Summary Of The Article 'America' By Ijeoma A.

From the very beginning of the article, the author Ijeoma A. does a very fantastic job of showing her family’s traditions and customs. She told the story about how she was forced to do the dishes while her entire family was able to watch the soccer game and did not have to clean up at all. She was secluded into the kitchen cleaning up after everyone because her family was “raising her to become a woman.” Her entire life, her family was trying to teach and raise her on becoming the perfect woman, which in their eyes, cleans and takes care after her family. Ijeoma said her way out of this role entrapment was to perform very well in school and become the best in her class. Here she could be herself and not be told or questioned simply because she was a woman.
This article made me really appreciate how lucky that we as American women have it. We do not have to have the kitchen as our office, or put a man before ourselves, we can fight for ourselves. When Ijeoma snapped at her cousin for patronizing her for not having the dishes done, her family was dumbfounded that she would even voice an opinion. They said things like “she thinks she’s American,” but in reality, she was just standing up for herself as a person. I understand how from Ijeoma’s perspective that America could be viewed as a feminist’s paradise. She is in a place where she can have an education, a career, a family, and a life that she wants. She can pick and choose different things that she wants to do at different times. Where in Nigeria, this option would not be made available to her. She realizes that many people have had to fight and argue for what we have in America, and hopefully one day, people will do the same in Nigeria. It is hard to think that even though we are still fighting for things here in America, like to close the wage-gap, women are still being forced to be subservient to men in other parts of the