The novel Americanah by Chimanda Ngozi Adiche is written in third person limited omniscient and simultaneously being subjective and objective. It is subjective when the main characters are mentioned but generally objective in the assessment of the other characters unless seen through the eyes of Ifemelu or Obinze. At no point do we see a sentence start with I unless it relates to what a character is saying. We are privy to the full spectrum of Ifemelu’s and Obinze thoughts and emotions. It is through these two main characters that we see the world they live in and are introduced to the other supporting characters. The thoughts of the other characters are filtered through the thoughts of either Obinze or Ifemelu.
Because we are experiencing the story through these characters and at that point the author is omniscient we are more connected to these characters. We are not just more connected but all of their assertions are assumed true and as we are viewing the world as they are, we are empathetic to whatever situations they experience.
Having two main characters that share similar scenes together gives an effect of validating and bringing three dimensionality and verification of the objectiveness of the author. With each of the main characters not contradicting each other’s account of events, it gives events legitimacy. Knowing we can trust both characters and the author’s views roots the novel as an accurate account of events and aligns your judgments with the point of view of the author.
Having this point of view affects all of the characters in the novel resulting in only Obinze and Ifemelu being effectively round and dynamic. The other characters are relegated to being mainly flat and being less dynamic if dynamic at all. We see “Aunty Uju” and “Dike” change somewhat and they could even be considered as round but those are the exception.

In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah one of the symbols shown throughout the novel is the symbolism of hair. Most of the novel takes places in a hair salon where Ifemelu is getting her hair braided. The majority of women who usually go and get their hair braided at a hair salon, or more specifically an African hair salon are black women. Living in Princeton, New Jersey where its mostly white dominated it was hard to find a place where you can go and get your hair braided the right way. As quoted in the novel “It was unreasonable to expect a braiding salon in Princeton the few black locals she seen were so light-skinned she could not imagine them wearing braids”(Adichie 8 pdf). I would imagine only black women wore braids around that time and even now today mostly black women wear braids although some white women have now become found of hair braiding. For most of the women especially Ifemelu in Americanah hair represented an identity between being Nigerian and a black American.

Coming to America was a big change for women like Ifemelu and Aunty Uju it wasn’t the same as living in Nigeria where you could get away with whatever hairstyle you wanted. Being in Nigeria Ifemelu would always braid her hair but when she came to America she had to learn to wear her own hair out but not natural and poofy hair, it had to be relaxed or straightened. If hair wasn’t straightened people would see it as unprofessional, so living in America meant that she had to wear her hair the way white women wore their hair. As quoted in the novel Aunty Uju “I have to take my braids out for my interviews and relax my hair. Kemi told me that I shouldn’t wear braids to the interview,” (Adichie 90 pdf) it was seen as unprofessional to have your hair in braids. The pressure for black women like Ifemelu and Aunty Uju to straighten their hair, making it resemble a white womens hair is a sign or symbol of racism in the American culture.

Americanah is third person’s point of view because Ngozi Adichie uses the third form (he, she) while describing all the characters. The story is told by the narrator. Americanah is about a black woman Ifemelu who moves from Nigeria to the United States and she is trying to understand the new culture. She has a hard time to find a place to get her hair braided because the area she lives in (Princeton) is a white neighborhood and there aren’t salons for hair braiding. As the story goes on the narrator describes the people Ifemelu comes across, “The man standing closest to her was eating an ice cream cone; she had always found it a little irresponsible, the eating of ice cream cones by grown-up American men, especially the eating of ice cream cones by grown-up American men in public.” (Ngozi Adichie 4) Ifemelu and the man standing next to her are both described in he and she, which proves that the book is written in third-person narration.

It is objective because the narrator can’t get into any of the characters minds, she only describes what is going on around the surroundings of the characters. When Ifemelu finally reaches to the salon, the ladies working there are speaking in English and French. “Trois! Cinq! Non, non, cinq!” (Ngozi Adichie 13) The narrator doesn’t say the meaning of the numbers and also who is on the other side of the phone. Which shows she has no access to the character Mariama was talking to. Which proves the point of point of view being objective. Ifemelu is going back to her country and she decides to close the blog she writes. “She would sit in cafes, or airports or train stations, watching strangers, watching strangers, imagining their lives, and wondering which of them were likely to have read her blog. Now her ex-blog.” (5) This also shows that the narrator is telling the story and not Ifemelu herself.

Much of Americanah takes place as Ifemelu sits in a salon getting her hair braided, so one can understand from the beginning that hair will play a big role in this book.  Ifemelu lives in Princeton, New Jersey, she must travel to Trenton to have her hair braided. Hair is a symbol of identity for Ifemelu. It begins with her mother’s hair when she is a child. Her mother cuts off her long, beautiful hair that was often referred to as her “crowning glory” once she found Christ (Adichie ,50). A Christian knows what it means when you found Christ; it means you are a new person, a new beginning. For Ifemelu, her hair represents her struggle for confidence and an identity as both a Nigerian immigrant and a black American. In Nigeria, Ifemelu always braided her hair, but when she comes to America she learns that she is supposed to straighten her hair with chemicals or else people will think she is unprofessional. Aunty Uju told Ifemelu that: “I have to take my braids out for my interviews and relax my hair. Kemi told me that I shouldn’t wear braids to the interview. If you have braids, they will think you are unprofessional (Adichie ,146).” As a result of the cultural pressure, black women like Ifemelu feel they have to straighten, dye, or somehow make their hair look more like a white woman’s hair becomes a symbol of the racism inherent in American culture. Racism is not just explicitly racist acts, but also social hierarchies like the fact that most popular women’s magazines offer no hair-styling tips for black women. Hair, particularly Ifemelu’s hair, is used in the novel to comment on her defiance of American cultural norms. Ifemelu’s hair, whether braided, relaxed, or natural, represents her attempts to pushback against that norm.

In the book we are currently reading called “Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie we see that hair is a symbol in the novel. It shows an abstract meaning to us the reader. At first I did not see the big picture until we later discussed it class. I can see much clearly now due to fact that so far most of what we read has taken place in a salon as Ifemelu is getting her hair braided. On page 34 in my version of the book it stated that when Ifemelu was ten, her mother came home looking a bit different and cuts off all of her hair. She then asks for a bag and puts all the Catholic objects in their home in it and then burns it. She comes back inside and tells Ifemelu on page 35 “I am saved,” and they will start going to a new church the following Sunday. By doing this her mother is feeling reborn in a sense with that of a new religion. With her aunt Uju she had to have her hair a certain way to get a job.

However for Ifemelu her hair represents her not only as a Nigerian immigrant but now also also as a black American. Back in Nigeria she always braided her hair, but not that she has come to America she learns that she is supposed to straighten her hair or else people will look at her funny. When she does this it feels that she is losing a part of herself that makes her stand out against the rest.

In the book Americanah by Chimanda Ngozi Adichie, tells a story about a journey of a black women in America. The book is written in a third person point of view meaning that as readers we get to see the story from a narratives point of view. The narrator is both reliable and omniscient meaning the narrator has complete and unlimited knowledge on all of the characters and things involved in this story. This point of view doesn’t change even when the story changes perspectives within characters and when it changes in time within the present to the past. For example, when Obinze gets an email from Ifemelu saying that she is moving back to Nigeria and the narrator describes in detail his thoughts on the email. Adichie not only gets into a female view in the story but also gets into the male’s views as shown in this narration:

When Obinze first saw her e-mail, he was sitting in the back of his Range Rover in still Lagos traffic, his jacket slung over the front seat…… First, he skimmed the e-mail, instinctively wishing it were loner…… He read it again slowly and felt the urge to smooth something, his trousers, his shaved-bald head. She had called him Ceiling. In the last e-mail from her, sent just before he got married, she had called him Obinze, apologized for her silence over the years, wished him happiness in sunny sentences, and mentioned the black American she was living with. A gracious e-mail. He had hated it.  (Adichie, 23)

This narrative shows the thought process of a second character which reveals to the readers his personal emotions to the main character which is Ifemelu. This point of view gets the reader to get to know the characters involved and develop an interest in what happens to them.