The Thing Around Your Neck Sparknotes

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s anthology, The Thing Around Your Neck, explores the difficulties Nigerian women face both in Nigeria and America. She highlights how cultural values can be a barrier to women having their own voice as in Nigeria, due to the patriarchal values of society, women are often disempowered by the men in their lives. Many of the female characters are disempowered and do not have the means to direct their own lives. Females are often financially and emotionally at the mercy of their fathers, brothers and husbands. The daughters in the stories hold resentment towards their mothers because of their preferential treatment towards sons. In the families in these stories the wives are subservient and often have little power in their