English so well, and was confused when I said that Nigeria happened to have English as its official language. She asked if she could listen to what she called my "tribal music," and was consequently very disappointed when I produced my tape of Mariah Carey. She assumed that I did not know how to use a stove. (Adichie, 2009)

Incidentally, we must not forget that, as I have discussed in the previous section, with the use of her blog entries, Ifemelu has the freedom to criticize and attack the various ways by which she feels oppressed. The blog is a central presence in the novel and in Ifemelu’s life since it portrays her experience as an immigrant in the United States. It is crucial to take into account that for our protagonist, it becomes real hard to be able to discuss racial issues with friends or University colleagues without sounding too radical or even racist. In America, language addresses “race” in a very slippery way and it is not common to hear black people talk about it in such an honest way as she herself does. It is for

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA this reason that her ideas can be misunderstood and assumed to be racist. In consequence, these blog entries serve her to express her true feelings towards a society where ‘racism exists but racists are all gone.’ (Page, 390)

Whenever she finds herself in a situation that affects her as a woman or as a black, Ifemelu makes use of her blog in order to expose the many factors that condition her identity and shape her everyday life in the U.S.:

To My Fellow Non-American Blacks: in America, You Are Black, Baby Dear Non-American Black, when you make the choice to come to America, you become black. Stop arguing. Stop saying I’m Jamaican or I’m Ghanaian. America doesn’t care. So what if you weren’t “black” in yourcountry? You’re in America now. (Page, 273)

With the writing of her blog, Ifemelu finally notices how ‘race’ works in an environment where people fail to acknowledge the existence of racism and the subtle oppression of black women. However, Adichie’s most successful conclusions appear with the interaction of Ifemelu with her lovers; in

America, the most powerful force is ‘race’.

4.2.3 Ifemelu and Curt: Maturity through Education

He knew about everything: she was intimidated by this and proud by this and slightly repelled by this. [...] He would be a perfect father, this man of careful disciplines. (Page, 384)

Blaine appears in Ifemelu’s life as a saviour, the Yale professor who knows everything about fighting for black people’s rights and who tries to change her from a passive observer into an activist. Nonetheless, the fact that he is African

American puts him in a distanced position in relation to Ifemelu; due to his education and his high intellectual faculties he is responsible for presuming that he knows everything about the Third World. This behaviour, therefore, becomes an indirect way of racism – Blaine criticises her for writing a Blog on race

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA but not actively fighting against racial injustice. Ifemelu finally accepts that his anger is originated from the fact that he is not a true African and he cannot relate to her as a Nigerian immigrant born outside the U.S.

As with her other relationships with men, this one also reflects the

African American view of African immigrants and their subtle racism covered by hypocrisy. At University, for example, Africans and African Americans very often fail to forge strong relationships – a fact that they blame on ancestry, ethnicity and culture:

Try and make friends with our African-American brothers and sisters in a spirit of true pan-Africanism. But make sure you remain friends with fellow Africans, as this will help you keep your perspective. [...] The African Americans who come to our meetings are the ones who write poems about Mother Africa and think every African is a Nubian queen. If an African American calls you a Mandingo or a booty scratcher, he is insulting you for being African. Some will ask you annoying questions about Africa, but others will connect with you. (Page, 172-173)

This intricate relationship between African Americans and Africans is a major issue dealt with in the novel that must be regarded from a historical point of view.

To start with, it is crucial to consider the Middle Passage as one of the most direct influences on this ‘modern’ relationship established between these two different groups – it is a tragic part of history that inevitably modified Africans’ identities to the point that many of them did not find their place in the world.

As Anyidoho points out “The total number of Africans lost to the slave trade will never be accurately determined, but even the most modest estimates are staggering” (Anyidoho, 1989: 6). The victims of this phenomenon include those who died, those forced out of their homes and also those who were left behind. As Anyidoho clearly states in The Pan African Ideal in Literatures of the

Black World, in order to protect themselves, “it is perhaps understandable that the

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA vast majority of Africans at home and abroad have blocked out of their consciousness the slave trade and its disastrous consequences” (Anyidoho, 9). The

Pan-African ideal, on the other hand, is proved to be unattainable since it is almost impossible for all blacks to come together and leave their differences behind:

Pan Africanism has frequently taken the form of specific local struggles against racial discrimination, oppression and material deprivation. However, participants in these local struggles need to have an awareness of being part of a larger worldwide activity involving black people everywhere, with the various segments having obligations and responsibilities to each other. (Drake, 1982: 343)

The remains and consequences of the Middle Passage are still very much visible in Americanah. The relationship established between Ifemelu and

Blaine is an example of the different points of views that both cultures have regarding blackness and ‘race’. We should not forget that African Americans have always been viewed as second-class American citizens, a fact that deeply affects their identities. Their ‘homelessness’ – the lack of roots, home, family - is a result of the great repercussion that the Middle Passage exercised in the heart of the African experience.

The people from Africa tend to view America as the promised land, a place for new opportunities which will bring them success and money. However, black Americans do not welcome Africans as their own people.

Afro-Americans focus their attention on Africa as their place of heritage, their stolen home, and the idyllic homeland from where they should have never been taken away. This is why, in a moment of lost identity, many

African Americans make the decision to go back to their roots in order to explore what was left behind: “The final lesson of Avey Johnson’s mysterious experience is

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA that unless you can make that journey back, there is not much chance of ever making major advances into the future” (Anyidoho, 34). Many others, though, wonder whether this journey back has produced even more confusion than revelation and discoveries for “there is a sense in which it is probably safer to remain a lost child among the alien crowd of the diaspora than to recrossthe

Middle Passage back to ancestral time and place only to discover that you cannot recognize yourself among the ancestral faces” (Anyidoho, 35).

Instead of remaining a lost –but safe- child among the alien crowd of the diaspora, Ifemelu opts for returning home. She has become a true American while at the same time she is still an expert on Nigeria; therefore, she is a ‘hybrid’ torn between two different cultures that have shaped her identity in different moments of her life. Consequently, this position of ‘hybridity’also separates her from both cultures. This is due to the fact that she is not fully American but she has also distanced herself from many of the Nigerian customs and traditions she was used to. Thus, we can finally admit that Ifemelu is an

Americanah who perfectly depicts the blending of the African and American cultures and the intricacies, ambivalences and ambiguities of this combination.

On many occasions, immigrants go back to their countries because they do not find the sense of wholeness they were looking for. Moreover, they might also feel they have not succeeded and, therefore, feel the need to return to their roots in order to feel complete. Nevertheless, I believe this is not the case of

Ifemelu. The protagonist has definitely succeeded in the United States – she is a famous blogger, with a good salary and a good lifestyle. In my opinion, and as Kofi Anyidoho suggestively states in The Pan African Ideal, Ifemelu’s return is due to the fact that she fails to accomplish a sense of wholeness and hence, her

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA “quest for wholeness and coherence through a knowledge of the true self”

(Anyidoho, 1989: 32) remains –as yet– unfulfilled.

Consequently, we can affirm that Ifemelu’s relationship with Blaine demonstrates that the stories and experiences of African Americans do not parallel

Ifemelu’s reality. As Adichie clearly exposes in the novel, the transformation and the incorporation of this ‘Americanness’ that we have presented previously, are indispensable factors in the quest for survival in the U.S. Thus, we can affirm that

Adichie intends to prove that identity is both self-selected and also attributed to oneself by others, by the community that surrounds us.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

5.1 Conclusion

Historically, gender and “race” have been contemplated separately, although we can already detect recent attempts that treat them concomitantly, bell hook’s work offering an outstanding example of the indivisibility of racial and gender relations. However, through the exploration of Americanahwe can distinguish a two-way relation established between these two categories as necessary ingredients that inevitably contribute to the shaping of black women’s identity. From the very beginning of the novel we encounter a number of situations when the protagonist is exposed to various types of discrimination, including factors such as cultural background, gender, ethnicity or racial group and economic position. The significance of these diverse discriminatory layers are, as the writer have proved, profoundly harming and unjust to black women as they are dragged to the bottom of the social ladder.

Through Adichie’s writing we are able to see the various challenges that the female characters in the novel have to endure. This study, therefore, shows that these numerable threats are a direct result of the indissolubility of “race” and gender issues. Te use of her blog, consequently, is in a way her escape route from a world that, on her stance as an African woman, makes no sense.

So, in conclusion, we can definitely claim that many African immigrants – portrayed in Ifemelu’s character - feel and suffer the pressure of a society that hinders their individual goals in life and the development of their own identities. As the writer have stated previously, gender and ‘race’ are decidedly

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA interconnected and, therefore, black women undoubtedly suffer the consequences of this inseparable relationship. Ifemelu is then a clear example of

African immigrants who have to put up with different situations in which – as a result of their ‘race’ – they are discriminated against. Thus, Americanah convincingly illustrates the struggle that many African women have to endure in order to adapt to a new culture in order to succeed:

Ifemelu put the phone down and thought of her mother, how often she blamed the devil. The devil is a liar. The devil wants to block us. She stared at the phone, and then at the bills on her table, a tight, suffocating pressure rising inside her chest. (Adichie, 175)

This ‘pressure’ that the protagonist feels inside her chest is the perfect description of the battles black women have to fight in an environment where they are never fully accepted and, therefore, discriminated against.

Moreover, it is crucial to highlight the influence that her three most important relationships have on the protagonist: this paper has been divided into three sections according to the men that shape Ifemelu’s life and at the same time their cultural background. This is because Obinze, Curt and Blaine play essential roles in her life and, as a result, shape her identity together with gender and

‘race’.We realize then, that as a woman, Ifemelu seems to have the need to be close to a man in order to grow as a woman and feel comfortable with herself. In a way, Adichie is portraying a woman who slightly depends on other people so as to feel somehow complete. In my view, this does not necessarily mean that

Ifemelu is a woman who totally depends on men and cannot do anything on her own; this could be the case of Aunt Uju – at the beginning of the novel – as she is economically and psychologically dependent on the General, a man who provides

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA her with everything she needs. Ifemelu, however, is a self-sufficient woman who can definitely live on her own; her case, the writer would add, is the case of a woman who is rather ‘romantically’ dependent on other people. What the writer mean with this is that, even though Ifemelu has got her own resources, she feels the lack of romantic feelings when she is alone and, therefore, needs a man in order to fill this ‘gap’ in her heart – not only do they offer her company and love but they also provide her with different elements that will shape her identity and help her become a more mature person. Obinze’s life experience and sympathy,

Curt’s white privilege and Blaine’s education and maturity bring Ifemelu the opportunity to grow as a woman while at the same time they allow her to discover the many intricacies existent within different cultures and ethnic groups. As a consequence, we should point out that ‘race’ and gender walk hand in hand throughout the novel as the relationships established between different people testify to: Ifemelu, her boyfriends and all the people that somewhat are important to her – for instance her best friend Ginika, her employer Kimberly, her cousin Dike or her aunt Uju.

5.2 Suggestion

Literary works in general and the novel Americanahin particular are creative works of the writers. As creation, the literary writers try to explore social phenomenon to be known and understood by the readers. They communicate things happen in society as shown in the novel Americanah. Racism to the black people is supposed to be morally and legally wrong. It tends to break normally social being both morally and religiously. Related to this, literature is a kind of instrument to

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA know what life is. Thus, this thesis wants to encourage students of literature to study more deeply about life matters through literary works.

This thesis analysis also offers an understanding the woman struggle towards racism. Basically, woman position tends culturally to be lower than man in negative sense. Woman seems under the control of man dominance as a weak object to be treated unwell. Thus, this study can broaden the understanding of man and woman about equal position humanly. Whatever the reason is woman and man are different creatures. Yet, mutual understanding can be traced properly by having awareness to stand together without looking at race difference. Therefore, understanding novel is meant to know ourselves better. Americanahis a good example for further study ever more to know who we are individually and socially.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA REFERENCES

Abrams, M. H. 1999. A Glossary of Literary Terms: Seventh Edition. USA: Earl McPeek.

Adichie, ChimamandaNgozi. 2013. Americanah.New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Anyidoho, Kofi. 1989.The Pan African Ideal in Literatures of the Black World. Ghana: Ghana Universities Press.

Beauvoir, Simone de. 2003. Second Sex: FaktadanMitos (terj.).Surabaya:PustakaPromothea.

Broverman, IK. Et al. (1972).“Sex-role Streotypes and Clinical Judgments of Mental Health”. Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology.(34)

Budiman, Arief.1982. PembagianKerjaSecaraSeksual.CetakanKedua. Jakarta: Gramedia.

Damono, SapardiDjoko. 1979. SosiologiSastraSebuahPengantarRingkas. Jakarta: PusatPembinaandanPengembanganBahasaDepartemenPendidikandanKebu dayaan.

Drake, St Clair. 1982. “Diaspora Studies and Pan-Africanism,” in Harris, ed. The Global Dimensions of the African Diaspora..

Endraswara, Suwardi. 2008. MetodologiPenelitianSastra.CetakanKeempat. Yogyakarta: Media Pressindo.

Engels. 1973. The Condition of the Working Class in England, Moscow; Marx.

Fakih, Mansour. 2004. Analisis Gender danTransformasiSosial: Epistemologi, Model, Teori, danAplikasi. CetakanKedelapan. Yogyakarta: PustakaPelajar.

Hooks, bell. 1981.Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Femenism. London: Pluto Press.

KamlaBhasindanNighat Said Khan. 1995. FeminismedanRelavansinya. Jakarta: PT GramediaPustakaUtama.

Matthews, Glenna. 1992. The Rise of Public Women. New York: Oxford University Press Inc. Milled, Kate. 1971. Sexual Politics. London: Share

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Nurgiyantoro, Burhan. 1995. TeoriPengkajianFiksi. Yogyakarta.GadjahMada University Press.PustakaPromothea.

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Teeuw, A. (1983). MembacadanMenilaiSastra. Jakarta: Gramedia.

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UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA APPENDICES

I. Maya Angelou’s Biography

ChimamandaNgoziAdichie was born on 15 September 1977 is a Nigerian novelist, writer of short stories, and nonfiction. She has written the novels Purple Hibiscus

(2003), Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), and Americanah (2013), the short story collection The Thing Around Your Neck (2009), and the book-length essay We

Should All Be Feminists (2014).

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA

In 2008, Adichie was awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant. She was described in The

Times Literary Supplement as "the most prominent" of a "procession of critically acclaimed young anglophone authors [who] is succeeding in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature". Her most recent book, Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, was published in March 2017.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Personal life and education

Adichie, who was born in the city of Enugu in Nigeria, grew up as the fifth of six children in an Igbo family in the university town of Nsukka in Enugu State. While she was growing up, her father, James NwoyeAdichie, was a professor of statistics at the University of Nigeria, and her mother, Grace Ifeoma, was the university's first female registrar. Her family's ancestral village is in Aba in Anambra State.

Adichie studied medicine and pharmacy at the University of Nigeria for a year and a half. During this period, she edited The Compass, a magazine run by the university's Catholic medical students. At the age of 19, Adichie left Nigeria for the

United States to study communications and political science at Drexel University in

Philadelphia. She soon transferred to Eastern Connecticut State University to be near her sister Uche, who had a medical practice in Coventry.When the novelist was growing up in Nigeria, she was not used to being identified by the colour of her skin.

That changed when she arrived in the United States for college. As a black African in

America, Adichie was suddenly confronted with what it meant to be a person of color in the United States. Race as an idea became something that she had to navigate and learn. She writes about this in her novel Americanah. She received a bachelor's degree from Eastern, with the distinction of summa cum laude in 2001.

In 2003, she completed a master's degree in creative writing at Johns Hopkins

University. In 2008, she received a Master of Arts degree in African studies from

Yale University.

Adichie was a Hodder fellow at Princeton University during the 2005–06 academic year. In 2008 she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She was also awarded a 2011–12 fellowship by the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study,

Harvard University.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Adichie divides her time between Nigeria, where she teaches writing workshops, and the United States. In 2016 she was conferred an honorary degree -

Doctor of Humane letters, honoriscausa, by Johns Hopkins University. In 2017 she was conferred honorary degrees - Doctor of Humane letters, honoriscausa, by

Haverford College, and The University of Edinburgh.

Writing career

Adichie published a collection of poems in 1997 (Decisions) and a play (For Love of

Biafra) in 1998. She was shortlisted in 2002 for the Caine Prize for her short story

"You in America", and her story "That Harmattan Morning" was selected as a joint winner of the 2002 BBC World Service Short Story Awards.[27] In 2003, she won the O. Henry Award for "The American Embassy", and the David T. Wong

International Short Story Prize 2002/2003 (PEN Center Award). Her stories were also published in Zoetrope: All-Story, and Topic Magazine.

Her first novel, Purple Hibiscus (2003), received wide critical acclaim; it was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction (2004) and was awarded the

Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book (2005). Purple Hibiscus starts with an extended quote from Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.

Her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), named after the flag of the shortlived nation of Biafra, is set before and during the Nigerian Civil War. It received the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award.

Half of a Yellow Sun has been adapted into a film of the same title directed by

BiyiBandele, starring BAFTA award-winner and Academy Award nominee

ChiwetelEjiofor and BAFTA winner Thandie Newton, and was released in 2014.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Adichie's third book, The Thing Around Your Neck (2009), is a collection of

12 stories that explore the relationships between men and women, parents and children, Africa and the United States.

In 2010 she was listed among the authors of The New Yorker′s " 20 Under

40" Fiction Issue. Adichie's story "Ceiling" was included in the 2011 edition of The

Best American Short Stories.

Her third novel, Americanah (2013), an exploration of a young Nigerian encountering race in America, was selected by The New York Times as one of "The

10 Best Books of 2013".

In April 2014, she was named as one of 39 writers aged under 40[38] in the

Hay Festival and Rainbow Book Club project Africa39, celebrating Port Harcourt

UNESCO World Book Capital 2014.

In a 2014 interview, Adichie said on feminism and writing, "I think of myself as a storyteller, but I would not mind at all if someone were to think of me as a feminist writer... I'm very feminist in the way I look at the world, and that world view must somehow be part of my work."

In March 2017, Americanah was picked as the winner for the "One Book,

One New York" program, part of a community reading initiative encouraging all city residents to read the same book.

In April 2017, it was announced that Adichie had been elected into the 237th class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the highest honours for intellectuals in the United States, as one of 228 new members to be inducted on 7

October 2017.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA II. The Summary about the Americanah

Americanah is the latest novel from renowned Nigerian author

ChimamandaNgoziAdichie. A tale of enduring love set over three continents, it is an articulate and outspoken novel that addresses the many layers and implications of race and racism.

“You can’t write an honest novel about race in this country. If you write about how people are really affected by race, it’ll be too obvious […] So if you’re going to write about race, you have to make sure it’s so lyrical and subtle that the reader who doesn’t read between the lines won’t even know it’s about race.”

These lines are spoken by Shan, a character in Americanah who hails from the US. Appearing two thirds of the way through the novel, it is not an explicit apologia from Chimamanda, but rather an acknowledgement that the explicitly polemic themes of the book are an intentional device: the author is never striving for nuance. For this is a book about race and its differing contexts in Western and

African societies. Open in its conceit, the novel could so easily have been didactic, but instead reads as an open letter that is refreshing in its honesty.

The title of the novel refers to the nickname given to Nigerians who move to the US then back to their native soil, taking back with them an array of affectations and snobberies about Nigeria and its differences with the West. Ifemelu, the lead protagonist of the novel, is herself an ‘Americanah’, who travels to the US to study, remaining there for over a decade before returning to her homeland. Against this trajectory, the novel explores the various manifestations of differing cultural values; what is held in esteem and what is stigmatized; how one is perceived and how one perceives oneself: and collectively, how all are defined by the topic of race. A well- crafted and articulate read, Americanah is a pertinent reminder that while racism may

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA be outlawed in Western countries, it is still written into institutional structures as well as outdated private opinion.

Chimamanda uses the classic tale of star-crossed lovers as the driving narrative of her novel. Beginning when they are a teenage couple in Nigeria, we follow the lives of Ifemelu and Obinze across three countries, taking in the US and

UK when the characters move there respectively. Middle class and well-educated, each find their relocation is a shock to the system when they are confronted simultaneously by the differences in culture and values, and also the fact that in the

West, status and class is inextricably tied to nationality and skin color. As Ifemelu says at a dinner party in Manhattan to a group of left-wing liberals — all slightly stunned by her outburst — “The only reason you say race is not an issue is because you wish it was not. We all wish it was not. But it’s a lie. I came from a country where race was not an issue; I did not think of myself as black and I only became black when I came to this country.”

Americanah deals not only with how racism is implemented on a wider scale, but also the smaller incidents of everyday; reflecting differing cultural values and definitions between Nigeria, the US and the UK. When she moves to Philadelphia to study, Ifemelu is greeted by her friend from home Ginika, who had moved to the US a few years previously. With an American mother, Ginika was envied in Nigeria for being ‘half-caste,’ yet in America, she tells Ifemelu, “I’m supposed to be offended when someone says half-caste. I’ve met a lot of people here with white mothers and they are so full of issues, eh. I didn’t know I was supposed to have issues until I came to America.”

Against the backdrop of the US elections and the inauguration of Barack

Obama, the author observes that particularly in Western societies, racism is not a

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA binary but rather a complex, multi-layered problem that continues to needle many people on a day-to-day basis. As an outsider who has never before encountered hostility on account of her race, Ifemelu is the perfect character to observe the minute differences between Nigerian and American attitudes that might go unnoticed to those accustomed to them. Going to the beautician, she is told they do not thread

‘curly’ eyebrows; her liberal white boss refers to all black women as ‘beautiful’; going for dinner with her white boyfriend, the waitress ignores her and asks if he would like a table for one.

Driven to give vent to her strong opinions, Ifemelu begins a blog, Raceteenth, or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as

Negroes) by a Non-American Black. Excerpts from this blog periodically punctuate the novel, and it is here that the novelist can be at her most polemic. The novel is not told chronologically, but instead is divided into three separate periods in Ifemelu’s life, which are then chopped up and weaved together throughout the book: her teenage years in Lagos; her experiences of first moving to the US; and the preparation for, and subsequent move back to Nigeria after living in the States.

Broadly speaking, the blog shapes the structure of the novel. For many chapters, a blog post will summarize a theme or topic around race politics; then the events from these different times in her life become almost examples of how these issues play out on a day-to-day basis. This does not feel like a cataloging of isolated moments, though; for it seamlessly follows the stream of consciousness of a character as she forms associative links for periods in her life, and how these cumulatively have informed her opinions.

Nonetheless, the novel cushions its politics by placing at its center the romance between Ifemelu and Obinze. Separated by oceans for much of the novel,

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA engaging in relationships separate from each other, the inter-splicing of their contemporaneous narratives aligns them with one another and lends the story a poignant inevitability. The beginnings of the romance, when the couple are still school students in Lagos, is told from a slightly halcyonic, idealized view that perhaps well reflects the heady intensity of teenage relationships. It does not undermine the plausibility of their romance so much as suggest a story that is being told from memory, and the subjective importance this relationship has held for each character.

Obinze’s life follows an entirely different and somewhat darker path than

Ifemelu. He moves to the UK after he has completed his degree, yet his difficulty obtaining a visa sees him descending to the murky depths of illegal employment, extradition from the country, then subsequent, slightly shady success in his native

Nigeria. Although his tale is equally engaging, there is perhaps the slight sense here that Chimamanda was aiming to tick every box by including a narrative shaped by illegal immigration, though the author’s deft ability to engross the reader ensures that none of the experiences or events that occur in Obinze’s life ring untrue.

This new book is something of a departure for Chimamanda, whose famous novel Half of a Yellow Sun told of the horrors of the Nigeria-Biafra war with lyrical subtlety — those characteristics so abhorrent to the Americanah character Shan. For the latter is a novel unashamed in its stance, yet it feels neither like an attempt at worthiness, nor a speech being shouted from a soapbox, for above all this novel is a highly enjoyable and engaging read, with a strong emotional core. Yes, it is more outspoken than her previous efforts, but her consistency of tone and ability to engage with the reader remains: the same voice, just a different script.

UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA