The role of skin in "The Thing Around Your Neck"

In The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, skin plays a prominent role. In the first short story, “Cell One”, Nnamabia is praised for his beautiful light complexion by perfect strangers who would ask his mother “why would you waste your fair skin on a boy and leave the girl so dark?” Here, the desire for a lighter skin color shows the influence of western culture on African beauty standards. In the chapter “Ghosts” the texture and moisture of peoples’ skin demonstrates the differences in social classes. The beggars’ skin was ashy, as they could not afford moisturizer for their faces and arms during the harmattan. Meanwhile, Prof’s skin was perfectly moisturized, and he has fond memories about his late wife applying lotion to his body after he would bathe. Like Nnamabia, Prof was praised for his complexion, and he was convinced that his skin was what had persuaded his wife Ebere to marry him in the line of suitors. Skin color also plays a role in the story “The Thing Around Your Neck” as Akunna, an immigrant from Nigeria, has an interracial relationship with a white man. The couple was either met with opposition from others or would receive overly-enthusiastic reactions from people, “as if to prove their own open-mindedness to themselves” (123). 

Sophie's World - Aristotle - why does it rain?

       Jostein Gaarder’s novel, Sophie’s World, explores the history of philosophy in a way that is easily understandable for the reader. In the chapter regarding Aristotle and his philosophies, Sophie is asked the question “why does it rain?” In a scientific sense, the answer is simple, however in a philosophical sense, there is no concrete reason why rain occurs in the first place. Aristotle breaks it down into three causes. The “material cause” and “efficient cause” are both scientific — as moisture in the air cools, it condenses, thus causing rain to fall. However, he addressed another cause called the “final cause.” Aristotle believed that every element of life has a purpose, or a task they must perform for the well-being of others. However, everybody knows that rain does not have a conscience. Instead, Aristotle suggested that the purpose of a raindrop is God’s purpose — to give life to things on Earth.

(I have not particularly enjoyed reading Sophie’s World because it reads more like a textbook than a novel. The characters seem to be more two-dimensional, as discussed in How To Read Literature Like A Professor, and exist only as a device only to make the history of philosophy easier to understand. Nonetheless, it has been interesting to get a broader insight to the world of philosophy.)

Nigerian-American Cultural Assimilation in "The Thing Around Your Neck"

Chimamanda Adichie’s short story collection, The Thing Around Your Neck, brings to light the challenges immigrants face while adjusting to American culture. In the story “The Arrangers of Marriage” the transition from life in Nigeria to life in America was especially trying for Chinaza. After being arranged to marry a Nigerian-American doctor, Chinaza had expected to easily transition into a prosperous life. She had imagined being welcomed home to a comfortable, suburban home, like she’d seen in American films and television shows. Much to her surprise, she was welcomed home to a small, dinky, New York City flat with rusted sinks and bare mattresses. Within the first day, Chinaza realized how difficult living in the United States would be.

Eleven years prior, Chinaza’s husband, Ofodile Udenwa, completely dismissed his Nigerian roots because he believed that “If you want to get anywhere [in America] you have to be as mainstream as possible. If not, you will be left by the roadside” (172). Thus, he changed his name to Dave Bell and demanded that Chinaza uses her American name, Agatha Bell, as well. However, unlike “Dave”, Chinaza was reluctant to dismiss her African roots.

Similarly to Chinaza, in the story “The Thing Around Your Neck”, Akunna had expected America to be a land of promises. After winning the American visa lottery, she had been told that within a month of living in America, she would have a big house and a big car. Unfortunately, the “American Dream” wouldn't come so easily for Akunna as she realized that “America was give and take” (116).

Unable to afford school, Akunna began work at a restaurant. During one of her shifts, she met a white man who had lived in Africa, and the two eventually started dating. Although she felt comfortable around him, Akunna still felt that the pressures of society were strenuous on their interracial relationship, and made her question the authenticity of her boyfriend’s love. When he offered to pay for Akunna’s return visit to Nigeria, she didn’t accept the offer because she didn’t want him to “gawk at the lives of poor people who could never gawk back at his life” (125). Akunna, while trying to still embrace her Nigerian roots, didn’t want to be her boyfriend’s exotic treasure.

The American Parenting Style in "The Thing Around Your Neck"

In The Thing Around Your Neck, Adichie explores a deep contrast between Nigerian and American culture. In America, rich people were thin and poor people were fat. In America, people overshared about family issues. However, it was much the opposite in Nigeria. Adichie stated that life in the United States was “cushioned by so much convenience that it is sterile” (Adichie, 67). In the chapter “On Monday of Last Week,” Adichie reveals differences in parenting styles. Kamara found parenting in America to be unusual and frustrating because, although parents can be almost entirely absent in a child’s life, American parents can still praise themselves for raising great kids. In America, parents talk about all of the sacrifices they make for their children, yet many have another person raise their child “as if caring for one’s child were the exception rather than the rule” (82).

Kamara also found it baffling that she would be paid three dollars extra for cooking dinner for Josh. In America, cooking dinner was a “sanitized string of actions” (82). In Nigeria, cooking meals was much more burdensome. Nonetheless, because Kamara and Josh shared several meals together, they developed a closer relationship — perhaps closer than the relationship Josh had with his own father, Neil. In school, Josh’s class had been working on Shabbat cards to give to special family members. Instead of addressing the card to his father, the card read, “Kamara, I’m glad we are family” (90). (This ties back to my previous blog post about meals and communion). Although Josh and Neil were family by blood, Kamara was Josh’s true family. 

Communion in "The Thing Around Your Neck"

I can often sense when an author is implying more beyond the words printed on pages between my fingers, however I’ve never known how to decipher what, exactly, the author is trying to convey. Now, after having read How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, I have been trying to apply what I’ve learned to analyzing literature more thoroughly.

I found the chapter “Nice to Eat with You: Acts of Communion” in How to Read Literature Like a Professor very interesting. I’ve never been a religious person, so when I read, “whenever people eat or drink together, it’s communion” (Foster, 8) I was slightly thrown off. However, as I read on, I realized that in literature, and in life, meals are indeed acts of sharing and peace. As Foster mentioned, people are very particular about whom they break bread with. 

As I was reading The Thing Around Your Neck, I noticed that when characters would share meals they would often make a connection. In the chapter “The Shivering,” after news of the plane crash, Ukamaka and Chinedu bonded not only over faith, but also over food. Eventually, Ukamaka would “wait for Chinedu to visit so she could offer him rice or pizza or spaghetti” (Adichie, 154), as if sharing meals had become a routine. Later, when Chinedu mentioned that he was fasting, Ukamaka still asked him to stay with her as she ate. For Ukamaka and Chinedu, eating together was the foundation of their friendship.

Of course, not all meals are communions and can actually foreshadow conflict. In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster writes, “If a well-run meal or snack portends good thing for community and understanding, then the failed meal stands as a bad sign” (Foster, 11). In the chapter “The Arrangers of Marriage” of The Thing Around Your Neck, newlyweds “Dave” and Chinaza ate at the shopping mall food court. Chinaza, horrified, thought to herself, “There was something humiliatingly public, something lacking in dignity, about this place, this open space of too many tables and too much food” (Adichie,176). The setting of the meal was not intimate, not a communion, but rather made Chinaza feel more distant from her husband.