Misunderstanding - TTAYN

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie attempts to restore the image of Africans in western media by stringing together stories that will hopefully give readers a reality check about their lives. Throughout the novel, there seems to be a common theme of misunderstanding. Whether it is the police that misunderstands Nnambia's intentions and mistreats him in jail or the American embassy worker who cannot sympathize with the mother of late Ugonna, there is a disconnect. Perhaps the motive of money forces the misunderstanding between the police officers and their own people and the cultural difference between the American and the foreigner forced her not to complete immigration. Throughout the novel, Adichie portrays the Americans as ignorant and confident people and plenty of times, they are shown accidentally offending the Nigerians. Although the Americans may look ignorant for not understanding the Nigerians,  the Nigerians do not understand the Americans either. It seems as if they come from different worlds because their problems are so different. The American "sated belly" forces them to worry about things that have not yet happened, which is an odd idea for some of the Nigerian characters in the book. It seems that misunderstanding between characters in this book is unavoidable, as it can be found in each chapter.