Racism And Sexism In Ifemelu By Adichie

1235 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Racial Discrimination in Literature

Racism and sexism thinly veiled by xenophobia in America, Adichie portrays these two factors in society. Generally by putting her main character through a consistent stream of seemingly routine events involving one or even both of the factors. Often times she deals with micro-aggressions about her hair, which does not fit the American standard of beauty and elegance. Often showing how people are quick to assume that she is unintelligent simply by her skin and her accent. Often times Adichie portrays Ifemelu as the object of criticism and envy. Ifemelu is merely struggling to survive in a new environment. An environment that by all accounts constantly attempts to tear her down, her psyche and emotional stability constantly suffering damage. …show more content…

Ifemelu’s first encounters with America’s twisted sense of race appear extremely foreign to Ifemelu. When Ifemelu was at the store and noticed that the clerk was refusing to mention the race of the salesperson who helped her find her clothes, she was informed that many Americans are very uncomfortable discussing and mentioning race when it comes to people of color due to the country’s rough history especially with Black Americans. Ifemelu realized that the concept of race appears to be sociological. As the novel progresses Ifemelu begins to understand that even amongst Black American, she will stand out, as she has not experienced the typical “Black American” experience. With Blaine she felt slighted when he stated that she does not “live her blog”, despite her position as a critic and an observer.
According to an article titled Racism, Sexism and a Million Men written by Robert L. Allen, “Historically, black men and women in America have been victims of brutal and systematic violence.” This statement provides backup for why Ifemelu is treated a little differently by the Black community, because of the historical “brutal and systemic violence” that American Blacks have suffered they do not exactly like when someone who has not experienced the same thing becomes successful discussing that …show more content…

Allen, “The ideology of male supremacy is the enemy of all of us, for it beguiles us into accepting white supremacist notions of domination, and the "normalization" of violence as the means to maintain control over others” it supports the notion that black men and women are both affected by white supremacy. White supremacy affects all black individuals regardless of background. Its omnipresence is greatly understated and affects the black community to this day. Ifemelu is essentially used as a highlighter to distinguish and point out the specific instances that affect people in her position and the position of those around her. As well as Dike, he symbolizes the effect and toxicity of an individual Black man, without a sense of identity, in a predominantly white space. Dike suffers with identity issues and simply blatant racism, which negatively affects his mental health as it does on many other black people in the same

Show More
Related

  • The Pathology of Whitenes in Pym, by Mat Johnson

    1405 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...it but try to make a change. Through Chris Jaynes, Johnson expresses to his readers the importance of taking a stance on the issue of Whiteness by making it a very prominent ideal in his novel. Johnson furthers his agreement against Whiteness by expressing the fact that the issue not only needs to be identified but that there needs to be more of a push to change the issue. Sticking to the normal ways of trying to fix the issue of Whiteness, such as using a diversity committee, are no longer acceptable in the fight against Whiteness as it has proved to be unsuccessful. Instead Mat Johnson challenges the reader to notice the practices that keep American literature segregated and consider how effective the methods put in place truly are in advancing American literature.

    Read More

  • Helga Crane Living In Harlem Analysis

    843 Words  | 2 Pages

    While Helga identified herself with African-Americans while living in Harlem this idea quickly fades as she becomes exasperated with some of the societal norms that come with living in Harlem. She hates how focused everyone is on “the race problem” and wishes to get away from it. “Even the gentle Anne distressed her. Perhaps because Anne was obsessed by the race problem and fed her obsession.” (p. 50-51) When Helga first came to Harlem she really admired Anne for her intelligence and aesthetic sense when it came to interior decoration. But the longer she stayed in Harlem among purely African-Americans, the more hypocritical she found Anne to be: “Anne’s insinuations were too revolting. She had a slightly sickish feeling, and a flash of anger touched her. She mastered it and ignored Anne’s inadequate answer.” The more intellectual side of Helga becomes annoyed with Anne because she contradicts herself constantly when it comes to “the race

    Read More

  • Janie's Self-Discovery

    1473 Words  | 3 Pages

    Janie’s first discovery about herself comes when she is a child. She is around the age of six when she realizes that she is colored. Janie’s confusion about her race is based on the reasoning that all her peers and the kids she grows up with are white. Janie and her Nanny live in the backyard of the white people that her Nanny works for. When Janie does not recognize herself on the picture that is taken by a photographer, the others find it funny and laughs, leaving Janie feeling humiliated. This racial discovery is not “social prejudice or personal meanness but affection” (Cooke 140). Janie is often teased at school because she lives with the white people and dresses better than the other colored kids. Even though the kids that tease her were all colored, this begins Janie’s experience to racial discrimination.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of How It Feels To Be Colored Me By Neale Hurston

    1781 Words  | 4 Pages

    Despite the current scrutiny that her race faces she asserts to the reader that her race and color define her as a person and does not determine her identity. Despite the mindset that most of her peers keep about the inequality of race, she maintains an open mind and declares to the reader that she finds everyone equal. Thus proving herself as a person ahead of her own time.

    Read More

  • What Is The Theme Of Racial Passing And Miscegenation In Iola Leroyson

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    Frances E. W. Harper extensively examines the related issues of racial 'passing' and miscegenation in Iola Leroy, a novel published in 1892 which features an African-American, female protagonist whose unusually "blue... eyes" and "white... complexion" permit her to transcend racialized divisions (17). Most prominently, Iola's perceived whiteness translates to her potential marriageability to the white men she encounters, a union which would effectually initiate Iola into white society. This conflict—and indeed, Iola's rejection of white Dr. Gresham's marriage proposal—is expounded in Chapter 27 of Harper's book, "Diverging Paths." Chapter 26, "Open Questions," presents a philosophical discourse about miscegenation that is complimented and directly

    Read More

  • Racial Discrimination In ZZ Packer's 'Brownies'

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    Somehow, everything about the whites appear to elicit a reigning beauty that raises hatred and envy the black girls have against the white girls. Packer argues that even small thing like hair contributes to hostility. The fourth grade says; “their long, shampoo-commercial hair, straight as spaghetti from the box” (Packer, 16). These reinforcements are ingredients of prejudice that brings about racial discrimination. The black girls get jealous of the white girls’ hair, and this leads to discrimination against them. It is worth noting that the prejudices are handed down by the environment and society that people are brought up in. Arnetta, remembers a mall experience when she and her mother were being seen as if they were from China. They were being discriminated because of their race. The various treatments given to black people has played a vital role in intensifying the issue of prejudice, magnifying people’s sense of inferiority, and shaping the views of the black people on the white people. Arnetta says; “Even though I didn’t fight to fight, was afraid of fight, I felt I was part of the rest of the troop; like I was defending something” (Packer, 12). This is a clear indication that society has the power to influence youths. It depicts how society joins hands to fight for what they think is their right. Owed to the fact that this is a society. Everything and everyone is interlinked in a given way, making racism and prejudice hard to do away

    Read More

  • Rita Williams-Garcia's One Crazy Summer

    604 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the book, the readers see the wall between black and white people during the movement. An example is a reaction to Fern’s doll which is white, while Fern, however, is black. On pg.65, it reads, “‘Li’l Sis, are you a white girl or a black girl?’ Fern said, ‘I’m a colored girl.’ He didn’t like the sound of a colored girl,’ He said, ‘Black girl.’ Fern said, ‘Colored.’ ‘Black girl.”

    Read More

  • Deborah Gray White’s Ar’n’t I a Woman?

    1623 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the novel, the author proposes that the African American female slave’s need to overcome three obstacles was what unavoidably separated her from the rest of society; she was black, female, and a slave, in a white male dominating society. The novel “locates black women at the intersection of racial and sexual ideologies and politics (12).” White begins by illustrating the Europeans’ two major stereotypes o...

    Read More

  • Life Behind the Veil in Du Bois' The Souls of Black Folk

    2290 Words  | 5 Pages

    Since 1945, in what is defined by literary scholars as the Contemporary Period, it appears that the "refracted public image"(xx) whites hold of blacks continues to necessitate ...

    Read More

  • Things Fall Apart: Gender Roles In African Igbo Society

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    Do you think men are held at a higher standard than woman? In the book “Things Fall Apart” it deals with the Igbo Tribes history on how they treat women . There are many constant struggles that a women has to face within this book, from getting treated unfairly to being ruled by their husbands. These are gender roles in the African Igbo society when it comes to women. Throughout history , from the beginning of time to today, women are frequently been viewed as slaves to men. Meaning that they are a men’s possessions whose sole purpose is to satisfy the men’s needs. This might be because men are physically stronger than women and have always had the ability to control them that way.

    Read More

  • Prejudice in "King of the Bingo Game"

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    The main character is completely alienated from the world around him. He is a black man living in a white world, a man who was born in the South but is now living in the North, and his only form of companionship is his dying wife, Laura, whom he is desperate to save. He is unable to work since he has no birth certificate—no official identity. Without a job he is unable to make his mark in the world, and if his wife dies, not only would he lose his lover but also any evidence that he ever existed. As the story progresses he loses his own awareness of his identity—“somehow he had forgotten his own name.” The author emphasizes the main character’s mistreatment in life by white society during a vivid recollection of an event in his childhood when he was chased by a train filled with “white people laughing as he ran screaming,” a hallucination which was triggered by his exploration of the “old scars” on his body. This connection between alienation and oppression highlight Ellison’s central idea.

    Read More

  • Racism and Identity in Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man

    2213 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Ralph Ellison’s novel The Invisible man, the unknown narrator states “All my life I had been looking for something and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was…I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself the question which I, and only I, could answer…my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself. But first I had to discover that I am an invisible man!” (13). throughout the novel, the search for identity becomes a major aspect for the narrator’s journey to identify who he is in this world. The speaker considers himself to be an “invisible man” but he defines his condition of being invisible due to his race (Kelly). Identity and race becomes an integral part of the novel. The obsession with identity links the narrator with the society he lives in, where race defines the characters in the novel. Society has distinguished the characters in Ellison’s novel between the African and Caucasian and the narrator journey forces him to abandon the identity in which he thought he had to be reborn to gain a new one. Ellison’s depiction of the power struggle between African and Caucasians reveals that identity is constructed to not only by the narrator himself but also the people that attempt to influence. The modernized idea of being “white washed” is evident in the narrator and therefore establishes that identity can be reaffirmed through rebirth, renaming, or changing one’s appearance to gain a new persona despite their race. The novel becomes a biological search for the self due through the American Negroes’ experience (Lillard 833). Through this experience the unknown narrator proves that identity is a necessary part of his life but race c...

    Read More

  • Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart - Women's Role in the Ibo Society

    1170 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, women of the Ibo tribe are terribly mistreated, and viewed as weak and receive little or no respect outside of their role as a mother. Tradition dictates their role in life. These women are courageous and obedient. These women are nurturers above all and they are everything but weak.

    Read More

  • Conflicts of Gender in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

    459 Words  | 1 Pages

    There are constant struggles between gender, identity, commodification, and class. Among the men and women in many African tribes that still exist today, there are divergences, which will always remain intact because of the culture and the way in which they are taught to treat each other. Chinua Achebe wrote the novel, Things Fall Apart, which is a great piece of African literature that deals with the Igbo culture, history, and the taking over of African lands by British colonization. The ongoing gender conflict is a prominent theme in Things Fall Apart, presenting the clash between men and women of the African Igbo society. Throughout history, from the beginning of time to today, women have frequently been viewed as inferior, men’s possessions whose sole purpose was to satisfy the men’s needs.

    Read More

  • Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

    1327 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through her juxtaposition, she undermines the stereotypes that continue to characterize Africa as backwards and traditional, proving instead that colonialism has produced a cross culture where the two are intertwined. Adichie portrays the persisting existence of traditional African culture through Odenigbo’s mother – who symbolizes the extreme end of traditional beliefs. When Odenigbo’s mother visits Odenigbo and Olanna at their apartment in Nsukka, she is immediately personified as the traditional Nigerian village woman. Unaccepting of modern attitudes and advancements, she “peered suspiciously at the stove, knocked on the pressure cooker and tapped the pots... ...

    Read More

More about Racism And Sexism In Ifemelu By Adichie

Open Document