The Immigrant (Identity) Struggle

Published in 2013, at its heart, Americanah reflects on the disorienting experience of moving to a new country where the culture and social norms are entirely different. Although the book focuses on Ifemelu's story, by using complex characters, Adichie draws the reader's attention to the immigrant struggle and how it goes beyond adapting to a new environment, becoming a constant negotiation of one's identity. 

Ifemelu, the novel protagonist, leaves Nigeria and moves to study in the United States, motivated by the promise of a brighter future. In America, she is confronted by the reality of being seen as "Black", a label that carries heavy weight in American society. Soon, this label starts to dictate every part of her life, causing her to struggle to find a job or do meaningful work despite her education and forcing her to take up a demeaning job, which leads to a traumatic experience where she is sexually harassed. When her boyfriend Curt gets her a job with just a few calls, it almost invalidates the work she and her friends have been doing to maintain their lives in the U.S. We, as readers, connect with how she felt, "in the midst of her gratitude, a small resentment: that Curt could, with a few calls, rearrange the world, have things slide into the spaces that he wanted them to." (202). This episode further amplifies the black immigrant struggle and opens the reader's eyes to it. 

Obinze, whose story we get to see in bits and pieces throughout the novel, moves to the U.K. as an undocumented immigrant, hoping for a better life after his initial dreams of studying in the U.S. are thwarted by the post-9/11 restrictions. While trying to arrange a sham marriage to legalise his status, he reconnects with his friend Emenike, who is now married to an affluent English lady, Georgina. Through his eyes, we see just how hard Emenike tries to become a part of his new life, even going as far as reciting tales about his experiences with racism, nonchalance and amusement. Obinze wonders "if Emenike had so completely absorbed his own disguise that even when they were alone, he could talk about "good furniture," as though the idea of "good furniture" was not alien in their Nigerian world, where new things were supposed to look new" (268). Emenike behaviour highlights the human desire to fit in and the immigrant reality of never really fitting in. Their interaction underscores the different immigrant experiences based on class and legal status. Unlike Ifemelu, who gets a green card, Obinze gets deported to Nigeria after his sham marriage is discovered and never manages to secure a legal status. 

These experiences are a powerful reminder to the reader that the immigrant struggle is an identity struggle and that many people in the past, present, and future have continuously given up parts of themselves to create a better future for themselves and their families.