The Thing Around Your Neck

Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 2009

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Symbols & Motifs

University

When characters within these stories attend higher education, it often shows something implicit about their family background. University and university education is symbolic of class and is used throughout the stories to denote the different ways that Nigerians experience privilege, both in Nigeria and abroad. In the US, university is either the reason for being there, as with Uzumaka in “The Shivering,” or something to be hidden, as with Kamara in “On Monday of Last Week”. Uzumaka’s work at Princeton is a sign of her status, working in tandem with her middle-class background to place her in the desirable category of immigrants that her ex-boyfriend so desired to be a part of. Conversely, Kamara is warned not to mention her master’s degree when interviewing for a position with an American family, as it doesn’t fit with the white American idea of a Nigerian immigrant.

Restriction of access to university is another tool of control because of the power it holds. Even when it is not being wielded maliciously, it is a marker of difference. For example, one of the signs of the class difference between the two women in “A Private Experience” is that Chika is attending university to become a doctor. In “Jumping Monkey Hill” Edward’s Oxford education is one of his justifications for why he gets to determine what African literature is. This is in conjunction with the opportunities and abilities his education has allowed him, as exemplified by the fact that the debate between Edward and the participant from Senegal is held in rapid French. In “The Thing Around Your Neck,” Akunna must leave college when she has to flee her uncle’s house, her education an example of the power he held over her.

Language and Voice

Both the words one chooses and the language one chooses to speak them in reveal a character’s mindset. Whether a character speaks in Igbo or English can change the tone of the conversation, revealing things about the speaker’s character and views. In “Cell One,” the narrator notes that her brother Nnamabia’s use of English versus Igbo shows his distancing himself from his crime, relying on English to proclaim innocence. This use of language as deflection shows his disconnection from his actions and their consequences. In “A Private Experience,” Chika and the Muslim woman have obviously different vocabularies, their speech another way of marking the multitude of differences between them.

There is also information to be gained from the accent a character speaks in. One of the first things Ujunwa notices about Edward in “Jumping Monkey Hill” is how he speaks in a posh way, showing his privilege. Accents are a way for characters to project how they want to be seen to the outside world. In “The Arrangers of Marriage” and “On Monday of Next Week,” the main characters are perturbed by the false-sounding American accents their husbands put on. Kamara feels that the accent is such a change that she is led to wonder “if it was even the same Tobechi” (76).

Green Cards

Green cards are symbols of power throughout the stories. Who’s power they represent changes depending on context—sometimes it is the power of a husband, sometimes the power of imperial Western countries, sometimes the power of the rich. In “Imitation,” for example, Nkem feels a part of a special club for living in the US, one that includes the wives of rich Nigerian men. This, however, is just a representation of her husband’s power and influence, and her desires are in conflict with it. “The American Embassy” is an example of imperial power, and the desperation of the people in line at the embassy to obtain emigration paperwork and the invasiveness of the interview questions show the cruelty such power can lend itself to.

Those who obtain green cards are seen as lucky and enviable, but in reality they often lead to unexpected and negative consequences. In “The Thing Around Your Neck,” Akunna getting a green card is seen as “winning the lottery” (102), but her move to the US isolates her from her family and friends, putting her in danger of sexual abuse and leaving her feeling as an outsider. For Chinaza in “The Arrangers of Marriage,” the green card and the employment license it allows for is held over her head as another symbol of her husband’s power over her. Obtaining a green card is followed by continual fear over losing it, as seen with Chinedu’s fear of deportation due to his expired green card in “The Shivering.” The green card is thus both an item of power and one of fear.