Craftessay

Karen Luna
Prof Weathersby
Engl 220
The thing around your neck craft essay
In “The Thing Around Your Neck” it is a collection of short fiction stories by Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie. In her short story she tells it in a second-person viewpoint, which is rarely used in
a style of writing to incorporate an accusatory tone of voice into the narration. In “The Thing
Around Your Neck” her writing style is engaging and straightforward. She has the ability to draw
readers inside the minds of her characters and take us through different climaxes. Adichie has
a way of writing a compelling short story and in “The Thing Around Your Neck” she does just
that by using second-person narration to place the reader in the position of a struggling
immigrant.
In “The Thing Around Your Neck” the main character Akunna wins the “American visa
lottery” and travels to live in America with her aunt and uncle. Her family are all excited for her
opportunity to live the “American dream “but predictably her experience is different. As she
begins her life in the United States, her uncle sexually abuses her, her job takes advantage of
her and pays her below minimum wage. She leaves for Connecticut to start over and works as a
waitress. She expresses that she wants to write to her family and friends but is too ashamed
about her misfortune and decided to only send money. This is where Adichie produces one of
her many story arcs. Within the first few pages, the reader feels her heartbreaking depiction of
loneliness. That is when the writer creates the imagery of something around her neck like as if
she was suffocating. The story continues with a young privileged white man showing interest in
Akunna as she serves him food. Akunna is hesitant to let him in her life but she agrees to go on
a date with him. The writer keeps the reader engaged making them feel included, as if we were
the one going on the date. Things seem like they are finally starting to look good for Akunna,
her homesickness seems to become less the more she opens up to him.
The author again brings up the image of the thing wrapped around her neck, start to
loosen”. The readers start to feel the relationship flourish. As she continues with her
relationship, Akunna tries to sympathize with her boyfriend but gets angry because he doesn’t
see things the way she does. Her sense of loneliness comes in again and she gives in writes
home and sends an address for them to contact her. Adichie creates another unexpected story
arc and Akunna finds out that her father has died months ago. She is heartbroken and feels
guilty for never writing back, questioning herself what she has been doing the moment her
father died. The author includes these details in second person making the reader feel more
connected emotionally. Akunna flies back to home, leaving her relationship up in the air. She
tells him she has to be back in order for her visa to work but doesn’t give him a direct answer
whether she will ever come back. She hugs him and let’s go. The thing that that ties itself
around Akunna neck is not physical it’s a sign of what she experiences as an immigrant in the
Americas. She faces all these obstacles and expectations that don’t live up to the hype. She
ends up feeling alone and out of place, which is why she experiences this “choking “feeling.
By using the “you” perspective the author made the reader seem to be directly
projected into the story and made the reader less inclined to question the narrators action. The
author made the reader become intentionally drawn to the narrator’s side. The author made
the reader part of the narrator herself. I believe Adichie using the second person in her short
story made it deeper for us to understand the culture and human connection, while making us
apart of the narrative. Adichie lets the reader gain a clearer sense of how others view their
culture without having much knowledge of the matter. Adichie did a great job making the
reader feel a part of the story and becoming the character.

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Karen Luna

The thing around your neck craft essay

reader feel a part of the story and becoming the character.

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