With every story there is a plot, and within that plot, characters with whom we can identify and relate. In Americanah by Chimanda Ngozi Adichie, the main characters are a woman, Ifemelu, and a man, Obinze, both from Nigeria. Throughout the novel, we follow these two characters, their travels abroad and ultimately their return to Nigeria. Both characters have their own struggles but I think there is a difference in the way Ifemelu and Obinze are portrayed. Obinze, in my opinion, is portrayed correctly while Ifemelu's character seems more conflicted. In Americanah, Ifemelu and other women are depicted as dependent on their circumstances and the men around them. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayThe main and first example of women in our novel represented in the form of dependency is Aunt Uju of Ifemelu. Aunt Uju seems to have the ideal lifestyle as a doctor in Nigeria, living in a beautiful house, with nice possessions and socializing with Nigeria's upper social classes. Aunt Uju has a relationship with a character called “The General”. The general is a married man and Aunt Uju is his mistress. One could argue that Aunt Uju is a doctor in Nigeria, so not all of her success comes from the General. However, even Aunt Uju gives this credit to the General: “The hospital does not have a vacant doctor position, but the General asked them to create one. for me” (93). This shows that even his profession depended on his relationship with the general. She gets most of the nice things we see at the beginning of the General's novel. She will even tell Ifemelu: “You know, we live in an economy that kisses our ass. The biggest problem in this country is not corruption. The problem is there are a lot of qualified people who aren't where they're supposed to be because they don't lick anyone's ass, or they don't know which ass to lick, or they don't know how to lick ass. I’m lucky I lick good ass” (93). I found this quite funny, but true, and it only highlights his dependence on the General. Once the general dies, we see Aunt Uju's world change almost instantly. Aunt Uju is forced to leave her home and flees the country for the United States where she can start a new life with her son, Dike. When Ifemelu arrives in America, she discovers that Aunt Uju's lifestyle is completely opposite of what it used to be. She works three jobs, takes exams to become a doctor again and her living conditions are poor compared to those in Nigeria. Aunt Uju is in a desperate situation, working three jobs and paying the bills, so when Ifemelu arrives, she uses Ifemelu to watch Dike during the day to save her childcare costs. Aunt Uju meets a man, Bartholomew. Ifemelu feels that Aunt Uju is out of her social class, but Aunt Uju is in such a state of despair that she ends up in a relationship with his where she moves with him to Massachusetts. She ends up staying in a relationship with him until she realizes that she no longer needs Bartholomew and was actually paying some of his bills. If I had to sum up Aunt Uju in one sentence, it would be, in her own words: “You do what you have to do if you want to succeed” (146). We can see that Ifemelu is indeed doing what she needs to do by following Aunt Uju's advice. Our main character, Ifemelu, is not without his faults but I feel like the events in his lifedepend on his situation and the other characters around him. It’s hard to identify with what Ifemelu actually values. Throughout our novel, Ifemelu maintains a relationship with three men: Obinze, Curt and Blaine. Her character seems to change with two of the three people she dates and between these men depending on her situation. Ifemelu seems like a strong character until she finds herself in America and has to pay her college debt and rent. She has trouble finding a job and has to resort to the “massage” of a coach. This is the first moment where we see Ifemelu break from his normal character and do something we didn't see coming. After being pressured for money, she goes to the bus where she “puts her hand between her legs, she curled and moved her fingers” (190). We can infer that she did some manual labor to the coach. As a result, she is really in conflict with herself and everyone around her. That’s when she stops contacting. Obinze is going through a state of depression. I felt that Ifemelu had compromised on her values ​​and adapted to the circumstances to do what needed to be done, as Aunty Uju had told her. Following her state of depression, she meets Blaine on a train. She is attracted to him but loses contact with him because Blaine is in a relationship and ignores her calls. Ifemelu meets Curt, a rich white man, Kimberly's cousin. At first, Ifemelu was not even attracted to him, the text states: “She began to love him because he loved her” (237). I find this superficial, but we see Ifemelu change in her relationship with Curt. Good things started to happen to him, Curt's positive attitude seemed to trickle down into his life. As in the case of Aunty Uju, Curt was able to find employment in Ifemelu thanks to his father's public relations connections. This shows his dependence on Curt and his good fortune depends on another character. Ifemelu ended up sabotaging her relationship with him but she even states that she "stumbled, trying to remember the person she was before Curt... She didn't know who she had been then, which she didn't." didn't like what she wanted" (370). I think the following sentences are extremely important because they show that Ifemelu herself states that her identity is constructed from those around her. She enters into a relationship with Blaine after meeting him at a social event. Her identity begins to change and she got a pass to the gym, starting to let him read and recommend changes on her blogs, she even changed her diet based on Blaine's beliefs. Blaine was more of a man of action while Ifemelu was more of a woman of words. Blaine believed in standing up for what you believed in. Ifemelu lied to Blaine and failed to show up at a protest. Once Blaine found out she was at a lunch instead of the protest, they had an argument that ended up being the end of their relationship. I think Ifemelu lacks a moral compass. She doesn't understand that lying to your partner is a big deal. This changes the passion in their relationship. I think Blaine's passion for President Obama gave something to Ifemelu and kept their relationship alive based on that common interest. Once she graduated from Princeton, she broke off her relationship and returned to Nigeria. As a reader, it becomes difficult to relate to Ifemelu because it seems like she lies very easily to keep people interested. When Pyrie offers to host a wedding in Ifemelu, Ifemelu responds, “Thank you, but I think Blaine would prefer an event without a governor” (492). I don't.