Americanah: Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

Meanwhile Obinze, who is stuck in traffic in Lagos, Nigeria, receives Ifemelu’s email and reads it. In it she congratulates him on his child and says that she is moving back to Nigeria. She calls him “Ceiling,” her old nickname for him. Obinze remembers her other emails: especially one that had mentioned Blaine, the black American she was dating. Obinze had then jealously researched Blaine, who was a lecturer at Yale and seemed overly pretentious to Obinze. Obinze had responded to that email somewhat sarcastically, and then later asked about keeping in touch, but Ifemelu had never written back.

Obinze’s driver, Gabriel, complains about the beggars in the street, but Obinze is suddenly in a good mood because of Ifemelu’s email. He remembers the first time they touched each other sexually, and how afterwards she said her eyes were open but she couldn’t see the ceiling. After that they used “ceiling” as a euphemism, and later (in university, when they actually started having sex) Ifemelu started calling Obinze Ceiling. Their friends would ask why, but she would always give a joking answer. Obinze wonders if she “saw the ceiling” with Blaine.

Obinze’s wife Kosi calls him, reminding him that they have a party that night with a man named Chief. Obinze arrives home to his huge house and thinks about his daughter Buchi and all his new possessions, and the flat comfort of his current life. Kosi greets him, and he thinks of how very beautiful she is. People always compliment her beauty, asking if she is half-white, and Obinze is uncomfortable with how much Kosi enjoys these racial compliments.

Buchi, who is a toddler, runs up to greet Obinze. Kosi asks him about work—he rents and sells property—and Obinze lies vaguely, and is then disappointed when Kosi doesn’t question further. She is only concerned with his work as far as it maintains the comfortable conditions of their life. Obinze isn’t looking forward to Chief’s party, but he must go because Chief is the one who first brought Obinze his success.

Obinze remembers when he first came back from England years earlier, depressed about what had happened to him there. He had stayed with his cousin Nneoma, but soon she got impatient with him and made him apply for jobs. Obinze had no luck, and then Nneoma decided to introduce him to “Chief,” a very rich man whom Nneoma had rejected romantically, but who still liked her and sometimes did her favors.

Nneoma took Obinze to Chief’s extravagant home. Chief flirted with Nneoma, who introduced him to Obinze. For the rest of the evening Chief held court, talking at length about whatever he liked, while his guests agreed with him and laughed at his jokes. Obinze would later learn that almost all Nigerian “Big Men” and “Big Women” acted like this. Obinze was almost amused at how transparent the flattery of Chief was, but Chief seemed to like it. He invited Obinze to come see him again in a week.

Obinze kept going back for several weeks, and Nneoma told him to just keep hanging around Chief until something good happened for him. Obinze was fascinated by how unsubtle the hierarchy was with Chief and his guests—anyone with money was supposed to be flattered, and anyone with less money was always supposed to flatter—“to have money, it seemed, was to be consumed by money.” Obinze pitied them, but also wanted to be one of them.

One day Obinze spoke up and offered his services to help Chief. Chief sized Obinze up and then gave a speech about how he was friends with all the Nigerian leaders—Babangida, Abacha, and now President Obasanjo, and so he has insider information about everything. Chief told Obinze that he was going to buy seven properties that were listed as being worth one million each, but he knew that they were really worth fifty million, and he will resell them as such. He said that Obinze should front this deal, and Obinze accepted the offer.

Nneoma was excited about this, and told Obinze how it would work out: he would soon start his own company buying properties and reselling them. Once he gets successful, she said, he must find one of his white friends from England and make him his “General Manager,” just for show, because then even more “doors will open” for him. Nneoma declares that this “is how Nigeria works.”

It did indeed turn out the way Nneoma described, and Obinze was amazed by how easy it suddenly was to make huge amounts of money. Years earlier he had been refused an American visa, but now that he was rich he got one easily. Obinze always wondered why Chief decided to help him instead of the many other visitors always asking him for favors.

Back in the present, Kosi leads Obinze through the guests at Chief’s party. She is very socially adept and always agreeable. Obinze sometimes finds her constant agreeableness and modesty to be almost immodest, as “it announced itself.” They start talking to a group of people who are discussing sending their children to French and British schools. Obinze mentions that they all grew up with the “Nigerian curriculum,” and everyone looks politely confused. Obinze used to always admire people with rich families and foreign accents, but he no longer does.

A party guest declares that it would be a “disadvantage” to send a child to an inferior Nigerian school instead of a British, French, or American one. Kosi defuses any argument by agreeing with them and Obinze at the same time. Obinze notes that “she always chose peace over truth, was always eager to conform.” Obinze squeezes her hand in apology, knowing that he should have kept his mouth shut and let the conversation continue smoothly.

They reach Chief, who greets them expansively. Obinze wonders if Chief has ever propositioned Kosi, as he does so many women. A group of men clusters around Chief, trying to be the first to compliment him and laugh at his jokes. Obinze drifts away from Kosi and talks to a young journalist named Yemis. Obinze tries to discuss books with him, but discovers that the college-educated Yemis only likes books with big words in them. Obinze considers other careers he could have had, like a teacher.

Obinze returns to Kosi. He wants to go home and write an email back to Ifemelu. He wonders if Blaine is coming with her to Nigeria. Obinze remembers how he and Ifemelu used to hold hands. He remembers when he most recently ran into Ifemelu’s friend Ranyinudo at the mall. Ranyinudo had called him “the Zed,” his old nickname, and gushed about his new success and how humble he was. Obinze is considered humble just because he isn’t ostentatious with his wealth. He doesn’t like this attitude, however, as it seems to normalize the rudeness of the rich. He and Kosi leave the party.

Obinze and Kosi return home, where their house girl Maria has cooked a meal. Obinze remembers the girl who preceded Maria. As soon as she arrived, Kosi went through her bag, and was horrified to find condoms inside. The girl had quietly said that in her last job, her employer’s husband would force himself on her. Kosi immediately sent her away angrily. Obinze felt sorry for the girl, and wondered how Kosi couldn’t.

Obinze had then realized that Kosi felt insecure about the house girl. Kosi was worried whenever Obinze associated with a single woman, as the culture of materialistic, seductive women in Lagos had made her constantly afraid that Obinze would cheat on her. Obinze had reassured her, but since their marriage Kosi had grown to dislike all single women, and had also grown more religious. Obinze once found out that Kosi had been to a prayer service for “Keeping Your Husband.”

Obinze goes into his study and listens to Fela, a famous Nigerian musician. He remembers listening to Fela with Ifemelu. Obinze carefully composes an email to Ifemelu. He doesn’t mention Kosi, even though he knows Ifemelu knows about her. Obinze sends the email and immediately feels both nervous and weary. He looks out the window and imagines himself floating away.