Americanah

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2013

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Chapters 17-19Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 17 Summary

Ifemelu gets a call from a telemarketer selling cheap rates for long distance phone calls. The man thinks London is in France, but praises Ifemelu for her lack of a Nigerian accent. “‘You sound totally American’” (215). Ifemelu decides to speak in her natural accent once more. On a train ride to see Dike and Uju, she meets Blaine, an “earnest” (217) black American professor who works at Yale. They are clearly attracted to each other, and Ifemelu fantasizes about their potential life together. They spend the train ride discussing the differences between black American and African cultures and split two beers. They exchange numbers, and Ifemelu calls him days later, but he never responds.

Ifemelu visits Uju and Dike in Massachusetts. Uju shares various tales of the racism she has encountered living in a very white town. She then announces that she is trying for a child with Bartholomew. After Dike arrives home from camp, he tells Ifemelu that his counselor denied him sunscreen, saying he was too dark to need it. Ifemelu promises that he does need sunscreen and that she’ll get him some. “‘I just want to be regular’” (227), he says. .

Chapter 18 Summary

Back in the braiding salon, a new customer and a hairdresser discuss the merits of picking up an American accent. The African hairdresser’s son used to get beaten up at school, but an American accent changed that. A young white woman enters the salon. Her name is Kelsey, and she wants Bo Derek braids. She is “aggressively friendly” (232), interrupting Ifemelu, who is reading a book. They discuss books about Africa, but Ifemelu takes issue with Kelsey’s interpretation of A Bend in the River, correcting her with “a mini-lecture” (234). Kelsey responds that she can understand why Ifemelu would have that interpretation, as though she was “miraculously neutral in how she read books” (234). Kelsey receives her braids, surprised that black women use extensions rather than their own hair, and leaves.

Ifemelu thinks back on her relationship with Curt, Kim’s white cousin. She and Curt meet when he visits from Maryland. He claims it is love at first sight, but she initially overlooks him. They go on a date and “his boyish enthusiasm” (237) fascinates her. They kiss, and he insists that they tell Kim, who is happy for them, though Morgan, who loves Curt, is upset. Ifemelu tries not to think of Obinze, whom she still has not contacted. She throws herself into her relationship with Curt, reveling in his devotion. She is sometimes annoyed by “the whirl of his excitement” (242) and tries to make him be reasonable about going to Paris for a weekend or getting their fortunes read, but ultimately enjoys his spirit.

Chapter 19 Summary

Ifemelu meets Curt’s wealthy, white parents who assure her that they supported civil rights. Morgan comes to stay with Curt and Ifemelu in Baltimore, and Ifemelu considers marrying Curt. Curt asks her to quit her job and move in with him, but Ifemelu needs to send money back to her parents. She is about to graduate from college, and assures her parents that the career counselor will help her find a professional position. The counselor is confused by the fact that Ifemelu claims to not have a dream job or a passion, which makes Ifemelu feel “weak” (249). Curt, with the help of his father’s connections, sets Ifemelu up with an interview at a PR firm.

In order to ace the interview, Ifemelu changes her hair, on the advice of Uju and other black women. She uses a chemical straightener that burns her scalp. “She did not recognize herself” (251). Curt hates her new hair and hates that she has to change herself to fit someone’s racist view of professional dress, but Ifemelu accepts it. With her new, straight hair, she does well in the interview and gets the job.

Chapter 17-19 Analysis

Ifemelu’s decision to stop faking an American accent represents a major moment for her. Though she has mastered the accent, it “creaked with consciousness, it was an act of will” (213). Her decision to switch back to her natural speech is prompted by a kind but ignorant American telemarketer, who confuses England with France in one breath, and compliments Ifemelu’s perfect American accent in the next. At this moment, Ifemelu realizes that she does not want be mistaken for an American. “Why was it a compliment, an accomplishment, to sound American?” (215). She cannot be an American. She can only be herself. The significance of her decision is solidified that afternoon, when she meets Blaine. He is intrigued by her accent, and by extension, her experience and perspective as a non-American black person living in America. Despite their differences in nationality, he feels kinship with her, referring to white Americans as “they” which suggests, to Ifemelu, that he is grouping the two of them together as “us” (218). She immediately fantasizes about their potential life together, something she will do frequently with Blaine—though not with Curt or Obinze. Blaine himself is a sort of perfect fantasy for this stage of her life: an American who can help her cope with culture shock; a black man who can understand her confusion about race and commiserate with her experiences.

Blaine does not return her calls, however, so she begins dating Curt, who is Blaine’s polar opposite. Curt is white, wealthy, and not particularly intellectual. He is loving and is outraged on Ifemelu’s behalf when racism rears its head. He is appalled that she must change her hair to seem more professional, horrified that this requires chemical relaxers that burn her. “‘It’s so fucking wrong that you have to do this’” (252), he says. Ifemelu knows this is true, but even when he is angry on her behalf, he does not understand the way Blaine would. She must explain to Curt why Ebony magazine exists, must show him how little representation black women have in the media. Her relationship with Curt plays out alongside the appearance of Kelsey, a white woman, in the Trenton braid shop. Kelsey is “aggressively friendly” (232) and eager to know more about hair braiding and Africa. Yet, Ifemelu rebuffs her, sensing that despite her enthusiasm, Kelsey will never truly understand the African or African-American experience, much like Dike’s camp counselor, who assumes he doesn’t need sunscreen. Though Blaine does not share her experiences in the same way Obinze does, he is the closest thing, the person most likely to understand her.