Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's 'The Thing Around Your Neck'

War and violence have always existed in human history. Nigeria is one of the countries which has witnessed numerous potholes of political violence and religious or political war that have significantly affected the sensibility of every individual across the globe. Nigeria recorded over 200,000 cases of death in the last two decades caused by political and religious wars or violence (Eke & Sylvia 2014, 44, 47). Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s The Thing Around Your Neck, a collection of short stories, focuses on a generation of Nigerians whose lives have been damaged by violence and wars. Adichie explores the lives and experiences of Nigerian women in particular, who deal with displacement and loneliness, and who try to survive the tragedy of violence.

The unnamed narrator indicates that the story is not about her but it is about her brother Nnamabia. The brother being they key character creates an impression that men are seen as more prominent and have more authority than women in Nigeria’s society. She, on the other hand, seems to be invisible, as if she is just her brother’s shadow. In Nigerian families, a son is more favored than a daughter too. Therefore, Nnamabia enjoys his parents’ adoration and favoritism. However, since there is no limitations or punishments to Nnamabia’s actions, he was involved in multiple criminal activities. Still, the family forgives him and provides him with support and safety instead of punishing

The narrator went through so much violence, pain, loss and trauma in Nigeria that it was safer for her to leave. The process was humiliating since she has to beg someone else to believe her story; a white foreigner who does not understand her way of life in Nigeria. However, guilt eats her up when she recognizes that the only way to prove her anguish is to use her child’s loss to earn a visa. The mother built her identity by being “Ugonna’s mother,” (Adichie 140), and wants to keep this identity even after his death. The mother, unlike the father, puts family and love first, rather than losing a crucial part of herself in a hunt for the American