“Beware the danger of what I call Feminism Lite,” she says. More importantly, once she has made that connection, she is able to use her suggestions even more effectively, as her suggestions are not just for raising a child, but an analysis of the way in which women today live. This simple line at the beginning of a book on a serious subject is one key way in which she connects to her audience. You know how I get foolishly emotional sometimes,” she says. While it is written for someone very specific, she uses the resulting familiar tone of her writing to her advantage, as it enables a sense of kinship and understanding between reader and writer. The genius of Adichie’s book is perhaps the fact that anyone can connect to it.

While this may seem disconnected, it is her way of showing her friend that she must teach her child to read, and perfectly reflects the fact that she makes sure her suggestions are easy for her friend to connect to in some way. An expensive endeavor, she later joked, but a worthy investment,” she says. “I know this remarkable Nigerian woman, Angela, a single mother who was raising her child in the United States her child did not take to reading so she decided to pay her five cents per page. For example, Adichie says “be deliberate about showing her the enduring beauty and resilience of Africans and black people.” While she does not limit herself to only discuss raising children, she interweaves stories about other women as a way to give specificity to her claims. Ranging from suggestions to ensure that the mother herself is a fulfilled person to giving her daughter a strong sense of her identity, Adichie covers an entire expanse of child-rearing ideas that are addressed specifically to her friend. Encouraging and uplifting, “Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions” is a book that succeeds in advancing the importance of achieving the equality of women through the use of engaging stories and a relaxed style.Īdichie’s book is set up simply enough, with fifteen suggestions to her friend, Ijeawele, on how to raise her newborn daughter, Chizalum Adaora, as a feminist.

After all, what could be said of import about feminism in the length of the average correspondence? However, Adichie masterfully uses her letter to a friend as an opportunity to write a modern accessible reflection on feminism. “Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a letter, a style of writing that doesn’t usually inspire much interest.

Chimamanda dear ijeawele