Provocation

Chapter 1 of Americanah is filled with questions, recognitions and hesitations to being acclimated in new cultures. This theme can also be a lesson for readers as well. Ifemelu has recognitions of differences in herself and cultural surroundings as she travels through New York City from New Jersey to go to a new hair salon.  As she travels through New York City, she finds a sense of relief that other black passengers get on the train with her. However, she notices that white passengers get on as well. She is not particularly use to this because everyone from her town in New Jersey is white and thin whereas back in Nigeria, everyone is just the opposite. Coming to America has made her realize that she missed home in Nigeria and wants to travel back. After the encounter with the man at the grocery store calling her “fat”, her self confidence began to slowly spiral and she stopped writing on her blogs. Ifemelu realizes that it is time to go home as she breaks up with her current american boyfriend, Blaine. “It brought with it amorphous longings, shapeless desires, brief imaginary glints of other lives she could be living, that over the months melded into a piercing homesickness” (Adichie 7).

Ifamelu begins to realize very early on in the book that she does not want to live in America anymore and that she misses her old life. What do you think was the ultimate factor for her to decide that she wants her old life back?

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Americanah. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2013.

Provocation post group 3

In Chapter 27,  Obinze visits a bookshop cafe and started focusing on reading American newspapers and magazines, rather than the British ones. The reason was that these, “stoked panic in his chest,” (Adichie 317). Later, a woman on the train was reading a paper that had a title about immigrants. The interesting aspect of this chapter was how lonely Obinze seems as someone who is trying to obtain citizenship, especially with his sentence that stated, “his existence like an erased pencil sketch,” (Adichie 318). It brought up aspects of past British colonization and current immigration. He goes on to say that, “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,” which I thought was particularly powerful and I was able to draw parallels between that and what is currently happening in the U.S. in relation to immigration (Adichie 320).

Question: Do you think countries that have colonization in their past should be working harder to address racism, as well as be more open with their borders towards immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers?

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi, et al. Americanah. Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, 2017.

Provocation Group 3

In Chapter 31, Ifemelu cheats on Curt because she is overwhelmed by the pressure of being in an interracial relationship. After weeks of asking him to take her back, she finally accepts reality. Years later at a party, she talks with another woman about her interracial relationship and says that race was never an issue, which Ifemelu finds difficult to believe. She thought about her relationship with Curt and how there were certain disparities he clearly could not see, as he was living with the “colorblind” mindset. Her friend, Wambui, suggests to start a blog, and she considers and creates it a few weeks after she breaks up with Curt. The chapter ends with a blog post about how a black woman’s hair is a metaphor for America. She says she is a groupie for Michelle Obama and would like to see once how she or Beyonce would look with their natural hair.
In the book, that portion of the chapter reads, “Imagine if Michelle Obama got tired of all the heat and decided to go natural and appeared on TV with lots of woolly hair, or tight spirally curls…She would totally rock but poor Obama would certainly lose the independent vote, even the undecided Democrat vote.” (Adichie 368).

My question is why do you think society associates something natural for black people with inadequacy?

Sources
“Chapter 31.” Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Anchor Books, A Division of Random House LLC, New York, 2013, pp. 368.

Selling Out?

Obinze is in London on an expired visa and set to marry Cleotilde in a green card marriage. He keeps getting pushed around by the Angolan men because they are asking for more and more money, and Obinze and Cleotilde are not able to leave because the men have her passport. Obinze finally turns to Emenike, an old friend from school who is also living in London. They are not really friends, but they have the commonality of their school to bring them together. Obinze asks for money from Emenike who gives Obinze double what he asks for. Eventually Obinze ends up at dinner with Emenike and his wife Georgina. Obinze watches how Emenike interacts with his wife and the staff at the reasturant and there is this aura around Emenike. Obinze finally figures out it is “Self-satisfaction, that was the difference in him. He was married to a British woman, lived in a British home, worked at a British job, traveled on a British passport, said ‘exercise’ to refer to a mental rather than a physical activity. He had longed for this life, and never quite believed he would have it” (Adichie 330).

Emenike seems different because he has achieved what he wanted. To what degree was he joyful for having certain things such as the British wife and British job, versus having sold himself out to a new culture?

 

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Americanah. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2013.

Provocation- Group 3

I found the section in chapter 30 about Obinze and his green card wedding particularly intriguing and interesting. Just as Obinze and Cleotilde were about to walk inside for their scheduled ceremony, policemen pulled him to the side and asked him his name and if he knew that his visa had been expired. Following this, the policemen handcuffed him and brought him to a holding cell waiting for an immigration lawyer. What surprised me is that when Obinze talks to the lawyer about his case and the likelihood of winning and not being deported out of the UK, he says, “I’m willing to go back to Nigeria”(Adichie 2017, pg. 345). This shocked me considering the fact that he worked so hard to get this wedding to work out and paid so much money to the Angolans for their expertise. Obinze is taken to the airport in handcuffs and is put in a cell with three other Nigerian men. They are all talking with each other about simple things. In this detention cell, he is visited by many characters such as Iloba, Nicholas, and  Ojiugo. Finally, a Lagos flight arrives, and is taken to the airport in handcuffs along with five other men and two women and are seated at the back of the plane. when he arrives, Obinze’s mother is waiting for him.

Question: How did you feel or what emotions came about on Obinze and his leaving of the UK based on the fact that he had an expired visa and was trying to have a green card wedding but got caught before he was able to do so?

Citation: Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Americanah. Alfred A. Knopf, 2017.

Provocation

I found the section in chapter 4 where Obinze transfers into the new school and is quickly admitted into the clan of the “Big guys” most interesting. Obinze was forced to transfer schools after his mother fought another professor. Rumors quickly spread about his mother and what happened. Obinze, with all this going on still had a calm air and inwardness which made him even more intriguing. The “Big guys” are the most popular guys in the school. They never tucked in their shirts which always got them into trouble until Obinze did.  “Obinze came to school every day with his shirt neatly tucked in and soon all the Big Guys tucked in, too, even, Kayode DaSilva, the coolest of them all.” (Adichie 66). I found this quote interesting because I feel this situation would be very different here in the United States. For the new guy in school to come in and not only to be part of the popular group but change the things they do by just being himself is something you don’t see all the time. Most of the time we see that individual change to fit in, for example, Obinze would go in to school with his shirt untucked.

Do you think Obinze would be accepted by the most popular guys in the school and change their bad habits if he was in America?

Provocation Group 1 Post

I found the section in chapter 5 about Ifemelu meeting Obinze’s mother, especially the conversation about sex, love, and forplanning interesting. The two teens tried to trick her, wanting to have intimacy while the Mother was breifly away. The conversation when she calls them on it upon her return is private and with only Ifemelu is not condemning or judgemental, but calm, serious, and caring. She pionts out the responsibility of the act, and gave Ifemelu advice to “My advice is that you wait. You can love without making love. It is a beautiful way of showing your feelings but itbrings responsibility, great responsibility, and there is no rush. I will advise you to waituntil you are at least in the university, wait until you own yourself a little more.(Adichie 1241). She also adressed that though the responisbility is on both parties the woman always bears more due to biology. It was upsetting to hear her say Ifemelu had to convince Obinze to agree to wait, and odd to have her ask to know when they start.

I found both a lot of good and some hard truths in this, that women do bear more responsibility because we carry, but both hold responsibility. My question to everyone is what were your reactions to this section/opinion on it, from the ideals about how sex can be an amazing way to show love but should be reserved fro after you know yourself, to the conflicting message of it being the responibility of both genders while only talking to Ifemelu and putting the onus on her to convince Obinze to wait?

Citation: Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Americanah. Alfred A. Knopf, 2017.

Provocation Assignment – Group 1

I decided to do my assignment on Chapter 4 of Americanah. So far I really have liked the book, but I thought chapter 4 was the most relatable. Obinze is a new guy in school who was supposed to be interested in Ginka. Kayode, who decides to set Obinze up with Ginka, which is Ifemelu’s best friend. There is a party and all, Kayode, Ifemelu, Ginka and Obinze is attending. Obinze is introduced to both Ginka and Ifemelu and is more intrigued with Ifemelu than Ginka. They keep talking and Infemelu even states that, she wants to breathe the air that Obinze breathes. Infemelu says “Your guys will kill you. You’re supposed to be chasing her.(Adichie, 72)”, Obinze says “I’m chasing you. (Adichie, 72) ” This quote I thought was provoking due to the fact that Obinze is interested in Ifemelu even though he is destined to be with Ginka. Obinze also tells her what happened between his mom and the professor and why he had to change schools. This means that Obinze is really trusting Infemelu with some of his family secrets.

 

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Americanah. Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, 2017.

Question: Do you think Obinze’s mother was fired due to the fact she fought the university policy?

Provocation Assignment – Group 1

I wanted to do my provocation on a piece of the second chapter of Americanah. A part of this chapter really intrigued me, and it was about Obinze’s story about how he became successful in the real estate business and how his relationship with Chief began. Obinze met chief through his cousin Nneoma. Chief was a very rich man who bought and sold properties for profit. When Obinze first met Chief, it was for a dinner at Chief’s massive home. He noticed that Chief talked about whatever he wanted, and his guests merely agreed with whatever he said. Obinze then began regularly hanging out with Chief and waited for his opportunity to become an associate of Chief. This then led to Obinze reaching out to Chief and offering his services. Chief replied with how he was going to buy seven properties all for one million each, and then sell them for fifty million because he knew that’s what they were worth. He then offered Obinze to join him on this deal. Nneoma was happy for Obinze and says to him “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 up 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’s how Nigeria works. I’m telling you.” (Adichie 15). This quote from Nneoma is very striking and interesting to me. Nneoma is exposing a racial issue within this culture/industry. She’s saying that you haven’t “made it” like Chief, until you have white men working for you. Even if the role that the white man is in, isn’t a real, significant role.

How do you feel about this? Is this a representation of Obinze’s character? Do you think this might have a greater impact later in the story line?

 

 

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi, and Hilde Stubhaug. Americanah. Gyldendal, 2014.

Provocation Assignment

Throughout the semester you will notice “provocation” assignments built into our syllabus. These tasks are often broken into groups and correspond to longer works of fiction. Provocations are meant to provide context and support for your student-led discussions in class.

If you are in charge of posting a provocation you must:

  • Read the assigned text very closely and annotate it thoroughly.
  • Choose one section of the text you found most interesting/problematic/controversial/stimulating and summarize it in 5-7 sentences.
  • You should use at least one direct quote in this summary with an MLA citation.
  • Construct a complex question for your classmates to answer about that section of the text that will spark a lively debate.

If you are in charge of posting a response, you should:

  • Read the assigned text very closely and annotate it thoroughly.
  • Read ALL of the provocations from the previous group (for example: Group 2 responses to Group 1, Group 4 response to Group 3)
  • Write a thorough, well-researched response that follows the provocation model. In other words, your response needs to have a citation as evidence of your point, and ask a clarifying question at the end.
  • You must respond to at least two of the provocations. 

This is intended to create dialogue.

On the blog, you will post your provocations and responses BEFORE class time as indicated on the syllabus. ONLY post when your group is listed on the syllabus. Use the category and tag provided by your professor for each post.

These posts will be graded on a 5 point scale:

  • 5points= An engaging, thought-provoking post that shows attention to detail and comprehension of the text. Grammar and mechanics must be practically perfect (edit carefully!). Direct evidence from the text with a citation must be included.
  • 4points = An accurate summary and well-composed question that may contain a small, but not catastrophic, misreading or errors in grammar and mechanics.
  • 3points= A sloppy post that shows little effort and does not include the elements listed above.
  • 2points= A post that is a day late, or difficult to read, or phrased in a way that students would be unable to respond.
  • 1point= A post that is a week late, contains numerous errors, and does not contribute to the conversation.
  • 0points= The post does not exist.

Please create these summaries and questions yourself: DO NOT STEAL OTHER PEOPLES WORK. If I find you have plagiarized these posts you will be reported. If you are struggling please come see me or email me with questions.