Summary

Chapter 10 describes Ifemelu’s first summer in America. She spends her days watching Dike and sitting with their neighbor, Jane, who is a young woman from Grenada. Jane tells Ifemelu the biggest difference she’s seen in America is in the raising of children because it’s harder to control them in America. When Jane’s husband makes a pass at Ifemelu, she avoids both of them and spends her time with Dike making up games. When she discovers that Dike is not yet learning long division, she decides to teach him.

Ifemelu also spends that summer discovering how different food in America is. Dike finds it strange that people in Nigeria eat bananas with peanuts. Ifemelu is also captivated by American commercials and the evening news. The evening news frightens her because there is so much reporting on crime and violence...