In the current novel that we are reading called “Americanah” the main character is called  Ifemelu. Her first time happens with her ex named Obinze who she has know for most of her life. While in the novel “The Bell Jar” the main character is named Esther and she decides to have sex for the first time with this math professor named Irwin who she knew for less than a week. With the character of Esther her love life is tragic the man she thought was inexperienced was just playing a character and the man that was her date was trying to pull a “Trump” on her. The person she finally decides to have sex with is experience and during the sex in the novel it writes “I lay, rapt and naked, on Irwin’s rough blanket, waiting for the miraculous change to make itself felt. But all I felt was a sharp, startlingly bad pain.” After this she wonder if she is no longer a virgin and notice that she is bleeding which must confirm it.

When Ifemelu does it with Obinze they don’t use a condom due to Obinze stated they will marry so it does not matter. What should of been a magically moment turn into a dissapointment. After they had sex it states in the novel “ She and Obinze should have planned it better; that way, she would know how to tell his mother. The unplannedness of it all had left her a little shaken, and also a little disappointed. It seemed somehow as though it had not been worth it after all.” What this means is that it was a let down and unpleasant. It was suppose to be this amazing planned experience that she would discuss later with Obinze mom. Later she started to feel pain and believe that she was now pregnant which it turns out not to be true.

Both of these ladies had this idea in their heads that the first time would be magically and they both ended disappointingly. They don’t want to discuss it with anyone after it’s done or are in any rush to go for round two. Esther gets something that will make sure that she wouldn’t get pregnant while with Ifemelu her partner used the oldest trick in the book that it does not matter when they have sex because they are going to get married anyway. Their first time they expected to feel transformed instead they have a moment of crisis in which they thought of what is about to happen next instead of living in the moment. They thought something was wrong with them afterward and the thought of being pregnant after having sex once if a lot of pressure to put on someone.

Sex for women can be seen differently based on how they were raised to see it, how society saw it, and women were treated at the time. For example in the books Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Each of the main characters were women who saw sex differently. In The Bell Jar, the main character is named Esther and she saw sex as a right of passage, a way to her self freedom. Esther meets a man named Irwin who is a married professor and she chooses to give him her virginity. Her virginity was a major definition to who she didn’t want to be anymore. She states “It occurred to me that blood was my answer. I couldn’t possibly be a virgin anymore. I smiled into the dark. I felt part of a great tradition”(Plath, 219).Esther feels a satisfaction of freedom and how she was now able to be and choose how she wanted her life to play out. Although on the other hand in The Color Purple by Alice Walker, sex wasn’t freedom but a way men asserted control of women. The main character is named Celie, she struggles through life being treated as an object. Celie was to be controlled by her stepfather, then married off to a husband who as abusive and unloving as her father figure. In the beginning of the book it starts with Celie being raped by her step-father and being told to stay quiet or pain will be inflected to those she loved. She states “Just say You gonna do what your mammy wouldn’t. First he put his thing against my hip and sort of wiggle it around. Then grab a hold of my titties. Then push his thing inside my pussy. When that hurt , I cry. He start to choke me, say You better shut up and git use to it.”(Walker,1). This allows to see how men saw her as object and she allowed herself to be used as so due to her lack of knowledge that there was another way. Furthermore, sex was also scary but a way of showing your devotion and love to one another. In Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the main character is named Ifemelu and she is in love with Obinze. Both are well educated Africans that attend college and spend all of their free time together. They both understand the outcomes of sex and the need to use protection, being told and shown from parents and family. Ifemelu’s first sexual experience is with Obinze, they do not use protection but use other methods that aren’t always guaranteed. And Ifemelu fears she maybe pregnant due to her showing signs such as vomiting. Eventually she takes a test and sees she is not pregnant but has an inflamed organ that requires surgery. The book states “It felt to Ifemelu like a weak copy, a floundering imitation of what she imagined it would be…She had been tense through it all, unable to relax. She had imagined his mother watching them ;”(Adichie,114). Ifemelu feels the guilt that she promised Obinze’s mother when they would start any sexual relation, and so she can’t fully give herself to Obinze. Sex is different to everyone due to many factors such as time period, how they are raised, education, and society. All of this shapes an individual’s outlook on sex and what is the meaning behind it. In conclusion, for women it’s not all this general thought but can mean Freedom or Demise or Nothing.

Chapter 7 in Americanah is important to the plot of the book because it highlights Ifemelu and Obinze’s relationship. It is the first time Ifemelu and Obinze have sex. Ifemelu starts giving Obinze a massage and then they having sex. But Obinze tells her that he is certain that they will get married so they decide not to use a condom. The moment was so spontaneous that Ifelmelu wished it was a more carefully planned. Afterwards, she feels a bit of discomfort and a bit disappointed because it was unplanned. She kept imagining how she would tell Obinze’s mother and how they should have planned it better. ” But now she could not see how. What would she say? What words would she use? Would Obinze’s mother expect details? She and Obinze should have planned it better; that way, she would know how to tell his mother. The unplannedness of it all had left her a little shaken, and also a little disappointed. It seemed somehow as though it had not been worth it after all” (Adiche115). It seems as though the sex is something that isn’t done freely but rather its done with caution. Sex is something she must be cautious about because the potential of marriage can arise from it. This is shown when she experienced the pregnancy scare. The vision of Obinze’s desire to marry and have children with Ifemelu seem realistic. For Esther in The Bell Jar, sex was different. She has adapted a lose and free attitude which is different from Ifemelu. She wants to have sex more than Ifemelu does and for her sex is something that she must do any at cost to achieve some sort of relief. The relief comes from escaping traditional chaste women. The main difference between the two character is that for Esther, sex can happen under any circumstances. For Ifemelu, sex has to planned out in order to make it more comfortable.

In Americanah the main character Ifemelu thinks that she is pregnant after having sex with her boyfriend Obinze and starts to be angry towards him. Ifemelu is encouraged to have sex with Obinze because he tells her “But, Ifem, we’re going to get married anyway” while encouraging her to have sex with no protection (Adiche, 114). When Ifemelu tells Obinze that she thinks that she is pregnant he states that is too soon to know and he seems to be confused (Adiche, 115). While getting the results at the doctors she seems to be upset at everyone, having this kind of worry seemed to stress her out and take out her frustration on everyone including the lab girl. Even with the results coming out negative, Ifemelu does seem to be relieved that she isn’t pregnant but has the courage to tell Obinze’s mother that they had sex.

In The Color Purple, the main character Celie experiences sex differently. In the beginning of the story we find out that Celie’s stepfather rapes her (Walker, 1). Celie thinks that she isn’t a good girl anymore due to the tragic things that she goes through with this man (Walker, 1). She asks god to show her a sign of what is happening to her to prove whether she deserves this or not (Walker, 1). Celie doesn’t really show whether she’s stood up for herself or not but it’s obvious that she just takes the pain. This sexual experience differs from Americanah because sex isn’t a choice for Celie, she doesn’t experience having the decision on when to have sex and with whom. This experience has an effect on Celie and makes it clear that she is afraid of men. When she gets beaten because she was accused of winking at a boy in church and states that she don’t even look at men but look at women since she isn’t afraid of them (Walker, 5). Celie is traumatized has she experiences pain physically and mentally.

Ifemelu and Obinze have been dating for a while and of course they had the sex talk with Obinze’s mother where Ifemelu promised she will talk to her when they are ready to have sex; however that did not happen. She also promised to use protection. Fast forward to chapter seven, while massaging Obinze, they started touching each other and they had unprotected sex. She feels confused by the suddenness of them having sex. She thought they would plan how and when they would do it for the first time. The narrator stated: “she did not want him to stop, but she had imagined this differently, assumed they would make a carefully planned ceremony of it (Adichie,114).” She feels it was a weak copy of what she imagined it would be. She felt shaken and a little disappointed by the “unplannedness of it”.  Ifemelu said: “it seemed somehow as though it had not been worth it at all (Adichie,115).” Then she thought she got pregnant when she was having pain. This is similar scene to Esther’s experience in The Bell Jar, except for her protecting herself with the birth control. Esther had wanted the freedom that men had when it comes to sex so she got birth control and went to have sex; however after having sex she did not feel the difference that she expected to see in herself. She thought she would be different but it was anything but that. Just like Ifemelu’s experience, Esther got sick except her case, Esther was bleeding a lot and she had to go the emergency room while Ifemelu went to clinic to get a pregnancy test. Ifemelu found out that she had appendicitis. It is interesting to see the similarity of their experiences that I did not see while reading the chapter.

Women of all different ages have different sexual experiences. Some good and some negative. We have read about different sexual experiences throughout the semester.

During Ifemelu’s first sexual experience with Obinze she felt that it was “like a weak copy, a floundering imitation of what she imagined it would be.” meaning that she expected it to be more. Even before they had sex she stated that she expected them to make a ceremony of it. Ifemelu and Obinze didn’t use protection so Ifemelu was worried that she would get pregnant. She was irritated that she had been tense and unable to relax. Ifemelu gets sicks later in the week and believes that she’s pregnant. She calls Aunty Uju and she tells her to go to a town where nobody will know her and take a pregnancy test. Ifemelu played an active while reluctant role in her first sexual experience. She was very panicked after the experience.

In contrast Celie in The Color Purple had a very different first sexual experience from Ifemelu. Celie was raped by her step father. Celie seemed very distressed during her first time saying “he put his thing up against my hip and wiggle it around. The he grab hold my titties. Then he push his thing inside my pussy. When that hurt, I cry.” Celine did not play an active role in her sexual experience, she was taken advantage of. It was no enjoyable for her, it was more of a painful experience, physically and mentally. After the rape she was treated badly by her step father still and he raped her repeatedly. Celie blames herself because she does not yet understand that she was a victim.

For a girl losing her virginity can be very scary. In the books The Bell Jar written by Sylvia Plath and Americanah written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie both the main characters, Esther and Ifemelu experience the loss of virginity. They were both scared because the loss of virginity had one main troubling factor and that was the thought of becoming pregnant. Esther and Ifemelu were both educated girls who had their whole life ahead of them. They were not thinking about having a family just yet, they were engaged on having a successful future. Not knowing how sexual intercourse actually feels, they assume it must be an exciting get away within the souls and decide to act upon it. However, at the end it was not what they had expected and the urge to have sex was no longer within them.

In the novel the bell jar, the main character Esther has sex for the first time. She decides to get a fitting in other words a form of birth control so the consequence of her action may no longer worry her. After she gets a fitting she decides it is now okay to have sex. However, she was not thinking about who to have sex with. Her main concern was that she wanted to be free and for once she wanted to do something that no one else could tell her otherwise. After she has sex with a guy she barley even loves, she completely shuts him down. This is her way of redeeming herself and being in control of her life. She states, “It occurred to me that the blood was my answer, I couldn’t possibly be a virgin any more. I smiled into the dark. I felt part of a great tradition.” (pdf. 120) Esther’s sexuality was considered as freedom, and although she does not chose to be with the guy anymore she realizes what she had done was worth doing and starting from this point on she is in control of her life. This is why the very first thing she did was send her partner the medical bill for her obsessive bleeding and erased him out his life. In conclusion Esther being protected from pregnancy gave her the rights to her own body/life.

In the book Americanah written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ifemelu has sex for the very first time, expect she has sex with her lover, Obinze. As stated, Ifemelu is also troubled from the fact that she may end up being pregnant. She is not protected from birth control and she did not use condoms. Later that week Ifemelu had started throwing up and this is when she started going crazy because she thought she was pregnant. As a reader you could tell Ifemelu was still very young because she was troubled about the fact she would have to tell Obinze’s mother she had sex with her son. The narrator states, “She had been tense through it all, unable to relax. She had imagined his mother watching them; the image had forced itself onto her mind..” (pdf. 72) This shows me that Ifemelu sexual experience was much different than Esthers because she couldn’t relax, she had the issue of being pregnant and also the issue of telling his mother. Ifemelu had felt tense even when she chose to have sex with the love of her life, unlike Esther who was much happier having sex with someone she did not know.

Overall, as you could see Ifemelu would have been happy if she had the power to get birth control, and the fact that she did not, her sex with the love of her life (Obinze) was not an act worth doing. And for Esther the act was worth doing only because she had protection (birth control) however she chose the wrong guy to do it with.

Ifemelu’s sexual experience in Americanah was pleasant, it was actually with love and when Obinze and Ifemelu did it, it was pleasure and not rape or abuse. They were happy to do it as Obinze said “if it doesn’t work, then we will welcome Junior.”(Adichie 114) There was a fear of her being pregnant but not in a bad way. She said is he might find someone better but he was solid on keeping the baby if he got her pregnant.

Esther’s experience was a completely different, she actually prepared herself by getting a “fitting” done before going to the professor Irwin and actually having sex. She wasn’t scared of getting pregnant but after she had sex with the professor she bled a lot and had to go to the hospital to stop the bleeding. And after she was treated she sent the bill to Irwin and never saw him again.

In The Color Purple, Celie’s first sexual experience was very disturbing. Since it was her father figure and he warned her not to tell anyone by saying, “you better not tell no one but God, itll kill your mammy.” After she went through that experience, she was very lonely and isolated from the world. So she started to tell her story to God as she was told by her step- father. The aftermath was a mess too, she was pregnant twice and her children were given away.

Everyone’s sexual experiences are different, Ifemelu’s experience was joyful and Celie went through hell and it never got better for her. Even when she got married, that experience was also terrifying. Esther on the other hand found her liberation in her sexual experience.

Not every women’s first sexual experience is the same. For some its what they expected and for others its nothing like what they thought it would be. Both Ifemelu in Americanah and Esther in The Bell Jar experience having sex for the very first time and it didn’t seem to be what they expected it to be. They both had different experiences but the same outcome, which is they weren’t as satisfied with the feeling afterwards. Ifemelu’s first time starts when she is giving Obinze a massage because his muscles are aching after he has played basketball. Obinze is enjoying the pleasure of the massage and decides to take things further by undressing Ifemelu. Now Ifemelu wasn’t new to the feeling of him undressing her except this time he would be undressing all over her, “when he undressed her, he did not stop, as usual, at her underwear (Adichie 71 pdf). Ifemelu imagined it happening differently she “assumed they would make a carefully planned ceremony of it” (Adichie 72 pdf), Obinze did not use a condom and I’m guessing that’s not how she planned it; especially since she could get pregnant. Obinze didn’t mind not using a condom since they “we’re going to get married anyways” (Adichie 72), but Ifemelu feels that hes only saying that in the moment. Ifemelu loves Obinze very much and thought her first time having sex with him would be special and although it may have been “the unplannedness of it all had left her a little shaken, and also a little disappointed. It seemed somehow as though it had not been worth is after all” (Adichie 72). A women’s first sexual experience should feel like everything she hoped but Ifemelu did not feel this way. Instead she was worried the whole time about what she would say to Obinze’s mom and how she would react and just how unplanned it all had been.

In The Bell Jar Esther also had an unsatisfying first sexual experience with an math professor named Irwin. Esther feels that Irwin would be a good man to sleep with being that he was smart, experienced being an older guy, and no one really knew of him so it no one would ever know. As there about to have sex Esther awaits for the big change in her life that’s about to happen, ” I lay, rapt and naked, on Irwin’s rough blanket, waiting
for the miraculous change to make itself felt” (Plath 120 pdf). As it is happening all she can feel is a sharp pain and in the end she starts to bleed, Irwin treats it as its nothing, “Oh, that often happens, Irwin reassured me. You’ll be all right” (Plath 120). Esther imagined a completely different feeling of being a new person, ” I wanted to brood over my new condition in perfect peace. But the towel came away black and dripping” (Plath 120). Esther and Ifemelu are both females who had sexual intercourse with the opposite sex and played the role of being a virgin who was experiencing sex for the very first time. In the end, after their sexual experience neither of them feel satisfied. The consequence of having sex Ifemelu ends up having stomach pain, she throws up in fear that she is pregnant and wonders what will happen, just full of worries and disappointment. Esther is feeling pain instead of pleasure during and after her sexual experience and doesn’t seem to really feel a change in herself so much like she wanted to feel. Both women’s first sexual experience was different but both felt very unhappy with the outcome.