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Ethos
Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Heat Waves:
Americanah’s first flashback takes place at Mariama African Hair Braiding in Chapter 9, where the hot afternoon at the salon awakens Ifemelu’s memories of years prior:
Each heat wave reminded Ifemelu of her first, the summer she arrived. It was summer in America, she knew this, but all her life she had thought of “overseas” as a cold place of wool coats and snow, and because America was “overseas,” and her illusions so strong they could not be fended off by reason, she bought the thickest sweater she could find in Tejuosho market for her trip.
The novel rides this current of heat straight into the past. As though diving into Ifemelu’s memories for relief, Americanah takes the reader back to her first summer in Brooklyn, with all its disappointments and unexpected pleasures. America—with its urinating pedestrians and rubbery, mass-produced hot dogs—is bleaker and more barren than she could have imagined. Ifemelu arrives, only to find her aunt weathered and wearied by the demands of survival. But she discovers tiny sources of joy, too, in the quintessential American hallmarks like broadcasts of The Simpsons and McDonald’s’ pickles. Now as Ifemelu sits in the salon before her return to Nigeria, the heatwaves create something of a full-circle moment. They bookend her time in America, years that have been marked by both surprise and disillusionment.
Related Themes:
