STORY PREPARATION
Introduction
“Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower,
and to humanize.”
--Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in 1977 in Nigeria, the fifth of six children, to Igbo
parents. She left for the United States at the age of 19, and by the time she was 21, she had
published a play, For Love of Biafra, and a collection of poems, Decisions. She eventually
earned master’s degrees in creative writing, from Johns Hopkins University, and in African
studies, from Yale University.
Adichie writes on her website, “I didn’t ever consciously decide to pursue writing. I’ve
been writing since I was old enough to spell, and just sitting down and writing made me feel
incredibly fulfilled.”
Adichie writes about ethnicity and its importance, both in Africa and in the United States;
her stories and novels also detail the hardships endured by first-generation immigrants. Her first
novel, Purple Hibiscus, treats themes of family, religion, politics and tolerance. Her second
book, Half of a Yellow Sun, takes place before and during the Biafran war and deals with
questions of gender, race and class.
Her work has won the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction and a MacArthur Foundation
Fellowship. It has been translated into thirty-one languages. Adichie writes, “I just write. I have
to write. I like to say that I didn’t choose writing, writing chose me. This may sound slightly
mythical, but I sometimes feel as if my writing is something bigger than I am.”
In “The Thing Around Your Neck,” the title piece of Adichie’s short story collection
published in 2009, a young woman emigrates from Nigeria to the United States, where she
confronts ethnic and class stereotypes (others’ and her own) and struggles to find room for both
her family/cultural ties and the new relationships and understanding she acquires in America.
The story will likely lead to rich discussion about cultural assumptions, belonging, alienation and
the meaning of the title.
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First impressions
After reading "The Thing Around Your Neck," jot down your own questions, thoughts,
confusions and impressions. What intrigues you about this story? What catches your attention?
Make some notes on the story or in the space below.
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APPLYING THE METHOD
Poetics
Moments in the story where the use of metaphor, simile, repetition, rhythm or voice may prompt
discussion.
1. “You thought everybody in America had a car and a gun...” (p. 115, line 1)
2. “…leaning against the unpainted walls to say goodbye in loud voices and tell you with
lowered voices what they wanted you to send them.” (p. 115, line 7)
3. “…a big hot dog with yellow mustard that nauseated you. Introduction to America, he said
with a laugh.” (p. 115, line 17)
4. “He lived in a small white town in Maine.” (p. 115, line 19)
5. “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.” (p. 116, line 7)
6. “...the girls had thick thighs and wore bright-red nail polish, and self-tanner that made them
look orange.” (p. 116, line 12)
7. “They gawped at your hair.” (p. 116, line 16)
8. “Your uncle told you to expect it; a mixture of ignorance and arrogance, he called it.” (p.
116, line 19)
9. “…it was like home. Until your uncle came into the cramped basement where you slept with
old boxes and cartons and pulled you forcefully to him, squeezing your buttocks, moaning.”
(p. 116, line 27)
10. “He wasn’t really your uncle; he was actually a brother of your father’s sister’s husband, not
related by blood.” (p. 116, line 31)
11. “If you let him, he would do many things for you. Smart women did it all the time.” (p. 117,
line 2)
12. “…the next morning, you left, walking the long windy road, smelling the baby fish in the
lake.” (p. 117, line 7)
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13. “The manager, Juan…said he had never had a Nigerian employee but all immigrants worked
hard.” (p. 117, line 17)
14. “Sometimes you sat on the lumpy mattress of your twin bed and thought about home—your
aunts who hawked dried fish and plantains…your uncles who drank local gin and crammed
their families and lives into single rooms...” (p. 117, line 27)
15. “…the secondary school where teachers gave an A when someone slipped them a brown
envelope. You had never needed to pay for an A...” (p. 118, line 8)
16. “You wanted to write about the surprising openness of people in America…about the way
people left so much food on their plates and crumpled a few dollar bills down, as though it
was an offering, expiation for the wasted food.” (p. 118, line 19)
17. “You wanted to write about the rich people who wore shabby clothes and tattered sneakers,
who looked like the night watchmen in front of the large compounds in Lagos.” (p. 118, line
30)
18. “You wanted to write that rich Americans were thin and poor Americans were fat…” (p. 119,
line 1)
19. “Sometimes you felt invisible and tried to walk through your room wall into the hallway...”
(p. 119 line 12)
20. “At night, something would wrap itself around your neck, something that very nearly choked
you before you fell asleep.” (p. 119, line 17)
21. “You were sick of how people said, ‘Father’s Wealth? You mean, like, your father will
actually sell you to a husband?’” (p. 120, line 3)
22. “…white people who liked Africa too much and those who liked Africa too little were the
same—condescending.” (p. 120, line 10)
23. “He didn’t have that expression of Professor Cobbledick’s, that expression of a person who
thought himself better than the people he knew about.” (p. 120, line 15)
24. “…he never did any of the silly tourist stuff when he was abroad.” (p. 120, line 23)
25. “…his eyes were the color of extra-virgin olive oil, a greenish gold. Extra-virgin olive oil
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was the only thing you loved, truly loved, in America.” (p. 121, line 1)
26. “You did not know that people could simply choose not to go to school, that people could
dictate to life. You were used to accepting what life gave, writing down what life dictated.”
(p. 121, line 12)
27. “…that intense, consuming way he looked at your face that made you say goodbye to him
but also made you reluctant to walk away.” (p. 121, line 18)
28. “…your fortune cookie had two strips of paper. Both of them were blank.” (p. 121, line 25)
29. “You knew you had become comfortable when you told him that you watched Jeopardy on
the restaurant TV and that you rooted for the following, in this order: women of color, black
men, and white women, before, finally, white men...” (p. 121, line 27)
30. “He laughed and told you he was used to not being rooted for, his mother taught women’s
studies.” (p. 122, line 1)
31. “The car your father rammed into was wide, foreign, and dark green, with golden headlights
like the eyes of a leopard. Your father started to cry and beg…and laid himself flat on the
road...” (p. 122, line 15)
32. “…looking at your father’s sprawled form from the corner of his eye as though the pleading
was like pornography, a performance he was ashamed to admit he enjoyed.” (p. 122, line 23)
33. “You told him there was nothing to understand, it was just the way it was.” (p. 123, line 2)
34. “You cooked that evening with the things you had bought, and after he ate garri and onugbu
soup, he threw up in your sink.” (p. 123, line 10)
35. “He didn’t eat meat because he thought it was wrong the way they killed animals...” (p. 123,
line 15)
36. “The waiter…asked him, ‘You have girlfriend in Shanghai now?’ And he smiled and said
nothing.” (p. 123, line 25)
37. “You lost your appetite, the region deep in your chest felt clogged...” (p. 124, line 29)
38. “Before he apologized, he gazed at you blankly and you knew that he did not understand.”
(p. 124, line 6)
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39. “His presents mystified you…Finally you told him, your voice stretched in irony, that in your
life presents were always useful.” (p. 124, line 12)
40. “You did not want him to go to Nigeria, to add it to the list of countries where he went to
gawk at the lives of poor people who could never gawk back at his life.” (p. 125, line 28)
41. “You said he was wrong to call only the poor Indians in Bombay the real Indians.” (p. 125,
line 4)
42. “The thing that wrapped itself around your neck, that nearly choked you before you fell
asleep, started to loosen, to let go.” (p. 125, line 16)
43. “You knew by people’s reactions that you two were abnormal…” (p. 125, line 18)
44. “You looked at them and felt grateful that they did not examine you like an exotic trophy, an
ivory tusk.” (p. 126, line 8)
45. “Afterwards, he told you about issues with his parents, how they portioned out love like a
birthday cake, how they would give him a bigger slice if only he’d agree to go to law
school.” (p. 126, line 10)
46. “…you wondered why it was called a cottage because the buildings that big around your
neighborhood back home were banks and churches.” (p. 126, line 17)
47. “You watched the water dilute your tears and you didn’t know why you were crying.” (p.
126, line 23)
48. “You…tried to remember what you had been doing when your father died, what you had
been doing for all the months when he was already dead. Perhaps your father died on the day
your whole body had been covered in goosebumps, hard as uncooked rice, that you could not
explain.” (p. 127, line 4)
49. “He said you knew what he meant, would you come back, come back?” (p. 127, line 18)
50. “…you hugged him tight for a long, long moment, and then you let go.” (p. 127, line 22)
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Record your own notes: thoughts, other instances of poetics, etc. Additional space is on page at
end of this section.
Tensions / contrasts
Meaningful tensions or juxtapositions in the story.
1. Assumptions and realities: “You thought everybody in America had a car and a gun…”
(p. 115, line 1) and “…many did not have a big house and car; you still were not sure
about the guns, though…” (p. 119, line 3), “They had heard that Africans ate all kinds of
wild animals.” (p. 116, line 22), “He said he had never had a Nigerian employee but all
immigrants worked hard.” (p. 117, line 18), “…they thought that every black person with
a foreign accent was Jamaican.” (p. 119, line 20), “…you said Nigeria and expected him
to say that he had donated money to fight AIDS in Botswana. But he asked if you were
Yoruba or Igbo…” (p. 119, line 26), “The Ghanaian store owner asked him if he was
African…” (p. 123, line 7), “…the Chinese man had assumed you could not possibly be
his girlfriend.” (p. 124, line 4)
2. Poverty and affluence: “They trooped into the room in Lagos where you lived with your
father and mother and three siblings, leaning against the unpainted walls.” (p. 115, line
6), “You could not afford to go to school, because now you paid rent for the tiny room
with the stained carpet.” (p. 117, line 22), “…you chose long brown envelopes to send
half your month’s earnings to your parents at the address of the parastatal where your
mother was a cleaner…” (p. 118, line 11), “the rich people who wore shabby clothes…”
(p. 118, line 31), “…rich Americans were thin and poor Americans were fat…” (p. 119,
line 2), “[He] wanted to visit Lagos, to see how real people lived, like in the
shantytowns…” (p. 120, line 21), “You realized that in his life, he could buy presents that
were just presents and nothing else, nothing useful.” (p. 124, line 19), “You did not want
him to…add [Nigeria] to the list of countries where he went to gawk at the lives of poor
people who could never gawk back at his life.” (p. 124, line 28), “…you wondered why it
was called a cottage because the buildings that big around your neighborhood back home
were banks and churches.” (p. 126, line 17)
3. Food in Nigeria and food in U.S: “He picked you up at the airport and bought you a big
hot dog with yellow mustard that nauseated you.” (p. 115, line 16), “They spoke Igbo and
ate garri for lunch and it was like home.” (p. 116, line 26), “You walked into the
restaurant with the bright, clean awning…” (p. 117, line 15), “Sometimes you…thought
about home—your aunts who hawked dried fish and plantains, cajoling customers to
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buy…” (p. 117, line 27), “You wanted to write about the way people left so much food
on their plates and crumpled a few dollar bills down, as though it was an offering,
expiation for the wasted food.” (p. 118, line 23), “You cooked that evening with the
things you had bought, and after he ate garri and onugbu soup, he threw up in your sink.”
(p. 123, line 10), “He didn’t eat meat because he thought it was wrong the way they killed
animals…Back home, the meat pieces you ate, when there was meat, were the size of half
your finger.” (p. 123, line 15), “You did not tell him either that the dawadawa cubes your
mother cooked everything with, because curry and thyme were too expensive, had MSG,
were MSG.” (p. 123, line 19)
4. Customs in Nigeria and customs in U.S.: “They trooped into the room in Lagos where
you lived with your father and mother and three siblings…” (p. 115, line 6), “…his wife
called you nwanne, sister, and his two school-age children called you Aunty.” (p. 116,
line 25), “You could not afford to go to school, because now you paid rent for the tiny
room with the stained carpet.” (p. 117, line 22), “…your parents who often held hands as
they walked to church on Sunday mornings, the neighbors from the next room laughing
and teasing them…” (p. 118, line 2), “the secondary school where teachers gave an A
when someone slipped them a brown envelope.” (p. 118, line 7), “You wanted to write
about the surprising openness of people in America…” (p. 118, line 19), “This was
America, after all, it was not like back home, where universities closed so often that
people added three years to their normal course of study and lecturers went on strike after
strike and still were not paid.” (p. 121, line 5)
5. What is said and what is not said: “…to say goodbye in loud voices and tell you with
lowered voices what they wanted you to send them.” (p. 115, line 9), “You wondered
what he would tell his wife, why you had left.” (p. 117, line 10), “”You wrapped the
money carefully in white paper but you didn’t write a letter. There was nothing to write
about.” (p. 118, line 15), “In later weeks, though, you wanted to write because you had
stories to tell.” (p. 118, line 18), “Nobody knew where you were, because you told no
one.” (p. 119, line 11), “He asked your name and said Akunna was pretty. He did not ask
what it meant, fortunately…” (p. 120, line 1), “He talked and talked and you had to tell
him it was against restaurant policy.” (p. 120, line 24), “…he smiled and said nothing.”
(p. 123, line 27), “…he asked what was wrong and you said nothing, although you
thought a lot was wrong.” (p. 126, line 21), “You turned away and said nothing…” (p.
127, line 21)
6. Feeling “at home” and feeling alien: “He laughed and said the job was good, was worth
living in an all-white town even though his wife had to drive an hour to find a hair salon
that did black hair.” (p. 116, line 4), “They gawped at your hair.” (p. 116, line 16), “You
laughed with your uncle and you felt at home in his house…it was like home.” (p. 116,
line 24), “Sometimes you felt invisible and tried to walk through the room wall into the
hallway…” (p. 119, line 12), “And you knew you had become close when you told him
that your father was really not a schoolteacher in Lagos, that he was a junior driver for a
construction company.” (p. 122, line 4), “You shook your hand free, suddenly annoyed,
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because he thought the world was, or ought to be, full of people like him.” (p. 122, line
32), “You knew by people’s reactions that you two were abnormal…” (p. 125, line 18),
“But his parents were different; they almost made you think it was all normal.” (p. 125,
line 28)
7. Give and take; earning reward vs. buying reward: “Right after you won the American
visa lottery, they told you: In a month, you will have a big car.” (p. 115, line 3), “He told
you that the company he worked for had offered him a few thousand more than the
average salary plus stock options because they were desperately trying to look diverse.”
(p. 115, line 20), “Smart women did it all the time. How did you think those women back
home in Lagos with well-paying jobs made it? Even women in New York City?” (p. 117,
line 2), “You walked into the restaurant with the bright, clean awning and said you would
work for two dollars less than the other waitresses.” (p. 117, line 15), “You had never
needed to pay for an A, never slipped a brown envelope to a teacher in secondary
school.” (p. 118, line 10), “He bought you presents and when you objected about the cost,
he said his grandfather in Boston had been wealthy but hastily added that the old man had
given a lot away and so the trust fund he had wasn’t huge.” (p. 124, line 9), “…he told
you about his issues with his parents, how they portioned out love like a birthday cake,
how they would give him a bigger slice if only he’d agree to go to law school.” (p. 126,
line 10)
8. Between the main character and her boyfriend: “…he asked if you were Yoruba or Igbo,
because you didn’t have a Fulani face. You were surprised—you thought he must be a
professor of anthropology at the state university...” (p. 119, line 27), “...and The Lion
King was the only maudlin movie he’d ever liked. You didn’t know what The Lion King
was.” (p. 120, line 30), “You asked him where he ended up finding himself and he
laughed. You did not laugh.” (p. 121, line 11), “…he pursed his lips and held your hand
and said he understood how you felt. You shook your hand free, suddenly annoyed…” (p.
122, line 31), “Before he apologized, he gazed at you blankly and you knew that he did
not understand.” (p. 124, line 6), “You realized that in his life he could buy presents that
were just presents and nothing else, nothing useful.” (p. 124, line 19), “You made up and
made love and ran your hands through each other’s hair, his soft and yellow like the
swinging tassels of growing corn, yours dark and bouncy like the filling of a pillow.” (p.
125, line 10), “He held you while you cried, smoothed your hair, and offered to buy your
ticket, to go with you to see your family. You said no, you needed to go alone.” (p. 127,
line 14)
9. Between choice and inevitability: “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.” (p. 116, line 7),
“You did not know that people could simply choose not to go to school, that people could
dictate to life. You were used to accepting what life gave, writing down what life
dictated.” (p. 121, line 12), “The next day, he took you to dinner at Chang’s and your
fortune cookie had two strips of paper. Both of them were blank.” (p. 121, line 25)
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10. Between constraint/holding on and letting go: “You locked yourself in the bathroom until
he went back upstairs, and the next morning, you left...” (p. 117, line 6), “At night,
something would wrap itself around your neck, something that very nearly choked you
before you fell asleep.” (p. 119, line 17), “At last he let your father go. Waved him
away.” (p. 122, line 26), “You shook your hand free, suddenly annoyed…” (p. 122, line
32), “The thing that wrapped itself around your neck, that nearly choked you before you
fell asleep, started to loosen, to let go.” (p. 125, line 16), “You turned away and said
nothing, and when he drove you to the airport, you hugged him tight for a long, long
moment, and then you let go.” (p. 127, line 21)
Record your own notes: thoughts, other instances of tensions/contrasts, etc. Additional space is
on page at end of this section.
Shadows
Questions, missing pieces, elements that are oblique or not fully explained.
1. Why do you think Adichie wrote this story in the second-person (the “you” form)? How does
that affect your reading of it?
2. Why do we never learn the names of characters in this story?
3. “You thought everybody in America had a car and a gun…” (p. 115, line 1) Where has the
narrator gotten her ideas about America?
4. What does the uncle mean by “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”? (p. 116, line 7) What has he
given up?
5. Why is the “openness” of people in America surprising to the main character? What does this
show about the differences between Nigerian and American culture?
6. “Once, Juan asked if you had a man that hit you because he would take care of him and you
laughed a mysterious laugh.” (p. 119, line 14) Why does she “laugh a mysterious laugh”?
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7. “At night, something would wrap itself around your neck, something that very nearly choked
you before you fell asleep.” (p. 119, line 17) What is this thing? Why, later, does it begin to
loosen?
8. What does the narrator mean by “white people who liked Africa too much and those who
liked Africa too little were the same—condescending”? (p. 120, line 10)
9. Why does the narrator change her mind and decide to go out with the university student who
keeps asking her?
10. “…your fortune cookie had two strips of paper. Both of them were blank.” (p. 121, line 25)
Is this a good sign or a bad sign? Why?
11. In the story the narrator recalls about the car accident, why does her father cry, beg and
prostrate himself on the road? Why does the narrator refuse to look at him when he returns to
the car?
12. “You told him there was nothing to understand, it was just the way it was.” (p. 123, line 2)
What does she mean by this?
13. “…the Ghanaian store owner asked him if he was African…and he said yes…He looked
pleased that the store owner had believed him.” (p. 123, line 7) Why does he lie? What does
this exchange tell you about the character?
14. “Before he apologized, he gazed at you blankly and you knew that he did not understand.”
(p. 124, line 6) What does the boyfriend not understand?
15. Why do men and women, black people and white people, react so differently to seeing the
narrator and her boyfriend together?
16. The narrator says she “wanted to sympathize” when her boyfriend told her about his
struggles with his parents, but instead she felt “angry.” Why?
17. “Later, in the shower, you started to cry. You watched the water dilute your tears and you
didn’t know why you were crying.” (p. 126, line 22) Why was the narrator crying?
18. Why does the narrator finally write home? What do you imagine that letter said?
19. Why does the narrator insist on going alone to Nigeria after her father has died?
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20. Why, at the end, does she hug her boyfriend, then let him go? Will she come back?
Record your own notes: thoughts, other instances of shadows, etc. Additional space on page at
end of this section.
Issues
Themes, ideas and arguments raised by the text.
1. Assumptions about people who are different: “You thought everybody in America had a car
and a gun…” (p. 115, line 1), “They asked where you learned to speak English and if you
had real houses back in Africa…” (p. 116, line 13), “He said he had never had a Nigerian
employee but all immigrants worked hard.” (p. 117, line 18), “So when he asked you…what
African country you were from, you said Nigeria and expected him to say that he had
donated money to fight AIDS in Botswana.” (p. 119, line 24) In this story, what is the basis
of the narrator’s stereotypes about Americans? Do her assumptions prove true or false? Are
stereotypes always negative; can they ever reflect positively on a group or person? Are
stereotypes of Americans and Nigerians challenged in this story? How?
2. Family relationships, obligations and responsibilities: “They trooped into the room in Lagos
where you lived with your father and mother and three siblings…to say goodbye in loud
voices and tell you with lowered voices what they wanted you to send them.” (p. 115, line 6),
“Your uncle…said you could live with him until you got on your feet.” (p. 115, line 14), “He
wasn’t really your uncle…” (p. 116, line 30), “…you chose long brown envelopes to send
half your month’s earnings to your parents…” (p. 118, line 11), “the kinds of things one
should hide or should reveal only to the family members who wished them well.” (p. 118,
line 22), “Afterwards, he told you about his issues with his parents, how they portioned out
love like a birthday cake…” (p. 126, line 10) How are family relationships different in
Nigeria and America, according to this story? In what ways are those family bonds helpful to
the characters? In what ways are they limiting or hurtful?
3. Trade-offs, give-and-take: “He laughed and said the job was good, was worth living in an allwhite town even though his wife had to drive an hour to find a hair salon that did black hair.”
(p. 116, line 4), “The trick was to understand America, to know that America was give-andStudy Guide – The Thing Around Your Neck – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie –
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take.” (p. 116, line 7), “If you let him, he would do many things for you. Smart women did it
all the time.” (p. 117, line 2), “[You] said you would work for two dollars less than the other
waitresses.” (p. 117, line 15), “You had never needed to pay for an A…” (p. 118, line 10),
“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.” (p. 127, line 11) What does the narrator trade off or
give up in order to survive in America? What do her relatives still in Nigeria trade off, and
what do they get, by remaining there? How about the narrator’s boyfriend; has he traded off
anything in order to live his life? Are such trade-offs always necessary? Is it true, as the uncle
says, that America is “give-and-take”? Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?
4. Belonging and alienation: “They gawped at your hair.” (p. 116, line 16), “You laughed with
your uncle and you felt at home in his house…Until your uncle came into the cramped
basement…and pulled you forcefully to him, squeezing your buttocks, moaning.” (p. 116,
line 24), “Nobody knew where you were, because you told no one.” (p. 119, line 11), “You
knew you had become comfortable when…” (p. 121, line 27), “And you knew you had
become close when…” (p. 122, line 3), “You shook your hand free, suddenly annoyed…” (p.
123, line 32), “…he gazed at you blankly and you knew that he did not understand.” (p. 124,
line 7), “You knew by people’s reactions that you two were abnormal…” (p. 125, line 18)
What gives people a sense of belonging, especially if they have moved far from their original
home? What makes people feel different, alien or unwanted? Is it possible for two people of
different races, nationalities or cultures to truly understand one another? Who, in our society,
is viewed as “abnormal”? By whom?
5. Education: “…he enrolled you in a community college, where the girls had thick thighs and
wore bright-red nail polish, and self-tanner that made them look orange.” (p. 116, line 11),
“Your uncle told you to expect it; a mixture of ignorance and arrogance, he called it.” (p.
116, line 19), “You could not afford to go to school, because now you paid rent for the tiny
room with the stained carpet…So you went to the public library, you looked up course
syllabi on school Web sites and read some of the books.” (p. 117, line 22), “…You had never
needed to pay for an A, never slipped a brown envelope to a teacher in secondary school.” (p.
118, line 10), “He didn’t shake his head in the superior way that Professor Cobbledick back
in the Maine community college did during a class discussion on decolonization in Africa.”
(p. 120, line 12), “You did not know that people could simply choose not to go to school…”
(p. 121, line 12) What does education mean to the various characters in this story? Is this a
reflection of their culture, their social/economic class or something else? In this story, what is
the relationship between money and education? Between education and success? Is education
a privilege, a right or an expectation? What does it mean to be “educated”?
6. Food and culture: “He picked you up at the airport and bought you a big hot dog with yellow
mustard that nauseated you.” (p. 115, line 16), “They spoke Igbo and ate garri for lunch and
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it was like home.” (p. 116, line 26), “You cooked that night with the things you had bought,
and after he ate garri and onugbu soup, he threw up in your sink.” (p. 123, line 10), “He
didn’t eat meat because he thought it was wrong the way they killed animals…” (p. 123, line
15), “You did not tell him either that the dawadawa cubes your mother cooked everything
with, because curry and thyme were too expensive, had MSG, were MSG.” (p. 123, line 19),
“His father asked how similar Indian food was to Nigerian food…” (p. 126, line 4) How does
food—what is eaten and how it is eaten—function as an expression of culture in this story?
Why do people in different countries, or in different social/economic classes, eat differently?
Do they also have different attitudes about food? Does food bring people together across
cultures and other divides, or does it separate them?
7. Wealth and poverty: “…leaning against the unpainted walls because there weren’t enough
chairs to go round…” (p. 115, line 7), “…the company…had offered him a few thousand
more than the average salary plus stock options because they were desperately trying to look
diverse.” (p. 116, line 20), “You could not afford to go to school…” (p. 117, line 22), “Still,
you chose long brown envelopes to send half your month’s earnings to your parents…” (p.
118, line 11), “You wanted to write about the way people left so much food on their plates
and crumpled a few dollar bills down…” (p. 118, line 23), “You could never afford enough
perfumes and clothes and handbags and shoes to go around…” (p. 119, line 7), “The Big
Man seated at the back did not come out…” (p. 122, line 22), “You said he was wrong to call
only the poor Indians in Bombay the real Indians. Did it mean he wasn’t a real American…?”
(p. 125, line 4), “…you wondered why it was called a cottage because the buildings that big
around your neighborhood back home were banks and churches.” (p. 126, line 17) Who is
rich, and who is poor, in this story? How can you tell? Are there different ways of being
“rich” and “poor”? What attitudes toward wealth and poverty are expressed by the narrator?
By her boyfriend? How do class differences shape the experience of these characters?
8. Free choice and inevitability: “You locked yourself in the bathroom until he went back
upstairs, and the next morning, you left…You ended up in Connecticut…because it was the
last stop of the Greyhound bus you got on.” (p. 117, line 6), “At night, something would
wrap itself around your neck, something that very nearly choked you before you fell asleep.”
(p. 119, line 17), “You did not know that people…could dictate to life. You were used to
accepting what life gave, writing down what life dictated.” (p. 121, line 12), “You told him
there was nothing to understand, it was just the way it was.” (p. 123, line 2) Do the characters
in this story make choices about their lives, or are they driven by circumstances out of their
control? What allows some people to “dictate to life” while others feel they must “accept
what life gave”? What is more influential in shaping people’s lives—free will or destiny?
9. Race and racism in America: “He told you that the company he worked for had offered him a
few thousand more…because they were desperately trying to look diverse.” (p. 115, line 20),
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“They gawped at your hair.” (p. 116, line 16), “…they thought every black person with a
foreign accent was Jamaican.” (p. 119, line 20), “…white people who liked Africa too much
and those who liked Africa too little were the same—condescending.” (p. 120, line 10),
“…which meant you never rooted for white men.” (p. 121, line 30), “…the Chinese man had
assumed you could not possibly be his girlfriend…” (p. 124, line 4), “You knew by people’s
reactions that you two were abnormal…” (p. 125, line 18) What attitudes and assumptions
about race are expressed by characters in this story? What is the narrator trying to say about
white people who like Africa “too much” or “too little”? Why do different people react so
differently to seeing the narrator and her boyfriend together? What shapes their attitudes
toward an inter-racial couple? Can two people of different races, nationalities or cultures
truly understand one another?
10. Self-expression and silence: “You wrapped the money carefully in white paper but you didn’t
write a letter. There was nothing to write about. In later weeks, though, you wanted to write
because you had stories to tell.” (p. 118, line 15), “You wanted to write about the surprising
openness of people in America…” (p. 118, line 19), “Nobody knew where you were, because
you told no one. Sometimes you felt invisible…” (p. 119, line 11), “He talked and talked and
you had to tell him it was against restaurant policy.” (p. 120, line 24), “But you did not tell
him that.” (p. 123, line 19), “…he asked what was wrong and you said nothing, although you
thought a lot was wrong.” (p. 126, line 21), “You turned away and said nothing…” (p. 127,
line 21) Who speaks in this story? Who remains silent, and in what circumstances? Is the
narrator making herself invisible, or is that feeling a result of how people treat her? Are
people in America more “open” than people elsewhere? Why goes unsaid in this story?
Record your own notes: thoughts, questions, other instances of “issues” in this story. Additional
space on page at the end of this section.
Experience
Questions designed as a bridge between the reader’s lived-life and the story.
1. What assumptions or stereotypes do you think people in other countries have about
Americans? Where do those ideas come from? Is there any truth to them?
2. What assumptions do you have about other nationalities or groups? Where did you get
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those ideas? Have they ever been challenged? How?
3. What foods feel like “home” to you? What foods seem foreign, weird or unappetizing?
Have you been in situations where you ate differently from the people around you? What
was that like?
4. Do you agree with the narrator’s uncle that survival in America requires “give-and-take”?
What do people—particularly poor people, people of color or immigrants—“give” in
order to survive here? What do they get? In what ways have you “given” and “taken”
from American society?
5. Have you ever been the minority or the “stranger” in a school, workplace, treatment
center or other setting? How did people treat you? What questions did they ask? What
was it like to be different from people around you?
6. The narrator trusts her uncle and feels at home with his family until the uncle tries to
molest her. Have you ever had your trust in a relative or friend broken in that way? How
did you react? What effect did it have on your relationship with that person?
7. Did you ever bribe a teacher, boss or other person in authority to get something you
wanted? How did that feel? Do you think such “favors” are necessary in order to
succeed?
8. If you have spent time in another country, or even another region of the United States,
what differences in customs, habits, food or culture did you notice? Did you keep a
journal or write letters/postcards home about the things you were noticing?
9. The narrator wants to tell her family how “rich Americans were thin and poor Americans
were fat.” (p. 119, line 1) Is this a stereotype? Is there any truth to it? What does that
observation indicate about America?
10. “At night, something would wrap itself around your neck, something that very nearly
choked you before you fell asleep.” (p. 119, line 17) Have you ever felt like this? What
was the situation? What is the “thing” that wrapped itself around the narrator’s neck?
11. Does your name have a meaning or a story behind it? If it doesn’t, do you wish it did?
How do you feel about the meaning, story or sound of your name?
12. “You did not know that people could simply choose not to go to school, that people could
dictate to life. You were used to accepting what life gave, writing down what life
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dictated.” (p. 121, line 12) Are there times when you have “accepted what life gave”? Are
there times when you have “dictated to life”? How did you feel in those situations?
13. The narrator’s fortune cookie has two strips—both blank. If you could write yourself a
fortune-cookie message, what would it say?
14. When the narrator watches Jeopardy, she roots (in this order) for women of color, black
men, and white women. Do you find yourself favoring (or disdaining) people of a
particular gender or race when you read about sports, politics, crime or other news?
15. Have you ever felt ashamed of a parent’s behavior, the way the narrator feels ashamed of
the way her father acts after the car accident? Why were you ashamed?
16. Have you ever had a close friend, or a boyfriend/girlfriend, who came from a different
social/economic class than you? How did those class differences show up? Did you ever
discuss the differences? What did you learn from being close to someone who had been
raised with more/less money or privilege? What was difficult about being with him/her?
17. “You realized that in his life, he could buy presents that were just presents and nothing
else, nothing useful.” When you were a child, did you receive and give presents? Were
those items meant to be useful, or were they “just presents”? What kind of presents do
you prefer to give and receive now?
18. The narrator gets angry with her boyfriend for calling only the poor Indians in Bombay
“real Indians.” Are there people you think of as the “real Americans”? Who are they? Are
you part of that group, or are you outside of it? If you have visited other countries or
cultures, are there people you think of as the “real (fill-in-the-blank)”?
19. Have you ever felt, because of people’s reactions to you, that you were “abnormal”? Do
different people react differently to your age, gender, size, skin color, accent or other
characteristics? Are there some people with whom you are more comfortable? Why?
20. Have you ever felt that someone “portioned out love like a birthday cake” and would
have given you a bigger slice if you made different choices or acted differently?
21. Have you ever cried, and not known why you were crying? Did you ever figure it out?
22. Have you ever gone a long time without communicating with your family? What were
the circumstances? How did it feel to maintain that silence? Did you eventually break the
silence? How did you begin to communicate with them again? How did that feel?
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23. The narrator wonders if she had an involuntary physical reaction (“…your whole body
had been covered in goosebumps, hard as uncooked rice”) on the day her father died,
even though she wasn’t aware of the news. Have you ever “felt it” or “just known” when
someone you love was ill, dying or in trouble?
24. Have you ever refused someone’s offer to accompany you through a difficult or sad
experience? Why did you decline that person’s offer to help? Are there things you feel
you’ve had to do or face alone?
Record your own notes: thoughts, other instances of experience, etc. Additional space on page at
end of this section.
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Coordinator Notes
Record your own notes: thoughts, other instances of poetics, tensions/contrasts, shadows, issues,
experience, possible discussion paths, questions you might consider.
Study Guide – The Thing Around Your Neck – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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DISCUSSION PATHS
Introducing the story
before reading the story, you might want to:
1. Share biographical information about Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie.
2. Invite brainstorming about the title: What impressions, associations, ideas and images are
evoked by “The Thing Around Your Neck”? What do you think this story might be about?
3. If you plan to conclude the session by inviting participants to write, you might offer either of
these prompts: If you could write a fortune-cookie fortune for yourself, what would it say, and
why? OR What is “the thing” around your neck? How does it feel? What can you do about it?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Poetics  P
Tensions/Contrasts  C Shadows  S
Issues  I Experience  E
______________________________________________________________________________
1. Assumptions and stereotypes
“You thought everybody in America had a car and a gun…” (p. 115, line 1) , “He said
he had never had a Nigerian employee but all immigrants worked hard.” (p. 117, line
18), “So when he asked you…what African country you were from, you said Nigeria
and expected him to say that he had donated money to fight AIDS in Botswana.” (p.
119, line 24), “The Ghanaian store owner asked him if he was African…” (p. 123,
line 7), “…the Chinese man had assumed you could not possibly be his girlfriend.”
(p. 124, line 4)

Are the assumptions held by various characters in this story positive or negative?
Do they hold true, or are they proven to be false or limited?
P, C

How do people form their assumptions or stereotypes about people of other races
or nationalities? What challenges those stereotypes? What perpetuates them?
S, I

How is the narrator affected by stereotypes people have of her? Does she also
hold stereotypes? How do those affect her experience of being in America?
P, C

Have you ever “passed” for someone of a different race or nationality than you
actually are? How did that feel? Have you ever wanted to “pass”?
E
What stereotypes do you hold, or have you held, about groups of people unlike
yourself? Have you had any experiences that challenged or changed those
stereotypes? Have you had any experiences that reinforced them?
E

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2. Food and eating
“He picked you up at the airport and bought you a big hot dog with yellow mustard
that nauseated you.” (p. 115, line 16), “They spoke Igbo and ate garri for lunch and it
was like home.” (p. 116, line 26), “You walked into the restaurant with the bright,
clean awning…” (p. 117, line 15), “Sometimes you…thought about home—your
aunts who hawked driedfish and plantains…” (p. 117, line 26), “You cooked that
evening with the things you had bought, and after he ate garri and onugbu soup, he
threw up in your sink.” (p. 123, line 10), “He didn’t eat meat because he thought it
was wrong the way they killed animals.” (p. 123, line 15)





In addition to these references, are there other mentions of food or eating that
seem meaningful in the story?
P, S
What are the differences between food and the experience of eating in the
narrator’s native Nigeria and what she encounters in America? What feelings do
you get from each of the mentions of food or eating?
P, C
Why do people in different countries, cultures or even different regions of the
U.S. eat differently? Does food have different meanings in different places?
C, I
What foods evoke “home” for you? What foods seem foreign, weird or
unappetizing? Have you ever been in a situation where you ate differently from
other people around you? What was that like?
I, E
Do you think it is wrong to kill animals for food? Why does the narrator’s
boyfriend think so? Does she share his opinion? How can you tell?
C, S, I
3. Poverty and wealth
“They trooped into the room in Lagos where you lived with your father and mother
and three siblings…” (p. 115, line 6), “…you chose long brown envelopes to send half
your month’s earnings to your parents…” (p. 118, line 11), “the rich people wore
shabby clothes…” (p. 118, line 31), “[He] wanted to visit Lagos, to see how real
people lived, like in the shantytowns…” (p. 120, line 21), “You realized that in his life
he could buy presents that were just presents and nothing else, nothing useful.” (p.
124, line 19), “…you wondered why it was called a cottage because the buildings that
big around your neighborhood back home were banks and churches.” (p. 126, line 17)


Who is rich, and who is poor, in this story? How can you tell? What are the
indicators of poverty and wealth? Do those indicators differ in Nigeria and
America?
C, S, I
What is your reaction to the phrase “real people” as a description of the poor? Are
the poor more “real” than the rich or middle-class? What does the narrator think
of her boyfriend’s attitude toward the poor? What is her attitude toward the rich? P, C, I
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
Have you ever had a close friend, or a boyfriend/girlfriend, who came from a
different economic/social class than you? What stereotypes did you have about
each other? What did you learn from being close to this person? What was
difficult about your relationship because of your class differences?
E

The narrator is baffled and angry about the gifts, “just presents,” that her
boyfriend gives her. Why? In your family, did you give/receive presents that were
practical or “just presents”? What kind of presents do you prefer to give or
receive?
S, E

Have you ever visited a neighborhood, region or country that was much poorer or
more affluent than where you grew up? What differences did you notice? How
did those differences make you feel?
C, I, E
4. Education
“…he enrolled you in a community college, where the girls had thick thighs and wore
bright-red nail polish, and self-tanner that made them look orange.” (p. 116, line 11),
“Your uncle told you to expect it; a mixture of ignorance and arrogance, he called it.”
(p. 116, line 9), “You could not afford to go to school…” (p. 117, line 22), “He didn’t
shake his head in the superior way that Professor Cobbledick back in the Maine
community college did during a class discussion on decolonization in Africa.” (p. 120,
line 12), “You did not know that people could simply choose not to go to school…”
(p. 121, line 12)





What does education mean to the various characters in this story? Is this a
reflection of their culture, their social/economic class, their aspirations or
something else?
C, S
Look at the description of the girls at the Maine community college? What is your
reaction to that? Is it a fair description of women who attend community college?
Why are these the details the narrator notices?
P, I
In this story, what is the relationship between education and money? Between
education and success? Is education a privilege, a right or a burdensome
expectation?
C, I
What messages did you receive about education when you were growing up? Was
your school experience generally positive, generally negative, or a mixture?
In describing Professor Cobbledick, what is the author suggesting about higher
education? Is this a fair assessment? What does it mean to be “educated”?
5. Give-and-take/trade-offs
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I
S, I
“He told you that the company he worked for had offered him a few thousand more
than the average salary plus stock options because they were desperately trying to
look diverse.” (p. 115, line 20), “Smart women did it all the time. How did you think
those women back home in Lagos with well-paying jobs made it? Even women in
New York City?” (p. 117, line 2), “You walked into the restaurant…and said you
would work for two dollars less than the other waitresses.” (p. 117, line 15), “You
had never needed to pay for an A…” (p. 118, line 10)

In addition to these references, are there other instances of “give-and-take” in this
story, or other times when characters make trade-offs?
P, S

What does the narrator’s uncle mean when he says America is “give-and-take”?
What has he given up in order to survive in America? What has he gotten in
return? What do you think of his choices?
C, S, I

What does the narrator trade off in order to exist in America? How about her
boyfriend; has he made trade-offs, too? What do you think of their choices?
C, S, I

Have you ever been offered a reward in exchange for doing something or giving
up something you valued? What did you do? How did you feel about your choice?
Would you do the same thing now?
I, E

Have you ever bribed someone, as students in Nigeria seem to do with their
teachers, in order to get something you wanted? Was the bribe necessary? How
did it feel to get the reward for which you offered the bribe?
E
Are such trade-offs a necessary or inevitable part of life? Do you agree that
America is “give-and-take”? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
I

6. Belonging and alienation
“He laughed and said the job was good, was worth living in an all-white town even
though his wife had to drive an hour to find a hair salon that did black hair.” (p. 116,
line 4), “They gawped at your hair.” (p. 116, line 16), “You laughed with your uncle
and you felt at home in his house…” (p. 116, lien 24), “Sometimes you felt
invisible…” (p. 119, line 12), “You shook your hand free, suddenly annoyed, because
he thought the world was, or ought to be, full of people like him.” (p. 122, line 32),
“You knew by people’s reactions that you two were abnormal…” (p. 125, line 18),
“But his parents were different; they almost made you think it was all normal.” (p.
125, line 28)

In this story, when does the main character feel as though she belongs? Did she
“belong” when she was at home with her family? How about once she arrives in
America?
P, C, S

Do other characters in the story feel as though they “belong”? Think about the
narrator’s uncle, his wife, her boyfriend and Juan, the restaurant manager. What
does it take to feel a sense of belonging?
C, S, I
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



Why does the narrator shake her hand free, “suddenly annoyed” with her
boyfriend?
P, S
Think about a time when you felt as though you belonged? What was the
situation? Do you think a sense of “belonging” comes from the individual or from
society/other people, or is it a combination?
I, E
Think about a time when you felt “abnormal” or “different.” What was the
situation? What might have helped you, at that time, to feel more at home?
I, E
Who is considered “abnormal” in your community, today (your family, school,
neighborhood or any other community)? Who feels as though they belong? What
contributes to those beliefs and feelings?
C, I
7. Family relationships and responsibilities
“They trooped into the room in Lagos where you livd with your father and mother
and three siblings…to say goodbye in loud voices and tell you with lowered voices
what they wanted you to send them.” (p. 115, line 6), “Your uncle…said you could
live with him until you got on your feet.” (p. 115, line 14), “He wasn’t really your
uncle…” (p. 116, line 30), “…you chose long brown envelopes to send half your
month’s earnings to your parents…” (p. 118, line 11), “the kinds of things one
should hide or should reveal only to family members who wished them well.” (p.
118, line 22), “Afterwards, he told you about his issues with his parents, how they
portioned out love like a birthday cake…” (p. 126, line 10)



How are family relationships different in Nigeria and America, according to this
story? Do you think this is typical, or only true of the families in this story?
C, I
In what ways does the narrator feel responsible to her family members? In what
ways are they responsible to her? Do any of them fail in their responsibilities?
How?
P, S
Are there things you reveal “only to family members who wish [you] well”? Are
there other ways you behave differently with people you consider “family” and
those who are not?
I, E

What surprises or disturbs the narrator about her boyfriend’s family relationships?
How about from his perspective—are there things about her family relationships
that he cannot or would not understand?
C, S

In your family, what obligations or responsibilities are expected—for instance,
financial help for a family member in distress, or providing a place to live, or
bailing someone out of jail? Have you been on the giving end or the receiving end
of any of those obligations? How did it feel?
E
Have you ever felt that someone close to you “portioned out love like a birthday
cake”? On what was their love dependent? How did that feel?
E

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8. Race and racism in America
“He told you that the company he worked for had offered him a few thousand
more…because they were desperately trying to look diverse.” (p. 115, line 20), “They
gawped at your hair.” (p. 116, line 16), “…they thought every black person with a
foreign accent was Jamaican.” (p. 119, line 20), “…white people who liked Africa too
much and those who liked Africa too little were the same—condescending.” (p. 120,
line 10), “…which meant you never rooted for white men.” (p. 121, line 30), “…the
Chinese man had assumed you could not possibly be his girlfriend…” (p. 124, line 4),
“You knew by people’s reactions that you two were abnormal..” (p. 125, line 18)






Why does the uncle’s company want to look “diverse”? Are they truly diverse?
What does it mean for a school, workplace, church or other group to really be
diverse? Have you ever been part of a truly diverse group?
S, I, E
What does the narrator mean by “white people who liked Africa too much and
those who liked Africa too little were the same”? Do you agree?
P, S, I
The narrator describes her reactions to different contestants on Jeopardy. Do you
“root for” people of one race or nationality over others in celebrity contests,
sports, politics or elsewhere? Do you have different reactions to someone who’s
in the news depending on that person’s race? Why? Are there people you “never
root for”?
C, E
Do characters in this story express attitudes that you think are racist? In which
situations? Can people of color be racist? How?
S, I
Why do different people react so differently to seeing the narrator and her
boyfriend together? What shapes their attitudes toward an inter-racial couple?
How do people in your community feel about inter-racial relatioships?
C, S, E
Do you think two people of different races, nationalities or cultures can truly
understand each other? What experiences shaped your belief about this?
9. Self-expression and silence
“You wrapped the money carefully in white paper but you didn’t write a letter. There
was nothing to write about. In later weeks, though, you wanted to write because you
had stories to tell.” (p. 118, line 15), “You wanted to write about the surprising
openness of people in America…” (p. 118, line 19), “Nobody knew where you were,
because you told no one. Sometimes you felt invisible…” (p. 119, line 11), “He
talked and talked and you had to tell him it was against restaurant policy.” (p. 120,
line 24), “But you did not tell him that.” (p. 123, line 19), “…he asked what was
wrong and you said nothing, although you thought a lot was wrong.” (p. 126, line 21),
“You turned away and said nothing…” (p. 127, line 21)
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I, E

Why does the narrator not write to her family for such a long time? Why does she
finally break her silence by sending a note with the money?
P, C, S

Have you ever felt moved to write or speak because you had “stories to tell”?
What was the situation? Did you have an opportunity to tell those stories?
E
Have you ever gone a long time without communicating with your family? Why?
Did you eventually break your silence? What prompted you to do so?
E


Why does the narrator feel “invisible”? Is this invisibility of her own making, or
are others causing her to feel unseen? Have you ever felt invisible? When?
S, I, E

The narrator’s boyfriend seems to talk a lot, while the narrator is often silent. Are
those differences due to gender (male/female), culture (America/Nigerian),
temperament or some other factor?
C, I
What goes unsaid in this story? Why? If the narrator spoke instead of turning
away at the end, what do you think she would say?
P, S


If you have traveled to other countries or other regions of the U.S., did you notice
differences in people’s “openness”? Do you feel more comfortable in a culture
where people are relatively open, or one in which they are more closed?
C, I, E
10. Choice and inevitability
“You locked yourself in the bathroom until he went back upstairs, and the next
morning, you left…You ended up in Connecticut…because it was the last stop of
the Greyhound bus you got on.” (p. 117, line 6), “At night, something would wrap
itself around your neck, something that very nearly choked you before you fell
asleep.” (p. 119, line 17), “You did not know that people…could dictate to life. You
were used to accepting what life gave, writing down what life dictated.” (p. 121,
line 12), “You told him there was nothing to understand, it was just the way it was.”
(p. 123, line 2)




In this story, is the narrator making choices about her life, or is she driven by
circumstances out of her control? Which parts of the story support your belief?
C, S
What is the “thing” that wrapped itself around the narrator’s neck? Why does it
start to loosen at one point? Does its grip tighten again? When?
P, S
In this story, who is “dictating to life” and who must “accept what life gave”?
How about in your own community—who gets to “dictate” his/her choices and
who simply accepts what life gives?
P, C, I
Have there been times in your life when you felt you were free to make a choice?
Have their been times when you were “writing down what life dictated? How did
it feel, each time? Are there good/bad things about each experience?
C, I, E
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
Are there things in your life, community or culture that you’ve come to accept as
being “just the way it is”? Are there situations you’ve tried to change?
C, I, E

What is more influential in shaping people’s lives—free will or destiny? What
makes you believe that?
S, I
At this story’s end, do you think the narrator is choosing to leave, or that it is
inevitable that she must go? What would you do, in her situation?
S, E

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Final Impressions
After the session, take some time to make notes about the discussion: interesting points that
readers raised, questions that arose, disputes, and confusions. Jot down your own impressions of
the session: what worked well; what would you do differently the next time?
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SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie:
Decisions. London: Minerva Press, 1997.
For Love of Biafra. Ibadan: Spectrum Books, 1998.
Half of a Yellow Sun. London: Fourth Estate, 2006.
Purple Hibiscus. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2003.
The Thing Around Your Neck. London: Fourth Estate, 2009.
Anthologies including Adichie’s work:
One World: A Global Anthology of Stories, edited by Ovo Adagha. Ontario, Canada: New
Internationalist, 2009.
Books by others:
Girls at War, by Chinua Achebe. New York: Anchor Books, 1991.
In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women, by Alice Walker. New York: Harvest/HBJ, 2004.
Say You’re One of Them, by Uwem Akpan. Boston: Back Bay Books, 2009.
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