The Thing Around Your Neck deeper into the text –going TITLE CENTRAL KEY QUOTES SIGNIFICANT CENTRAL THEMES CHARACTERS EVENTS, AND IDEAS SYMBOLS OR MOTIFS One’ Nnamabia who had grown up Unnamed daughter Violence and ‘Cell “Boys (lacks agency); watching (the narrator) corruption; Sesame Street, his unnamed reading Enid Blyton, eating siblings/family; sister cornflakes for breakfast, The Purple Rain religion; agency attending the university staff and Thriller primary school in smartly videotapes the polished brown sandals, were protagonist’s now cutting through the father brings back mosquito netting of their from America neighbour’s windows, sliding out glass louvers and climbing in Nnamabia’s to steal TV’s and VCR’s.” (p.5) developing rash (p.11: “new, at eleven, Nnamabia pimple-like insect “When, broke the window of his bite on his classroom with a stone, my forehead”, mother gave him the money to spreading across replace it and did not tell my his face” p.12-13, father…”(p.6) at his “scratched bumpy face” p.16) wars had become “Cult common…it was so abnormal The jollof rice that it quickly became normal” (p.7-8) Cell One (p.11) [Enugu Prison] was where The cracked “It the police could do what they windscreen, as a were famed for when under result of the pressure to produce results: kill protagonist people” (p.10) throwing a stone at her parents’ car father said something (p.14) “My about how it was irrelevant whether or not the man knew The treatment of where his son was”(p.15) the old, retired servant (p.15, saw my brother’s eyes fill “I with tears—my worldly brother—and I felt a tenderness for him…”(p.16) would have been so easy for “It him…to make a sleek drama of this story, but he did not”(p.21)
The Thing Around Your Neck –going deeper into the text TITLE CENTRAL CHARACTERS KEY QUOTES SIGNIFICANT EVENTS, SYMBOLS OR MOTIFS CENTRAL THEMES AND IDEAS ‘Cell One’ Nnamabia (lacks agency); his unnamed sister “Boys who had grown up watching Sesame Street, reading Enid Blyton, eating cornflakes for breakfast, attending the university staff primary school in smartly polished brown sandals, were now cutting through the mosquito netting of their neighbour’s windows, sliding out glass louvers and climbing in to steal TV’s and VCR’s.” (p.5) “When, at eleven, Nnamabia broke the window of his classroom with a stone, my mother gave him the money to replace it and did not tell my father…”(p.6) “Cult wars had become common…it was so abnormal that it quickly became normal” (p.7-8) “It [Enugu Prison] was where the police could do what they were famed for when under pressure to produce results: kill people” (p.10) “My father said something about how it was irrelevant whether or not the man knew where his son was”(p.15) “I saw my brother’s eyes fill with tears—my worldly brother—and I felt a tenderness for him…”(p.16) “It would have been so easy for him…to make a sleek drama of this story, but he did not”(p.21) Unnamed daughter (the narrator) The Purple Rain and Thriller videotapes the protagonist’s father brings back from America Nnamabia’s developing rash (p.11: “new, pimple-like insect bite on his forehead”, spreading across his face” p.12-13, “scratched at his bumpy face” p.16) The jollof rice Cell One (p.11) The cracked windscreen, as a result of the protagonist throwing a stone at her parents’ car (p.14) The treatment of the old, retired servant (p.15, Violence and corruption; siblings/family; religion; agency
the_thing_around_your_neck_themes_chart.docx