How does Adichie explore the relationship between culture and identity?

Chimimanda Adichie, an African author, wrote an anthology titled Thing

Around Your Neck, exploring facets of Nigerian life, their relation to conflict
and the themes that come with the conflict. A very distinct aspect that is shared
within many of the short stories in the anthology explore various links between
the themes culture and identity, whether it be through language, or references to
country-specific objects or even the characters very distinct and different
thought process. Adichie explores the relationship between the culture of the
Nigerian people and also their identity throughout her short stories.
The use of different languages in Adichies short stories allows her to show the
different emotive states of the characters within her story. Information about the
characters disposition can be derived from whichever language they are using
at the time. Adichie uses English and other African languages to differentiate
between the characters different moods and mindsets. She does this not only to
remind the reader that Nigeria is a country that has been under the effects of
colonization but also to give her characters more depth, adding to the cultural
identity they possess. One of Adichies short stories, Cell One, explores the
intricacies between the use of English versus Nigerian and the characters mind
with the emotional language of their culture. In Cell One, Nnamabia, the
unnamed protagonists older brother had obviously stolen his familys jewels,
leading to an incredibly unconvincing lie. Weve been robbed! He said in
English, shows truly how deceitful he was. As though it was a rehearsed line,
Nnamabia speaks English as he always did when he was defending himself.
Adichie does this not just as an introduction to the characters personality, but to
also show what kind of identity the character retains using language as an
emotion, or as in this case, a lack thereof. On the other hand, Nnamabias
mother shows a great deal of emotion and thus is represented in her native
language. Her disappointment cannot be explained by her in English, so she uses
the words: Chi m egbuo m! My God has killed me! signifying not only the raw
emotion in her voice but also the cultural identity she retains, even though her
country had been colonized. Adichie juxtaposes the two characters, Nnamabia
and his mother to display the two sides of the same coin. I would never violate
your trust like this Nnamabia says in English to show the reader his true colours.
This compared to Ekwuzikwana! Dont say that! an outburst, revealing the
cultural identity hidden behind the person, making them become one with their
culture. The different languages within the short story, Cell One make for
revealing insight into the culture of the people within the short story.
Through cultural referential themes and concepts, Adichie shows that people can
cover up the emotions that have been affected by alien occurrences. With the
grounded, concrete objects relating to their culture, the character affected by
emotional distress may have an easier time dealing with grief. The protagonist
character in The American Embassy is afflicted with grief after her son is killed
by government soldiers. She tries her hardest to keep in touch with the real
world while her mind is in absolute turmoil, shown by the disjointed time
travelling of the plot narrative. One of the things keeping her mind in check is

the firm belief that her son is not dead and covered in blood, but in fact dirtied
with palm oil after knocking the bottle from a shelf he could not have possibly
reached. The palm oil is a recurring theme in The American Embassy, as a
cultural reference that lets the protagonists retain her sanity to make it through
the Visa qualification test. The protagonist is confronted with the interviewer
who probably didn't cook with palm oil, or know that Palm oil when fresh, is a
bright, bright red. This cultural divide really accentuates the fact that the
protagonists identity is much more different than the interviewer with the pale
face, the face [that] did not understand her. Adichie lets her unnamed mother
protagonist deal with the denial in a first person limited viewpoint, letting the
reader in on her clouded mind, letting them experience the mothers sorrow and
cover up firsthand. This also allows the reader access to an intimate portion of
her mind, one that stays unknown to the other characters in the sort story. This
also lets the reader in on the cultural aspects of the denial of the death of her
son. The constant references to the palm oil that she mistakenly believes that
her son is covered in show the cultural familiarity she has to surround her mind
with to maintain composure. This proves another instance of the culture
impacting upon the identity, forming a strong, unbreakable relationship.
Adichie shows that to understand anothers culture, they must immerse
themselves within it to attain their own identity and attachment to that identity.
To assimilate into another culture, people must be born into it, or otherwise study
extensively upon it, researching the nuances and living in the life of the culture.
The title story of The Thing Around Your Neck, The Thing Around Your
Neck is an exploration into a Nigerian womans mind as she struggles to deal
with the lack of cultural understanding she has yet to come by in her new life in
America, pursuing the American Dream. Akunna, the protagonist in question, is
stricken by the fact that no one understands her culture, sometimes, [she] felt
invisible as though it wrapped itself around [her] neck. The story, being told
through second person perspective, an uncommon method, allows the reader to
be completely immersed, more so than first person or third person. Adichie had
done this to ensure the reader knew exactly how Akunna felt as the story
vicariously happened through them. A new character is then introduced to the
reader and he understands Akunnas culture far better than anyone else had
before. This creates a juxtaposition between the slews of people with ignorance
towards her Nigerian culture and the one man who held [her] hand and said he
understood how [she] felt. He understood all this culture because he had been
to Ghana and Uganda and had read a lot about their complexities. This
person made Akunna feel like she had her culture returned to her, like someone
else had finally understood her individual as a Nigerian native. The man had only
been able to understand Nigerian culture after he had become one with the
culture by living there and studying it as well. He had his own identity that he
could share with a Nigerian persons. This is the path to understanding the
culture and identity of a person.
(THIS IS AS FAR AS I HAVE EVER BEEN FOR AN ESSAY!)

Thing Around Your Neck is a novel that explores different versions of a

Nigerian persons life, their culture and consequently, their identity. With themes
of loss of identity and confusion about culture, Adichie, the author expands on
those feelings of rootless drifting whether it is through the comparison of
different languages, or the culture specific artefacts or the ways that different
people think similarly through the unification of cultural understanding. That is
the way she explores the links between culture and identity.