Postcolonial Feminism and the Collapse of the American Dream: A Postwomanial Comparative Analysis of Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Abstract

Within Western feminist discourse, in reaction to the constraints of traditional narratives, postcolonial feminism scrutinizes the interconnectedness of gender, race, and histories of colonialism (Mohanty, 1988). This study analyze how Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah and Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things use narrative disruption to challenge hegemonic structures and illuminate the exclusions implicit in dominant ideologies, like the American Dream, respectively. From the approach of a postcolonial feminism analysis, this allows ways of understanding both Feed - Ifemelu in this novel and Ammu as an object whose identity is shaped by the systemic inequalities relative to race, class, and gender. Ifemelu’s disillusionment with the myth of the American meritocracy and Ammu’s marginalization in patriarchal India are both instances of the imposing restrictions of imperial and patriarchal systems. Collectively, these works make visible the significance of recognizing lang/hter feminist paradigms and a call to rediscover that includes global stories often framed as exclusionary due to the palladiums of feelings of progress and success.