Abstract:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s third novel Americanah portrays a young Nigerian woman, Ifemelu, who goes to the USA for university education, stays on in the country for 13 years and returns to Nigeria despite the evident success and popularity of her blog in which she writes her observations about Afro-Americans and African immigrants and students in America, her research fellowship at Princeton University, her relationships, her American citizenship and her financial gains. With alternate perspectives of Ifemelu, the protagonist, and her love, Obinze, who lives in the UK as an illegal immigrant for three years, Adichie explores the issue of being a foreigner in another country grappling with financial, social and psychological problems. The aim of this study is to show that the characters with their affectations and aspirations face a dilemma of conformation to or defiance of the cultural and social norms in another country with a hermeneutic approach. This paper also analyses Ifemelu’s growing awareness of race, gender and the stereotypes and biases about beauty and how she negotiated her affectations and fallacies with the conclusion that Ifemelu became an Americanah herself slightly with her manners and outlook although she resisted dominant culture for a long time.