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.
Of course I felt bad for Obinze, but I also put myself in his shoes and felt mad. If you were him and you had spent a lot of money for this wedding and you were so close to getting your green card, don’t you think you would be mad? Adichie writes how “Obinze handed over two hundred pounds” and “Later, after he met the girl, he would pay two thousand pounds” (Adichie 282). This section in the book shows how much money Obinze had put into this marriage that he won’t be getting back. I also feel like Obinze may have been relieved in a way because he never wanted to live in the UK anyway. His mother was the one who pretended he was her research partner, to get him into the UK. On page 287 it says “He sensed, in her voice, the sadness of defeat, as though her friends were leaving for teaching positions in Canada and America had confirmed her great personal failure. For a moment he felt as if he, too, had betrayed her by having his own plan: to get a postgraduate degree in America, to work in America, to live in America” (Adichie 287). Obinze had wanted to go to school in America and live in America, and UK was what his mother had wanted. Obinze had clearly felt guilty for wanting to go to America, but that is what he wanted so I think it wasn’t too big of a deal for him to have to leave the UK.
Do you think he wanted to go back to America after being deported from the UK? How do you think his mom felt when he got deported from the UK since she had been the one wanting him to go there?
Citation: Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Americanah. Anchor Books, 2014.
Part of me really feels for Obinze and Cleotide, getting your wedding day interrupted after so much money and effort is no ones ideal situation. Cleotide falling to the ground crying broke my heart for her and I also wondered what Obinze thought: “if her tears were for him or for herself or for what might have been between them” (Adichie 344). She was doing this for some money, but Obinze and her also did see to have a minor connection. Also, getting deported after his dreams of being there and being successful had to be even more heartbreaking for him. Though on the other hand I do not, I believe everything happens for a reason, their relationship was completely transactional for him to not get deported. It would have been another unhealthy relationship in the end, even though that is what he ended up with. Also, if he would have stayed in the United Kingdom he may have never reunited with Ifumelu after their long rekindling romance. So the other part of me was okay with it ready for him to be back with the obvious love of his life, Ifemelu.
Do you think that this wedding day getting ruined possibly effected his and Kosi’s wedding? If he for some reason had reservations to try and wed again even though he was in Nigeria. Also, would you go as far to say this is one of the most embarrassing moments of his life or is there another moment that would be more embarrassing in your eyes?
Citation: Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Americanah. Anchor Books, 2014.
It very frustrating to see him leaving the UK, especially when you think about how he was so close to getting his green card. In his perspective, everything was going right in that moment, he could almost feel it, but at the last moment, everything is stripped away from him. However, at the same time, I feel as though his line ““I’m willing to go back to Nigeria”(Adichie 345) was the right thing to say in this situation, for him at least. If he hadn’t been deported, him and Ifemelu would’ve never been reunited. So even though, I was fustrated by that, I was also happy to see them reunited.
In chapter 52, after they’ve made love, Obinze calls her and asks “can I come to you?” (Adichie 551) which makes Ifemelu deeply happy, and part of me is happy that they came together, despite the fact that Obinze cheated on his wife
Citation: Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Americanah. Anchor Books, 2014.