You do what you have to do if you want to succeed” (120). Uju says, “You are in a country that is not your own. Ifemelu feels that Aunty Uju is too eager to capitulate to the demands of fitting in. Why, given what you learn of Uju’s intelligence and capabilities later, do you think she chose to engage in this relationship with the General instead of remaining independent?ĥ. But Uju runs into a serious problem when the General dies and political power shifts. Aunty Uju’s relationship with the General serves as an example of one mode of economic survival for a single woman: she attaches herself to a married man who supports her in return for sexual access. How much does your own race affect the experience of reading this or any novel? Does race affect a reader’s ability to identify or empathize with the struggles of Ifemelu and Obinze? Ifemelu writes in her blog that “black people are not supposed to be angry about racism” because their anger makes whites uncomfortable (223). Does this movement between cities indicate a similar split within Ifemelu? Why does she decide to return to Nigeria after thirteen years in America?ģ. But she has to go to the largely black city of Trenton, nearby, to have her hair braided. Ifemelu likes living there because “she could pretend to be someone else. The novel opens in the Ivy League enclave of Princeton, New Jersey. Why might Adichie have chosen this structure for storytelling? What happens when the narrator shifts to Obinze’s story? How conscious are you as a reader about the switches in narrative perspective?Ģ. The first part of Ifemelu’s story is told in flashback while she is having her hair braided at a salon before she returns to Nigeria.

Something deeply hidden book