Author(s): Dr. D. Shyilla Juliet

Abstract: Challenges bring out the most competitive part in human beings and make a significant improvement in their overall development. The Nigerian society has imposed their fair share of challenges on women internally and putting them in a foreign white land as an immigrant makes them triply marginalised. The field of psychology has dedicated the entire subfield of Resilience Theory to chart the positive outcome of characters in times of adversity and their process of reviving from a stressful environment. The models and works of Norman Garmezy can be used to critically analyse Adichie’s selected works to understand the psychological aspect of the characters, taking into consideration Grace and Ifemelu, protagonists of The Headstrong Historian and Americanah, come out and thrive as individuals despite their adverse living situations.

Keywords: adversity, challenges, development, revive, competitive.

Article Info: Received: 10 Jul 2025; Received in revised form: 05 Aug 2025; Accepted: 10 Aug 2025; Available online: 14 Aug 2025

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.104.60