The author Chimamanda Adichi’s, short stories “The Thing Around Your Neck” and “The Arrangers of Marriage found within her fictional book The Thing Around Your Neck, depicts two Nigerian women immigrants living in between two very different cultures, both struggling with identity and trespassing boundaries. Each story conveying a sense of fatalism compiled with feministic empowerment of immigrant of Nigeria affronting their destiny on American soil. America’s welcoming of substandard living conditions, desperation, and unrealistic expectations are central themes featured throughout both short stories, coupled with forced assimilation exemplifies the human tendency of assumption that the grass is greener on the other side. The expectations of a new Nigerian bride prior to her migration to America to meet her new Americanized Nigerian groom (arranged marriage) soon grasped upon her arrival into America, how unrealistic those were when she encountered how inferior the living conditions were. In the “Arrangers of Marriage,” this harsh reality is shown through the descriptive narrative of Agatha Bell, “He had used the word “house” when he told me about our home. I had imagined a smooth driveway snaking between cucumber-colored lawns…a house like those of white newlyweds in the American films that NTA showed on Saturday nights…he turned on the light in the living room where a beige couch sat alone in the middle, slanted, as though dropped there by accident. The room was hot, old,
In the play Tartuffe, Molière portrays marriage in a unique way. He expresses a different perspective on marriage that most people would disagree with. In the play, marriage never seems to base around love but rather seems to be a very serious part of their life. Mariane submits to her father because during this time period the father was able to choose whom his daughter would marry. This submission is not based on love but rather who her father enjoys the best. It puts a great deal of pressure on the father to make the right decision. Marriage to Tartuffe would have caused Mariane a lifetime of discontent and it would have also associated the
The novel Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera brings to light many issues faced by immigrant women. The novel follows the young Makina in her quest to find and bring home her brother from what she imagines to be a mystical far away land. While the novel focuses on the challenges of immigration, the underlying meaning is much more complex. In Yuri Herrera’s Signs Preceding the End of the World, the common misconception that women cannot be the strong character in the novel is challenged. This is achieved by having the female protagonist, Makina, go on a quest to save her brother, be a vital individual in her community, and fight the misogynistic society she lives in.
These ideas are an interpretation of what society views as concepts of marriage. One of the things I found to be interesting in the above list was the absence of the word love.
The collection of short stories ‘The Thing Around Your Neck’ written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie demonstrates that in Nigeria, men women, boys and girls are treated differently, and these relationship in which gender inequality exists leads to family conflict. And corruption exists in Nigeria and also the violence. These issues have lasting impacts on the characters.
Adichie’s characters are subject to cultural suppression in several of the short stories. This is most pronounced in ‘The Arrangers of Marriage’ where Chinaza is forced by her husband to assimilate to her new surroundings by ridding herself of all signs of being Nigerian,
The main theme in the text ”The Thing around your Neck” must be that outstanding culture clash a lot of hope full immigrants in America are exposed to. Just from the very beginning we experience that the main character Akunna from Nigeria has very high thoughts of going to America. Her family is also very convinced that it is going to be a huge thing for her, they are expecting her to send them presents and they tell her; “In a month, you will have a big car. Soon, a big house. But don’t buy a gun like those Americans” (p. 57 l. 3-4)
In the novels written by Charlotte Gilman and Kate Chopin, the concept of marriage is contradicted from the romanticized relationship to a notion of imprisonment. Through the feminist perspective the reader gains a sense in which marriage may be the primary cause to gender oppression. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” Gilman’s central figure, who is unknown to the reader, is metaphorically imprisoned in a house in which the warden is her own husband. In contrast to this Chopin’s Character, Louise Mallard, gains a sense of liberation from a bleak marriage. It is clear that there two works illustrate how the characters are imprisoned through marriage. In both works there is a fine-line between the concept of domesticity and masculinity that ties
Since the establishment of the colonies, America has been viewed as the “land of opportunity.” It is thought to be a safe haven for immigrants, and a chance at a new beginning for others. “The Clemency of the Court” by Willa Cather published in 1893, tells the story of Serge, a Russian immigrant, who overcame the struggles of a tough childhood and fled to America to receive protection from the state. “Clothes” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni published in 1995, tells the story of Sumita, a Indian immigrant, who is moving to America so that she can marry her husband that her family has arranged for her. Both “The Clemency of the Court” and “Clothes” show the evolution of the American immigrant experience.
Alterations: Comparing the Changes Caused by Marriage of the two Bessie Head Short Stories, “Life” and “Snapshots of a Wedding”
For centuries, a great deal of ethnic groups have been disempowered and persecuted by others. However, one should realize that none are more intense than the oppression of women. In the novel, The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, women living in the Mango Street neighborhood suffer from their restricted freedom. Three such women, Rafaela, Mamacita, and Sally, provide great examples. All try to escape from their dreadful environment. Most of them fail, but at first, Sally seems to succeed in escaping from her father. However, she ends up meeting a husband as equally bad as her father. Ultimately, the men who live with Rafaela, Mamacita, and Sally act as insuperable obstacles that limit the freedom in their women’s lives.
‘The Thing Around Your Neck’, written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie discovers the inclined realization from the perspective of Nigerian woman Akunna is developed through her cultural hybridist. Similarly to the isolation felt by May, Akunna the protagonist, also begins to feel secluded due to her heritage as she unpredictably discovers how she is viewed in relation to those around her. The dialogue, “Many people at the restaurant asked where you had come from in Jamaica, because they thought that every black person with a foreign accent was Jamaican. Or someone who guessed that you were African told you that they loved elephants and wanted to go on a safari”, portrayed in a patronizing tone of the American expression and cliché reveals the social and cultural assumptions that limit the protagonists’ experience of discovery and self-acceptance. The meeting of Juan, a white man, startles her prior assumptions as he treats her as an individual rather than a symbol from a foreign land. Inexpertly, Akunna begins to discover the truth of her identity beyond ‘the white men and women who muttered and glared’. “That thing that wrapped itself around your neck, that nearly choked you before you fell asleep, started to loose, to let go”, the motif of the things around your neck identifies the psychological impacts that
Society can be a smooth talker, it can slyly belittle someone until they fit the stereotype society has placed upon them. Some people are willing to sever past the constant bigotry and persevere towards the person they want to become, but others get stuck and fall into the trap called the pigeonhole. The line separating those who ignore society’s harsh accusations and those who listen are classified directly with how the targets react towards discrimination. Ifemelu, the main character from Americanah by Chimamanda Adichie, was a Nigerian women that lived in America who received an abundant amount of discrimination towards her African race and accent. Within a short story by Gabriel Marquez, A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, people treated
Author John Downe, in a letter to his wife named “My Dear Wife”, illustrates how moving to America would be very beneficial to their family. Downe uses pathos, exemplification, and compare and contrast to try to convince his wife of how America is the perfect country for them. To begin with, a rhetorical element that is evident in the passage is the use of pathos. Downe uses pathos to appeal to his wife’s humanly survival urges. In lines 41-44 the author writes, “…you know that there was nothing but poverty before me, and to see you and the dear children want was what I could not bear.
It goes without saying that all things, miniscule or monumental, are bound to become subject of change. Change can be caused by a number of things, but for the women who’s tales were recanted in Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars: Life and Culture on the Lower East Side 1890-1925 written by Elizabeth Ewen, change was especially imminent as they were forced to exchange the “old ways” of their native countries for the “new ways” of America. Immigrant women’s lives were completely altered, as they had to adjust to American culture in an innumerable amount of ways; they specifically saw change in how they perceived leisure and luxury, their views on marriage and roles as wives, and also their expectations as daughters.
Her Wild American Self by Evelina Galang is a collection of short stories that reflects on not only what it means to be A Filipina-American but a woman in society. Being both of those things subsequently leads to everyday struggles that involve interpersonal conflicts, societal pressures, and familial obligations. Women often sacrifice so much of their feelings and consequently themselves when trying to deal with such a harsh reality. This reality which relies heavily on society also forces women to become subservient in many aspects of their lives and does not allow them to speak out and defend themselves in times of need. Myself, like so many of the women in Galang’s stories, have gone through feelings of shame and guilt while trying to