Is The Melting Pot Flawed?

 The United States is renowned for a place that is a combination of different races and cultures. A place so diverse and yet also homogeneous, the melting pot. But this idealistic view is disproved in Americanah and shows the realities of the immigrant. Culture shock is quite a significant portion in the main characters Ifemulu’s life in the United States. Ifemulu at the beginning of her 15 year journey in the United States is often ridiculed for her lack of knowledge, for example people laugh at stories that she doesn't find funny and wear sweatpants to parties. She later writes "We are too superior/busy/cool/not-uptight to bother about how we look to other people, and so we can wear pajamas to school and underwear to the mall.”(Pg 140). She feels a sense of loneliness and decides to join a support group full of non-white immigrants. The group together feels a sense of kinship towards one another and share in their struggles in the face of the “oppressive” American culture. The desire to assimilate is also a large problem. Many immigrants spend several years away from home and are relegated to primarily white communities. For these reasons they often choose to hide their own culture and seek the attention of their American counterparts. Ifemulu exhibits this behavior as she wears regular clothing and for a time she cut her in a distinctly American way that is appealing in comparison to her previous haircut. Hair is used as a motif to show her feelings about the immigrant experience. Americanah is essentially a massive commentary on the lives of those who choose to reside in the United States and the relative struggles they face.