The civic space that jumped out to me while reading Americanah was the train platform where Ifemelu “meets” the man eating ice cream. The man grows impatient while waiting for the train, and upon its arrival, turns to Ifemelu and says, “‘About time’,” (Adichie 4). This statement says something about what Adichie thinks it means to be a citizen, but also shows a flaw she sees in Americans’ view of citizenship. The man is upset by having to wait so long for the train for two reasons. The first is the fast-paced life we Americans can never seem to escape. The man seems to be in a hurry to get to his destination, and he is upset that he cannot get there more quickly due to the arrival of the train. The second reason has to do more with his idea of what being civil means. He works hard at his profession, trying to do everything he can to better society (or at least he thinks he does). Due to the fact that he is in the world with others, he expects them as citizens to work just as hard as he does, and to work at the pace at which he wants to live life. So, the shared enterprise aspect of being civic is both good and bad for this man. He works hard to do his part for the common good, but he also ignorantly expects others to work to fit his individual expectations.

I think Adichie includes this interaction to show the corrupt way in which Americans behave in a civil manner. We have no proof as to whether or not the man truly works hard, but we know what he expects from others around him, thus making us believe he works hard. This ties into the structures of attention aspect of civic life, because no matter how well we know someone, we never truly know how hard (s)he is working, or what his/her true intentions are. So, a person could put up the facade of a hard working individual and draw our attention to that perceived characteristic. This makes us work hard to meet his/her expectations, but for all we know, that person could be lying to our faces, or not giving us the whole picture.

So, overall I think Adichie is trying to convey this message about civic life: Follow the Golden Rule, i.e. behave in a way you wish others to behave, but do not expect the impossible from others. We are all different, and we all feel different emotions on different days. So, who are we to judge the output of another person without knowing what may have caused a drop in quality or efficiency in his/her work? Sure, we should all work as hard as we can at all times to make the world a better place, but that does not mean we can be inhumane in judging the work of others. We are the Human Race, and part of being a citizen in the world is being humane to others. Adichie is telling us to think before we speak poorly of others’ work, and know that they are trying their best. Being a citizen is being human, and we can never forget that, or our world will be filled with unjustified hate.