Philadelphia Here I Come ---- Cultural context

The role of men and women is another reason why life in Ballybeg is very
different from today’s world. We have already seen that Kate had no choice in
who she married and we also see how Gar’s mother ended up marrying S.B. a
man twenty years older than her. The fact that S.B. had a shop meant that he was
a good suitor and love didn’t seem to come into it. Women were expected to
marry for security rather than love. Madge’s role in the house, cooking and
cleaning also highlights how women were seen as domestic workers and
incapable of working in any other area. The fact that Madge wants her niece
called after her shows how women were expected to have babies and Madge
feels left out as she has no children of her own. This is similar to Aunt Lizzy who
begins to cry when she tells Gar about not having children. They felt that the only
role they had in life was to have children. This is why I wouldn’t like to live in the
world of the text.

Religion has far too much power and influence in this text, as shown by the need
to say the angelus and the rosary every night in the O’Donnell household. We also
see that Canon Mick O’Byrne is threatening to sack Master Boyle as the teacher in
the school. Gar also tells us that the Canon is motivated by money mentioning his
five weeks a year in Lanzarote, yet he won’t do his job, which is to bring Gar and
S.B. together. When S.B. tries to talk to him about Gar leaving he just changes the
subject, repeating the same line about Madge for the sixth time. The fact that the
church had so much power but didn’t use it in the right way annoys me and is
another reason why I wouldn’t like to live in this world.

The lack of emotion between Gar and S.B. is heartbreaking in the text and
highlights how men were not supposed to show emotion. We hear how S.B.
didn’t show any emotion when his wife died and now he is doing the same when
his only son is leaving forever. We might be led to think that he just doesn’t care
but I realised that wasn’t true when Madge is giving out to him and he just
continues reading the paper. But when Madge leaves, we see that the paper was
actually upside down, showing that he was deep in thought about Gar. Gar loses
it towards the end of the play and shouts, “to hell with strong silent men,”
showing how the world of the text encouraged men to keep their feelings to
themselves and not show emotion. This type of behaviour is in contrast to today’s
world where everyone is encouraged to talk about their feelings and another
reason why I wouldn’t like to live in the world of the text.

My last reason for not wanting to live in this world is the poverty that exists in
Ballybeg. We see this from the start when Gar is struggling to earn a decent living
and this stops him getting married to the woman he loves. Gar is forced to
emigrate because of the poverty in Ballybeg and this seems to be the only escape
for young men like Gar.

We also see Ned suffering from poverty as he can’t afford to buy Gar a present
because his father didn’t sell the cow at the mart last week. Like Gar, Ned relies
on his father for money and is a victim of poverty in the text.

Americanah --- Cultural context

As with the themes of racism and identity, Americanah allows Adichie to observe
and critique the cultures of Nigeria, America, and England through scenes that are
sometimes humorous and sometimes tragic. In Nigeria (particularly Lagos),
Adichie focuses on the culture of corruption and materialism, where most people
get rich through fraud or corruption, officials expect bribes, and women date or
marry a man based on his wealth and prestige. Everyone is expected to grovel
before the rich, who are expected to ostentatiously show off their wealth by
visiting Western countries and sending their children to Western schools. This
leads to a Nigeria where essentials are lacking for most of the population (there is
rarely consistent light or water), and Western culture and whiteness are idealized
over Nigerian culture.

In America, Adichie focuses mostly on the racial hierarchy and prejudices Ifemelu
discovers there, but she also comments on the prevalence of depression and
anxiety in American society. She especially focuses on liberal white Americans,
who like to criticize their own country but still imagine it as superior to others, the
one dispensing charity instead of needing it. Adichie spends less time on
England/Europe, and much of that involves racism, but she also highlights the fear
of immigrants—a fear that ignores England’s own colonial past, as the people
from the countries England itself created eventually make their way to England.
Along with all these serious criticisms, the novel also contains many lighthearted
observations about the different cultures, like ways of speaking or dressing.
Americanah is a large and complex enough book that it can encompass individual
stories of romance and personal growth, searing critiques of racism, and many
astute observations about the cultures of Nigeria, England, and America all at
once.
When comparing these two works, we can see many things that unite the
characters and the work as a whole. To begin with, let's take the story of the main
characters, in our case Gar and Afemelu. The story of both these characters is tied
to leaving their hometown and country for one purpose or another. Gar leaves
Ballybeg to move to America because he sees prospects there . It's the same with
Afemelu, she moves to America to develop there, write her blog and start a new
life. They both leave their homeland to search for something new, they go out of
their comfort zone and search for themselves. Also the characters are similar in
the unsuccessfulness of their relationships, they both avoid them, Afemelu stops
responding to Obinze and Gar stops his relationship with Katie. which eventually
leads to their objects of love finding someone new, getting married. For Obinze it
is Kosi and for Katie it is Mr. King. Both the hero of the first piece and the hero of
the second have someone close to them where they go. They have those people
who offer them help. For Afemelu it is aunt Uju and for Gar it is Lizzie. Both
characters have people close to them helping them find jobs, for Gar it is job in a
hotel and for Afemelu it is a babysitter job. In both texts the characters want to be
like americans, although they are not americans themselves. In Gar's case this is
manifested in communication, he uses a lot of American slang, while Afemelu
speaks with an American accent and relases her hair to be more format in
American society.

In this regard, we can say that these works have a lot in common. The reasons for
the move, the problems they encounter along the way, interpersonal relations
and existence in society at large.
Americanah Summary

Ifemelu is a young woman from Nigeria living in the United States. The novel
begins as she takes the train from Princeton, New Jersey, the posh university
town where she has a fellowship as a writer, to Trenton, New Jersey, a nearby city
that is much poorer, to get braids done before returning to Nigeria. As she sits in
the salon, she reminisces and recounts pieces of her life in Nigeria as a child; her
struggles with culture, language, money, and hair in the United States; and two
relationships since emigrating that could never measure up to her first love with a
young man named Obinze.
The story is told mainly through Ifemelu's thoughtful, critical narration and
sometimes through posts from her blog “Raceteenth or Various Observations
About American Blacks (Those Formerly Known as Negroes) by a Non-American
Black,” but the narration switches to Obinze's point of view for portions of the
story to describe the difficulties he faced as an illegal worker in London and his
quick rise to wealth upon returning to Nigeria.
When Ifemelu returns to Nigeria after some delay due to a suicide attempt made
by her beloved cousin Dike, she and Obinze must decide where their friendship
and love stand. Though Obinze faces a tough decision due to having a wife and
young daughter, in the end he chooses to pursue a relationship with Ifemelu no
matter the cost