The Thing Around Your Neck Sparknotes
The Thing Around Your Neck Many immigrants back in Africa dreamed of having a life in America, where they can live free, fulfill their dreams and have a future. In this heartbreaking story, “The Thing Around Your Neck”, by Chimamands Negozi Adichie is a story told in second person. A young woman named Akunna who wins the lottery for an American visa. She leaves everything behind to receive education and become someone in the future. Author Chimamands explains how immigrants come to America thinking they would have a perfect life and live happily ever after. Akunna lived in her uncle’s basement for a while and moved out after her uncle started sexually abusing her. The thing around her neck loosens when she meets her American boyfriend, being told
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America was all about give and take which is referring to woman selling themselves in order to have what they want, last the loss of her fathers death. Akunna starts to be independent after she runs away from her uncle’s house, she gets her own apartment and starts a new job. After a while Akunna meets a guy at the work place and later becomes her boyfriend. The author explains how Akunna is having hard timing understanding her boyfriend and why he choice to do the things he does. “You asked him where he ended up finding himself and he laughed. You did not laugh”(4). Although Akuna didn’t fully understand her boyfriend, she loved him the way he loved her. That’s when Akunna’s nightmare starts to fade away. “The thing that wrapped itself around your neck, that nearly choked you before you fall asleep, started to loosen, to let go”(6). Akunna can now sleep comfortably due to her new boyfriend, she now understands the feeling of living in America and having someone to love. Akunna at first didn’t have problem living with her uncle and his family, she though it was nice and felt like home. Author Chimamands describes how Akunna feels living with her uncle later on becomes horrible because of the things he does to her. “You locked yourself in the bathroom until he went back upstairs, and the next morning, you left, walking the long windy road, smelling the baby fish in the lake”(1). This quote explains the horrible scene Akunna is going through and how hard living with her uncle is now. Akunna now understands what her uncle meant when he said “The trick was to understand America, to know that America was give-and-take. You gave up a lot but you gained a lot, too”(1). Selling yourself to man would get you get money and money is what you need in order to live a longer life in America. Akunna didn’t buy that from her uncle she left him and started her own life. While Akunna was trying to fit in the lifestyle in America, she got a letter from her mom saying her father had passed away a while ago.
The author shows readers how upset and confused Akunna later becomes because of the things she told her boyfriend about her father and the fact that her family never told her father’s death earlier. After Akunna became comfortable with her boyfriend she tells him stories about her family and what they do. “You told him that your father was really not a schoolteacher in Lagos, that he was a junior driver for a construction company”(4). Akunna never send letters to her family she never wrote them about her new life in America. She doesn’t feel the need of writing a letter because she doesn’t know what to tell her family or that how confused her life has been ever since she came to America. “Perhaps your father died on one of the days you took a drive to Mystic or watched a play in Manchester or had dinner at Chang’s”(7). This shows how busy she was with her new life, which made her forget about her family. She now realize her father has been dead all this time while she was going out and having fun with her new boyfriend and now needs to go back home and leave her boyfriend
behind. In conclusion all three symbols, the thing around her neck loosen when she meets her American boyfriend referring to being with a man changes everything for Akunna because things become smooth for her when with him. Second being told America was all about give and take which is referring to woman selling themselves in order to have what they want and live a longer life. And last the loss of her father’s death, which made Akunna realize that America has made her forget about her other life back home and regrets coming to America at all.
America was all about give and take which is referring to woman selling themselves in order to have what they want, last the loss of her fathers death. Akunna starts to be independent after she runs away from her uncle’s house, she gets her own apartment and starts a new job. After a while Akunna meets a guy at the work place and later becomes her boyfriend. The author explains how Akunna is having hard timing understanding her boyfriend and why he choice to do the things he does. “You asked him where he ended up finding himself and he laughed. You did not laugh”(4). Although Akuna didn’t fully understand her boyfriend, she loved him the way he loved her. That’s when Akunna’s nightmare starts to fade away. “The thing that wrapped itself around your neck, that nearly choked you before you fall asleep, started to loosen, to let go”(6). Akunna can now sleep comfortably due to her new boyfriend, she now understands the feeling of living in America and having someone to love. Akunna at first didn’t have problem living with her uncle and his family, she though it was nice and felt like home. Author Chimamands describes how Akunna feels living with her uncle later on becomes horrible because of the things he does to her. “You locked yourself in the bathroom until he went back upstairs, and the next morning, you left, walking the long windy road, smelling the baby fish in the lake”(1). This quote explains the horrible scene Akunna is going through and how hard living with her uncle is now. Akunna now understands what her uncle meant when he said “The trick was to understand America, to know that America was give-and-take. You gave up a lot but you gained a lot, too”(1). Selling yourself to man would get you get money and money is what you need in order to live a longer life in America. Akunna didn’t buy that from her uncle she left him and started her own life. While Akunna was trying to fit in the lifestyle in America, she got a letter from her mom saying her father had passed away a while ago.
The author shows readers how upset and confused Akunna later becomes because of the things she told her boyfriend about her father and the fact that her family never told her father’s death earlier. After Akunna became comfortable with her boyfriend she tells him stories about her family and what they do. “You told him that your father was really not a schoolteacher in Lagos, that he was a junior driver for a construction company”(4). Akunna never send letters to her family she never wrote them about her new life in America. She doesn’t feel the need of writing a letter because she doesn’t know what to tell her family or that how confused her life has been ever since she came to America. “Perhaps your father died on one of the days you took a drive to Mystic or watched a play in Manchester or had dinner at Chang’s”(7). This shows how busy she was with her new life, which made her forget about her family. She now realize her father has been dead all this time while she was going out and having fun with her new boyfriend and now needs to go back home and leave her boyfriend
behind. In conclusion all three symbols, the thing around her neck loosen when she meets her American boyfriend referring to being with a man changes everything for Akunna because things become smooth for her when with him. Second being told America was all about give and take which is referring to woman selling themselves in order to have what they want and live a longer life. And last the loss of her father’s death, which made Akunna realize that America has made her forget about her other life back home and regrets coming to America at all.