Revised Piece
 (excerpt from a passage analysis essay from 4th form English)

No one knows how to be perfect in a relationship, let alone how to fix one flawlessly. As demonstrated in Americanah, learning from one’s mistakes can help fulfill one’s goals as a partner. This passage proves Ifemelu is learning how to deal constructively with conflict in a relationship.
Ifemelu remembers the intimacy of their past, and when that is juxtaposed with the noticeably uneasy distance, she does her best to bring them emotionally and physically closer. A lexical field that includes words like ‘shook’, ‘unnecessarily’, ‘failing’, and ‘momentary anger’ creates an uncomfortable tone of instability and static energy. When compared with their original affection, like the memory of ‘[his fingers] on her body’, Adichie emphasizes the frigidity that has grown between the two characters. No stranger to troubled relationships, Ifemelu clearly picks up on this distance between Blaine and herself, especially when she is reminded of the lust she still feels for him. As if to physically close this distance, Ifem ‘reached out’ and held Blaine, feeling ‘the warmth through his sweatshirt’ until he eases away. She also ‘unessesarily’ complements the food cooking in the pot by saying it looked good. Ifemelu makes efforts to bring herself closer to Blaine and reconnect with him in the sexually and emotionally intimate way they once did.
When faced with possible failure, Ifemelu remains calm and does what she believes is necessary to save their relationship. The idea of failure is first presented when the author uses a metaphor of the broken coconut to represent the broken state of Blaine and Ifemelu’s relationship. Ifemelu is saddened to ‘think it could never be a whole coconut again’, imagining her connection to Blaine will never be recovered. This rupture also changes her perspective; as she surveys the view from the kitchen window, the scenery no longer seems ‘burnished and unendingly new’, instead, the snowflakes are violently ‘flung’ from above. In spite of viewing her relationship as if on a precipice, Ifem does not act spontaneously nor forcefully. She does struggle to remain in control of herself, as connoted by the word choice of ‘shook’ when describing her hands as they held the rice. However, she forces her actions to be deliberate and gentle; she avoids conflict by holding back her ‘momentary anger’ and by asking him neutral questions, like ‘if she should add more water’. This moment is a critical turning point for her and proves just how much she values her connection to Blaine.
This passage is particularly meaningful in the sense it presents a more mature Ifemelu; she has learned from her previous two relationships that closing in on herself and acting in defiance are not effective ways to move forward. Though Blaine remains ‘steely’, her new approach to conflict allows for a much greater possibility of reconciliation.

Reference: Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Americanah. New York: Anchor, 2013. Print.