The first day in class discussion of Americanah, we watched an interview with Adiche in which she said the novel is about, among other things, hair. It left me wondering how something as seemingly trivial as hair can be a central point in a bestselling novel. I've never really had to think about my hair as a reflection of my character, but the societal standards for hair throughout Americanah illuminate the shift in identity that some individuals have to go through in order to be taken seriously in the adult world.
Hair is central to Ifemelu's story from the very beginning of Americanah. In Chapter 1, Ifemelu has to travel from her home in Princeton to the nearby city of Trenton in order to get her hair braided, because the few black people in Princeton are "so light-skinned and lank-haired that she could not imagine them wearing braids" (3-4). The fact that Ifemelu has to travel to the part of the city with "graffiti, dank buildings, and no white people" to get her hair braided sets up an immediate standard for what is considered appropriate of certain classes throughout the novel (10). From the very beginning of Americanah, hair braiding is portrayed as central to Ifemelu's character, and also in contrast with the expectations of the society in which she lives. Ifemelu does not completely belong in Princeton or Trenton.
Throughout the novel, Adiche juxtaposes the American view of braided or natural hair with the pride felt by Ifemelu for her braids and the braids of those around her. For example, when Ifemelu first comes to America, she is taken aback by Aunty Uju, whose life seems to be in disarray, and how " the old Aunty Uju would never have worn her hair in such scruffy braids" (135). For Ifemelu, well-braided hair is a point of pride, and Uju's messy braids are an outward inclination of her inner turmoil, and that "America had subdued her" (135). Ifemelu's pride in her hair is also what makes it so difficult and demoralizing for her to get her hair relaxed for job interviews in the future. When Ifemelu does finally give into the pressure to make her hair look like that of a white woman, she feels like a part of her natural self has died and become replaced with a painful lie. Relaxed hair, like speaking in an American accent, is Ifemelu's eventual inclination of how American she has become, until she starts fighting back against the trends, wearing her hair natural and speaking in her own voice.
When Ifemelu comes back to Nigeria, she joins the Nigerpolitan club, which is essentially a gathering in which returnees from America and England can get together and criticize both Nigeria and the country from which they returned. They discuss how "the hairdressers struggled and fumbled to comb natural hair, as though it were an alien eruption, as though their own hair was not the same way before it was defeated by chemicals" (501-502). This conversation is pivotal, because it illuminates the continuity of experience between Ifemelu and those who were in similar situations. It makes it impossible for the reader to say "maybe we as a society are accepting of all hair and Ifemelu just got in with the wrong people. It makes us as a whole take responsibility for the prejudice we have against some hair over others, which can lead to a favoring of certain people over others.
I agree that hair is a central part in Americanah, especially to show societal views and how Ifemelu fit into society. The need for Ifemelu to have to relax her hair shows how American society wants every working person to look a certain standard. That’s why Ruth tells Ifemelu to “lose the braids and straighten your hair” because conforming to those standards will allow Ifemelu to “get that job” (250). However, after Ifemelu cut her hair because of the damage done by the relaxer, she “called in sick and climbed back into bed” because with knowing societal norms, she didn’t want people to look at her in that state (259). This is coming from the same person who was offended when an Ethiopian taxi driver said that she doesn’t “look African at all” (255). This shows how Ifemelu struggles between conforming to and denying the norms of American society.
ReplyDeleteWhen she goes to the Nigerpolitan meeting, she feels comfortable with Bisola and Yagazie because both of them had natural hair, and she could relate to them because she kept her hair natural as well. The Nigerpolitan meeting also shows how Nigerian and American societies are similar. Bisola and Yagazie tell how “the salon girls are always like, ‘Aunty you don’t want to relax your hair?’” which is similar to when Ifemelu is in the in Trenton and Aisha “clearly could not understand why anybody would choose to suffer through combing natural hair, instead of simply relaxing it” (502, 15). Both societies believe the norm is relaxing the hair, so going against it is unusual to them. Just like Ifemelu doesn’t really fit in in America or Nigeria, her hair is also not the norm in both societies.
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ReplyDeleteI enjoyed how the transformations in the way Ifemelu wore her hair symbolized her development as a character. She struggles with accepting her true self, although her hardened and brutally honest exterior often made those around her think otherwise. Ifemelu's relationship with her hair closely mirrored her relationship with her pride of both Nigeria and of her race. Pride and hair are two closely tied themes throughout the novel. For the immigrants in the novel, presentation was key to their success in their new country. Aunty Uju embodied this when getting Dike ready for church, "If they are shabby, it's not a problem, but if we are it is another thing" (267). Ifemelu desperately wishes that American standards of beauty were inclusive of natural hairstyles, in order to prove to other black women that they still have something to be proud of if their hair is not relaxed with "the white-girl swing" (251). She stated in her blog, "some black women... would rather run naked in the street than come out in public with their natural hair" (367). Society dictates that if famous American black women, such as Michelle Obama, would ever wear their hair naturally they would lose respect and "Obama would certainly lose the independent vote" (368). Women throughout the novel felt that their hair was a way to prove their worth to their white peers, and sometimes even to other blacks. When Ifemelu left the salon after getting her hair relaxed, she noted "the smell of burning, of something organic dying which should not have died" (251). She had lost a part of herself. Later, with natural hair, Ifemelu allowed a white woman to "sink her fingers into her Afro" (388). Despite Blaine's protests, this provided Ifemelu with a sense of pride. Her natural hair was beautiful and she felt beautiful showing it off, this was a victory for Ifemelu that signified her regained confidence in herself.