In his book How to Read Literature Like a Professor, author Thomas C. Foster once said, “Sometimes a meal is just a meal, and eating with others is simply eating with others. More often than not, though, it’s not.” In literature, the act of eating and food itself can be used in a multitude of different ways that go beyond simply providing nourishment to the characters on the page. According to Foster, eating meals can often symbolize acts of communion and can represent close relationships of trust between characters; conversely, family dinners that go awry convey mistrust and tension and even the breakdown of familial ties. Other times, authors use food to assign a sense of identity to their characters. This is frequently the case in stories that focus on the immigrant experience. We are always exposed to food, and food represents an consistent aspect of our constantly changing lives. We find comfort in eating familiar foods, and eating familiar foods transports us back into simpler–and perhaps happier–times. In immigrant stories, authors often use food from another country to convey a character’s cultural ties to his or her homeland if he or she lives abroad. In times of fear and loneliness, cooking a family recipe can provide one with the strength to continue on living in a foreign country. Yet, at the same time, authors can use the absence of a comfort food to convey a character’s sense of isolation and alienation.
In her short story “The Arrangers of Marriage,” author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie chronicles the experience of a Nigerian woman who immigrates to the United States to be with her Nigerian husband, whom she married through an arranged marriage. While Chinaza, Adichie’s protagonist, wants to retain many of the customs of her homeland, her husband, Ofodile, believes that they must relinquish their traditions in order to fully assimilate into their new country and to “get ahead” in America. This is first demonstrated when Ofodile explains to Chinaza that he changed his name to Dave Bell, and when he allows them to only speak English at home (172). Yet throughout the story, Adichie conveys Chinaza’s alienation and loneliness through food. For example, when Chinaza travels to the supermarket for the first time with Ofodile, she wants to purchase the Burton’s Rich Tea. She states how she does “not want to eat the biscuits but [she] wanted something familiar in the cart” (174). For Chinaza, the biscuits serve as reminder to her life in Nigeria, which comforts her; the fact that she is not permitted to buy this product conveys the theme that her husband, in an attempt to help her fully assimilate, actually further alienates her by immersing her in completely foreign and unfamiliar surroundings. This theme is similarly conveyed as Chinaza eats pizza for the first time. Though Chinaza finds the tomatoes overcooked and the pizza somewhat disgusting, Ofodile tries to convince her that “American way” is the correct way of cooking and that actually the Nigerians are cooking in error. The statement “I smiled back and took another pizza bite, tightening my stomach so it would not eject anything” parallels Chinaza’s experience in America as a whole, as she finds herself psychologically unwell and longs to be home in Nigeria (176). The clash of cultures perhaps becomes most apparent when Chinaza cooks coconut rice for dinner. Her meal is quite aromatic and its smells spread throughout apartment building, which prompts the curiosity of her neighbors. While one of Chinaza’s neighbors, Shirley, is pleasantly intrigued–Chinaza wants to invite her to eat–Ofodile orders her to stop cooking Nigerian food because he does want them to be known as the “people who fill the building with smells of foreign food” (179). The differences in reactions provide a stark contrast between cultural appreciation and suppression. Though someone expresses genuine interest in her culture and heritage, Chinaza is told by her husband to relinquish these aspects of her life. With the intent of helping Chinaza assimilate, these actions actually alienate Chinaza from her husband and her culture, and they leave her feeling isolated and lonely.
Throughout her short story, Adichie uses food as a means of conveying cultural identity and alienation. This shows that the food characters eat is just as important in establishing identity as his or her physical appearances or name. So the next time we may be reading about literary food, let us not drool over the pages but rather try to taste a character’s emotions.
In her short story “The Arrangers of Marriage,” author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie chronicles the experience of a Nigerian woman who immigrates to the United States to be with her Nigerian husband, whom she married through an arranged marriage. While Chinaza, Adichie’s protagonist, wants to retain many of the customs of her homeland, her husband, Ofodile, believes that they must relinquish their traditions in order to fully assimilate into their new country and to “get ahead” in America. This is first demonstrated when Ofodile explains to Chinaza that he changed his name to Dave Bell, and when he allows them to only speak English at home (172). Yet throughout the story, Adichie conveys Chinaza’s alienation and loneliness through food. For example, when Chinaza travels to the supermarket for the first time with Ofodile, she wants to purchase the Burton’s Rich Tea. She states how she does “not want to eat the biscuits but [she] wanted something familiar in the cart” (174). For Chinaza, the biscuits serve as reminder to her life in Nigeria, which comforts her; the fact that she is not permitted to buy this product conveys the theme that her husband, in an attempt to help her fully assimilate, actually further alienates her by immersing her in completely foreign and unfamiliar surroundings. This theme is similarly conveyed as Chinaza eats pizza for the first time. Though Chinaza finds the tomatoes overcooked and the pizza somewhat disgusting, Ofodile tries to convince her that “American way” is the correct way of cooking and that actually the Nigerians are cooking in error. The statement “I smiled back and took another pizza bite, tightening my stomach so it would not eject anything” parallels Chinaza’s experience in America as a whole, as she finds herself psychologically unwell and longs to be home in Nigeria (176). The clash of cultures perhaps becomes most apparent when Chinaza cooks coconut rice for dinner. Her meal is quite aromatic and its smells spread throughout apartment building, which prompts the curiosity of her neighbors. While one of Chinaza’s neighbors, Shirley, is pleasantly intrigued–Chinaza wants to invite her to eat–Ofodile orders her to stop cooking Nigerian food because he does want them to be known as the “people who fill the building with smells of foreign food” (179). The differences in reactions provide a stark contrast between cultural appreciation and suppression. Though someone expresses genuine interest in her culture and heritage, Chinaza is told by her husband to relinquish these aspects of her life. With the intent of helping Chinaza assimilate, these actions actually alienate Chinaza from her husband and her culture, and they leave her feeling isolated and lonely.
Throughout her short story, Adichie uses food as a means of conveying cultural identity and alienation. This shows that the food characters eat is just as important in establishing identity as his or her physical appearances or name. So the next time we may be reading about literary food, let us not drool over the pages but rather try to taste a character’s emotions.
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