Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Wonders: Are Women Allowed Their Own Dreams?

 

Twelve years after her last novel, best-selling author and feminist icon Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is making a highly anticipated return with her new book "Dream Count." Adichie, whose works have been translated into over 50 languages and have earned her a string of prestigious literary awards, including the Orange Prize for "Half of a Yellow Sun" (2006) and the National Book Critics Circle Award for "Americanah" (2013), now recounts the intertwined fates of four Nigerian women who emigrate to the United States, only to find that their lives do not unfold as planned.

At the heart of the story is Chiamaka, a writer who defies tradition by refusing the marriage her affluent Nigerian family had hoped for. Her friend Zikora fulfills her dream of having a child, but the father abandons them. Chiamaka's cousin pursues a successful business career before giving it up to return to university. And Kadiatou, Chiamaka's housemaid and confidante, sees her American dream shattered when she is sexually assaulted at a luxury hotel.

"I'm interested in how much of a woman's dream is really hers, and how much is what society has told her to dream about," Adichie told AFP, noting that "the world is still deeply oppressive to women" and that "women are judged more harshly for being selfish, for having ambition and for being unapologetic."

The four women initially believe they know what they want from life and love, but doubts and struggles with social pressures and racism cause them to question their paths. Yet they continue to support one another, an "act of revolution" against a patriarchal society that often pits women against each other.

Adichie, whose 2012 TED talk "We Should All Be Feminists" propelled her into the mainstream, rejects being pigeonholed as a "feminist writer," insisting she is simply "a writer" who also happens to be a feminist. She aims to create messy, contradictory stories that challenge simplistic Western stereotypes about Africa, which she says is often viewed as a "place to be pitied" rather than understood in its complexity as a major oil producer, thriving business hub, and home to global pop stars and the film industry of Nollywood.