THE FOLLOWING POST IS KATIE GARCIA'S:
Ifemelu appears to be a headstrong, unwavering woman that views herself has outside of the standards of a typical woman. In fact, Obinze loves her because “she can argue. She can talk. She never agrees” and unlike the others, she’s not just “a sweet girl,” (Adiche 73). A “sweet girl,” according to Ifemelu, has the underlying meaning of being malleable and submissive. Curt fell in love with Ifemelu’s uniqueness to the point that he had never felt the same about any other woman.
Personally, I think that she is not as much of an outlier as she and everyone thinks. Ifemelu judged Aisha, the American-African hairdresser, for obsessively wanting to marry two men who will never marry her. Though she views this woman as pathetic, she herself obsessively fantasized about being with a man who will never marry her, Obinze. She also judges women, even her own friend, Ranyinudo, who date rich, married men and rely on them for financial support. With this judgement, Ifemelu is hypocritical. If it weren’t for Curt, she wouldn’t have been able to get her green card in America. Even though she wasn’t with Curt for money, Ifemelu would not have had her quality of life without him. Furthermore, after returning to Nigeria, Ifemelu eventually started seeing Obinze, who is, in fact, a rich, married man. Another point to notice is that despite Ifemelu being extremely judgmental of other people, she needs a clubs and groups to feel at home. For example, when she was at Princeton, she felt uneasy until she joined the ASA. And when she went back to Nigeria, she finally felt comfort when she joined the Nigerpolitan Club.
Ifemelu’s principal problem seems to be the ability to feel at home somewhere. She felt out of place in America as an African, yet she feels forever changed by America after returning to Nigeria. I believe that her main goal is to find a place where she belongs. This goal is personal and independent, the two adjectives that Ifemelu, in my opinion, wants to emulate. In spite of this, Ifemelu’s actions taken to achieve this goal are dependent on other people. The book ends with her writing all of her blogs with Obinze in mind, her calling two past men in her life, Blaine and Curt, and her having a sex with Fred, a man whom she likes, but will never be able to feel strongly for. Ultimately, Ifemelu portrays a person who is independent and self-aware. She fronts these qualities through her judgements on other people and her blog posts. Looking beyond Ifemelu’s outward façade, I believe that she is just as insecure, reliant, and basic as the rest of us.
I would certainly agree that Ifemelu is putting on a facade, which manifests itself with her problem of being too judgemental and hypocritical. All of those instances of hypocrisy that you listed are great examples of this--I would add the time when she and Doris scuffled. She meant well when she brought in fresh ideas for the magazine and rejected the old way of thinking at the magazine. But, she judges Doris for trying to suck up to Aunty Onenu when she did this during her job hunt, reading in books about how to appeal to job interviewers (178) or straightening her hair before an interview in order to conform to Western ideas of professionalism (252).
ReplyDeleteHer idea of self is that she is an independent woman and not like the others, but she is forced to abandon this idea when she gets to America and has trouble finding jobs. It eventually gets to the point where she would do anything for money, such as pleasuring the tennis coach. This is the ultimate low for her because she prides herself on being independent and doing what she wants.
I do think that her main goal is to try to find a place where she belongs. This is part of her reasoning to go back to Nigeria. By doing this, she can prove to herself that by going back to her home as her own choice even while everyone else wonders why she would do this, she is independent.
I definitely agree that Ifemelu masks her true self throughout the novel by outwardly trying to fit in with society when in reality she will never fit in with those groups. The irony in Ifemelu's actions throughout the book is that they drive her to embody the ideals that she criticizes throughout the novel. She constantly is judging other people for their views and actions while in reality she is no different from them herself. For example, she outwardly criticizes the Nigerpolitan club in her blog on page 519, but then openly admits that she herself tries to portray the ideals of the club. Ifemelu's actions throughout the novel are definitely hypocritical, and through these actions she shows how insecure and morally weak she is as a human. I would argue that the negative side of Ifemelu's personality throughout the novel can be traced back to Obinze. When Ifemelu was with Obinze, she was still herself and was not insecure about herself or her opinions. However, her negative experiences in America with society and the tennis coaches coupled with her subsequent detachment from Obinze sends her into a spiral that she can not morally recover from. Her reliance on Obinze becomes glaringly obvious at the end of the novel as she begins to act more like her old self again when she reunites with Obinze.
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