The Thing Around Your Neck

Content Warning: The text includes descriptions of sexual harassment, non-graphic depictions of sexual violence, and misogyny. Political violence and child death are discussed in depth. There are also descriptions of prison brutality.

The narrator of the story, the daughter of a university professor, tells of how her family’s home was robbed twice, first by a neighbor who stole their television set and videocassette recorder (VCR), and then by her older brother, Nnamabia. He goes to church with her on Sunday as usual but leaves at the start of the service, returning just before the end. When they arrive home, her brother exclaims that they’ve been robbed, but the narrator immediately suspects her brother because of the theatrically staged evidence of a robbery. All of their mother’s gold jewelry has been taken. Her parents suspect Nnamabia as well, but he denies this and disappears for two weeks, only to return and confess after having pawned the jewelry and spent the money.

The narrator says this is common on the Nsukka campus where her family lives and that though the professors all complain about outsiders coming in and stealing, they all know it is their own sons. The narrator remembers how her mother has always indulged Nnamabia, covering up his misdeeds for him. Her parents ignore the robbery as well, not mentioning it until three years later when Nnamabia is arrested.

Nnamabia is at university during this time, and “cults” are rampant—fraternities that have evolved to operate like gangs. The police are called in to campus to try and combat the rising violence caused by fights between cults. The narrator and her parents are all unsure whether or not Nnamabia has joined a cult. He claims he has not. A shooting occurs on campus, killing three boys, and a curfew is put in place. Nnamabia is arrested for being out past curfew and sent to prison for being a part of a cult. The rest of his family visits him in prison, and he tells them how he bought his “position” in the cell, making himself agreeable to the prisoner in charge. He appears unfazed to the narrator, but her father claims that he has been shaken.

The family continues to visit Nnamabia, who seems to be enjoying recounting his sufferings in the prison, including his fear of “Cell One,” a place even the most hardened men in his cell are scared of. The narrator is frustrated by Nnamabia’s apparent lack of understanding of his situation. After the first week when they go to visit him every day, the narrator argues with her mother, saying they shouldn’t go. She throws a stone at the car windshield and hides in her room, and they do not go to the prison that day. The next day when they go to the prison, Nnamabia is different, much quieter than usual. He tells them that an old man has been arrested and put in his cell, because the man’s son committed a crime and the police couldn’t find the son. Nnamabia is upset by this. The next few visits he mainly tells his family about the old man, expressing anger and sadness at his treatment.

A few days later, there is another attack by one of the cults, and evidence is found that proves Nnamabia’s innocence. When they go to the prison with the release order, the narrator immediately senses that something is wrong. The police tell them that Nnamabia has been transferred and that they will go together to retrieve him. The officer in charge says that Nnamabia was sent to Cell One yesterday for causing trouble. They retrieve Nnamabia, who has been beaten, and drive home. When they reach the Nsukka campus Nnamabia tells them that he was sent to Cell One for defending the old man.