51 pages 1 hour read

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Thing Around Your Neck

Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 2009

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Background

Authorial Context: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a contemporary Nigerian author who was born in Enugu, Nigeria, in 1977. Her father was a professor at Nsukka University, and her mother was the registrar of the university. Adichie comes from an Igbo family, a Nigerian ethnic group. Born shortly after the Nigerian Civil War ended, Adichie grew up on the Nsukka campus with her family. After secondary school she studied medicine and pharmacology in Nigeria, where she edited a student paper. Leaving for the US at age 19 to study political science, she went on to complete a master’s degree in creative writing at Johns Hopkins University.

In 1997, she published a collection of poetry and later continued to publish her poetry and fiction. In 2003, Adichie’s first novel, Purple Hibiscus, was published. It tells the story of a 15-year-old Nigerian girl, Kambili, growing up in a Catholic household. Purple Hibiscus was praised by critics and brought attention to Adichie as an author. Her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, which dealt with the Nigerian Civil War, was published in 2006. The Thing Around Your Neck, published in 2009, was her third book. Adichie’s next novel, Americanah, which deals with a Nigerian immigrant’s experience of race in America, was published in 2013.

Related Titles

By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Study Guide

logo

Americanah

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Americanah

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Study Guide

logo

Apollo

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Apollo

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Study Guide

logo

A Private Experience

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

A Private Experience

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Study Guide

logo

Birdsong

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Birdsong

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Study Guide

logo

Cell One

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Cell One

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Study Guide

logo

Checking Out

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Checking Out

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Study Guide

logo

Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

Half of a Yellow Sun

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Half of a Yellow Sun

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

The Danger of a Single Story

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Danger of a Single Story

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Study Guide

logo

The Headstrong Historian

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Headstrong Historian

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

We Should All Be Feminists

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

We Should All Be Feminists

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie