Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews April 4, 2023 March 28, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
full title Americanah
author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
type of work Novel
genre Socio-political fiction
language English
time and place written 2011–2012; Cambridge, Massachusetts
date of first publication May 2013
publisher Alfred A. Knopf
narrator An anonymous third-person narrator.
point of view The narrator speaks in the third person and follows Ifemelu for most of the chapters, but sometimes follows Obinze. The narrator offers no insight of their own, but allows Ifemelu or Obinze’s thoughts and feelings to comment on the events around them. Some of the chapters include Ifemelu’s blog posts, which she writes in first person, and are subjective, based on her own observations of and opinions on race in America.
tone Ifemelu and Obinze’s observations of other characters’ hypocrisies and blind spots often lends the novel a satirical tone. Ifemelu’s blog posts are witty and funny, but also bitingly satirical.
tense Past tense
setting (time) The present time that frames the novel is around 2009. Ifemelu’s flashback sections begin in the early 1990s, and Obinze’s London section takes place around 2002, not long after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
setting (place) Lagos and Nssuka, Nigeria; various cities on the east coast of the United States; and London, England.
protagonist Ifemelu and Obinze
major conflict After Ifemelu leaves her childhood sweetheart, Obinze, in Nigeria to immigrate to America, she must navigate the difficulties of immigrant life in order to forge her own identity.
rising action Ifemelu leaves Nigeria to study in America, and cuts off contact with Obinze after being sexually assaulted; in America, Ifemelu experiences what it’s like to be labeled as “black” for the first time, and grapples with her identity.
climax Back in Nigeria, Ifemelu tells Obinze the truth of why she cut off contact, and Obinze reacts with care and acceptance; it becomes clear that the honesty and sense of ease that has underpinned their love from the beginning has survived their long separation.
falling action Ifemelu and Obinze carry on an affair, but Ifemelu gets angry at Obinze for not being honest with his feelings and staying with Kosi. Obinze leaves Kosi and tells Ifemelu that he wants to be with her.
themes The importance of authenticity; Race and racism
motifs Reading and Novels; Lies
symbols Barack Obama; Hair; The Male Peacock
Please wait while we process your payment