At a Blogging While Brown convention in Washington DC, Ifemelu runs into Blaine, whom she has not seen for nearly a decade since their fateful train conversation. They recognize each other immediately, and he apologizes for not returning her calls. He was in a relationship at the time, but is now single. They flirt long-distance from Baltimore to New Haven, where he still lives and works as a professor at Yale, and then begin visiting each other. They begin dating, and Ifemelu is impressed by the fact that he does not have “a normal spine, but…a firm reed of goodness” (383). As she works from home, she is free to visit Blaine often, and does so. He introduces her to organic food, a chemical-free life, and she imagines their future together, with Blaine as “a perfect father, this man of careful disciplines” (384).

Blaine begins to influence her blog. Her posts begin to sound more academic, less like her. She tells him that she only wants to observe, not explain, but he insists she has a duty to instruct. To do otherwise is “lazy” (387), a word he uses often. He is horrified when Ifemelu allows a white woman to touch her

Don't Miss Out!

Access Study Guide Now