Ifemelu’s blog plays an important role in her life. Like many other blogs, Raceteenth or Various Observations About American Blacks (Those Formally Known as Negroes) by a Non-American Black expresses Ifemelu’s thoughts about her life and her environment in which she lives. Her blog was a way to write about who she was. It helped her better understand herself and her life at present. Not being native to the country, Ifemelu wants to understand people in America; she wants to know their most truthful thoughts. Many times however when she asks others about their honest opinions, Ifemelu does not tell them hers. She vaguely tells the people she “interviews” that she writes a lifestyle blog with the excuse being that the real name of her blog would make them uncomfortable. But possibly the real reason is that she wants to learn their thoughts but wants to keep her own hidden.

Many of Ifemelu’s readers enjoy her blog because of how straightforward everything is. She doesn’t sugarcoat what people tell her. Readers find it interesting to see what their fellow Americans think. Ifemelu applies a certain funny and captivating rhetoric to important issues. She talks about race through different perspectives as well as only allowing the topic to be the underlying theme. She kept her readers interested each time by taking the thoughts of complete strangers and turning them into a conversational piece. The readers in turn would make comments, throw out statistics and question her. Ifemelu’s blog was an excuse to talk about the subject of race but on a simpler and less racist platform.

These other readers made Ifemelu further question herself and her intentions. With each blog post she believed in herself a little less. She began to feel stripped of herself entirely and felt falsified by everyone else’s opinions and comments. Her blog started out as a way to express herself and her opinions but in turn made her feel less sure of who she was and what she believed in anymore.

After living in America for thirteen years, Ifemelu still feels as though she is an outsider. When she describes the area of Princeton, she looks at everyone as the same – judging by the way the dress and act. When she describes the town of Princeton, she talks about it like she is a tourist visiting. When she arrives in Trenton however, she describes the area in the same way. Of course the two areas differ from each other greatly, but to Ifemelu, she is an outsider of both. Not only did she feel alienated by the places she lived in but also by the relationships she has made in America. Her relationships with both Blaine and her fellow bloggers have made her fell more like an outsider than ever. As she describes her relationship with Blaine she says;“… her relationship with him was like being content in a house but always sitting by the window and looking out.” The topics of her many blog posts also reiterates that emotion. Ifemelu has never really felt a part of America.