Unscrambling the "Grammar of Violence": Sexual Assault and Emotional Vulnerability in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Americanah features several episodes of violence against women. One such scene, involving the sexual assault of the Nigerian protagonist, Ifemelu, by a white man in the USA, has given rise to conflicting interpretations, due to scholars’ diverging opinions on whether the female character consents to the sexual act. This chapter argues that these varied critical responses are prompted by the novel’s subtle “grammar of violence,” a textual elusiveness that needs to be unscrambled. Using a combination of sociological and linguistic theories about rape, the chapter proposes a close reading of the aforementioned sexual assault scene, examining the different factors that shape the protagonist’s response. The chapter then turns to another narrative episode, featuring Ifemelu’s then ex-boyfriend, Obinze, a Nigerian man who enters into a “sham marriage” arrangement with a young mixed-race woman during his undocumented stay in Britain. It is argued that this plotline hints at Obinze’s possible unconscious rescripting of this financial transaction as romantic intimacy to alleviate his guilt, a fact that is here read as a form of violence in view of the young woman’s apparent emotional vulnerability. Ultimately, it is suggested that the scenes examined in this chapter raise questions about Adichie’s literary strategies in representing violence.