"The Thing Around your Neck", Ngozi Adichie, Chimamanda

Résumé du document

This document is a fully written analysis on "The Thing Around your Neck" by Ngozi Adichie, Chimamanda. We will analyze the book in a relevant way, while illustrating our words with quotes.

Here, we will talk about the story structure, the perspective of the story being told (narrator/point of view), the effect produced on the reader, the characteristics of the character(s) and introduce them (e.g. change of behavior ''beginning -> end'', ...), the elements of tension in the story and finally we will talk about themes.

Extraits

[...] Materialism and the American dream The part concerning the presents her boyfriend gives her is important as it is part of the criticism of materialism in the novel. Indeed, she considers the gifts to be impractical and useless. She even asks him to stop offering her these gifts: "you objected about the cost". This may leave the reader to think that Akunna does not really want to fully immerse herself in the American culture, in which materialism is an important part. [...]

[...] In the end of the story, the reader feels that Akunna gave up on the American dream. She has missed her father's funeral: " five months now". Her mother solely described the modest funeral without urging her to come back home. Akunna had no reason to come back to Lagos. She had too many struggles to acclimatize with her new environment. She talks about something that choke her at night, this might be symbolic of the loneliness that she is struggling with in America: "At night, something would wrap itself around your neck, something that very nearly choked you before you fell asleep" (p119). [...]

[...] However, she could not help but feel different from him. For example, when he offers her gifts, he probably expected her to be happy and enjoy them, but she did not understand the aim of those gifts that she considers "useless": "his gifts mistyfied me" (p125). She also was astonished when he told her that he took a year off to focus on himself: "You did not know that people could simply choose not to go to school". This might seem anecdotic, but in reality it highlights vivid cultural differences: "You did not know [ . [...]

[...] The thing around your neck is novel published by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in 2009. Through this novel, the Nigerian author tackles the issues of race, identity and materialism in a foreign country. Identity and foreignness The whole story is narrated in the second person by Akunna, a young Nigerian woman who has just emigrated to the United States of America. Akunna seems to be different from everyone else around her, since almost everyone she engages with asks questions regarding her ethnic background, her accent ("they asked where you learned to speak English" p116), her hair ("they gawped at your hair. [...]

[...] As her uncle who welcomed her in America says "America was give-and-take" (p118). Akunna's relatives do also want goods and products from America. These are goods such as perfume, shoes and bags which are frivolous and already available in Lagos. It seems like they all want a small piece of America, or the elusive image they have of America : "Everybody in America had a car and a gun" (p117). They idealised America and were sure that Akunna would succeed there: "In a month, you will have a big car. [...]