America: The Land of Opportunity?

After reading four of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's short stories, I noticed one prevalent theme among each of the stories: the distinct cultural separation between Nigeria and America. Cell One, The Thing Around Your Neck, Tomorrow is Too Far, and Ghosts each compared life in America to life in Nigeria in different manners. In Cell One, the female narrator mentions how she and her family lived a much more privileged lifestyle than the majority of Nigerians, with their American videotapes and luxurious goods, living a lifestyle similar to those of Americans. In The Thing Around Your Neck, the female narrator discusses the difficulty she faced while transitioning between her impoverished Nigerian lifestyle to her opportune American life. In Tomorrow is Too Far, the female narrator, now living in America, looks back to her Nigerian lifestyle and the mistakes and heartaches attached with her home nation. In Ghosts, the male narrator reminisces over the times when he was less lonely and when he was living with his wife and daughter in America.

The idea of America as "The Land of Opportunity" prevailed in both The Thing Around Your Neck and Ghosts. In The Thing Around Your Neck, Akunna faced much adversity while attempting to begin her life in America. Right off the bat, she expresses discomfort with the thought of leaving everything she has ever known for, what others saw, "opportunity." She explains that her immigration was a result of her American uncle entering her in a visa raffle. Struggling with being an American, she was forced to remind herself that "the trick was to understand America, to know that America was give-and-take."As much as she tried, Akunna couldn't understand the American way of life, with their sheltered mannerisms and their subtle racism. American racism was described, by her uncle, as "a mixture of ignorance and arrogance," and was characterized by questions such as, "Where did you learn your English?" and "Do you have real houses back in Africa?" In Ghosts, James lived in Nigeria with his wife, Ebere, moved to America after the Nigerian war in 1970, and later returned to Nigeria in 1976. Tempted to share with his daughter, Nkiru, of the visits he receives from late Ebere, James holds back and keeps his intimate encounters to himself, in fear of being brought back to America. He blatantly states, "I will be forced to live a life cushioned by so much convenience that it is sterile," explaining he prefers his Nigerian lifestyle over the glorified American way of life. In addition, James accuses that the American life is "littered with what we call 'opportunities,'" openly saying that it is "a life that is not for [him]."

I think what struck me most was the misconception those from impoverished nations have of the U.S. As a first generation American and a first generation college student, I often wonder about the former lives of my parents. Both of my parents immigrated from Vietnam, leaving their indigent lifestyles in hopes of acquiring these "great opportunities." Unable to afford proper schooling, neither of my parents were given the chance to attain higher education. Thus, they, and the rest of my extended family, built their lives from scratch, working and struggling in effort to provide for the first American generation--for my brother, for my cousins, and for me--with opportunities they hadn't been offered.