The Thing Around Your Neck Now

Akunna eventually receives a letter from home informing her that her father has died. Her family had used the money she sent home to pay for his funeral. She decides to return to Nigeria alone, leaving her relationship and her status in America uncertain. Themes and Symbolism

In Connecticut, she works as a waitress and experiences profound loneliness and cultural isolation. She meets a young white man who is genuinely interested in her culture, and they begin a relationship. However, cultural tensions persist; he often displays a subtle condescension or fails to understand the depth of her immigrant experience. The Thing Around Your Neck

The title refers to a metaphorical "thing" that wraps around Akunna's neck at night, symbolizing her suffocating loneliness , anxiety, and the heavy burdens of her identity as an immigrant. Akunna eventually receives a letter from home informing

Akunna feels "invisible" and struggles with the "mix of ignorance and arrogance" from Americans who assume all Africans are from the same place or share the same background. Themes and Symbolism In Connecticut, she works as

Her uncle, who initially seems supportive, sexually assaults her, telling her that "America was give-and-take". Traumatized and unwilling to stay, she flees to Connecticut without telling anyone where she is going.