The Use of Second Person Perspective in "The Thing Around Your Neck"

            Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie uses the title of her short story “The Thing Around Your Neck” as the title of her book that is a collection of various short stories she has written throughout her career. While all linked with similar themes, each story stands on its own. Most of the stories are written in the first or third person perspective. “The Thing Around Your Neck” is one of the two out of twelve that is written in the second person perspective. The story follows a young African woman who moves to the United States to live with a relative who subsequently molests her. Following the incident with her uncle, she moves into her own apartment and eventually falls in love. Throughout the story, the narrator refers several times to feeling as though something is choking her. Adichie writes, “At night, something would wrap itself around your neck, something that very nearly choked you before you fell asleep,” (pg. 119). In this instance, the thing around the narrator’s neck represents her lack of control of her life, isolation, and depression all coming together and being too much to bear, essentially having her anxiety choke her.

While many authors use the second person perspective to draw readers in and allow them to put themselves in the shoes of the narrator in order to create a personal connections to the story, I would argue that Adichie instead wants to point out to reads that they are unable to fully empathize with the character depending on the identities said reader holds. For example, a white male who was born and lives in the United States who is reading the story will take away something very different than that of a black African woman living in the United States, but that is the beauty of literature. Rather than being a rigid structure that is confined to only one strict interpretation, it is an amorphous blob that readers shape and sculpt based on their own experiences. Very few readers of “The Thing Around Your Neck” will be able to fully connect with the story. A white male does not understand the sexism and racism that the narrator must face. However, he may be able to understand being in love and having to let go for his own personal growth. A black female born and living in the United States will relate to the sexism and racism the narrator faces, but will not be able to fully comprehend the culture shock that the narrator is confronted with moving to the United States. The key to Adichie connecting to all readers is the idea of a thing around your neck. We have all had our own things around our necks. The intensity and reason for feeling choked may vary, but we have felt that weight upon us. I think Adichie is highlighting that while we can never fully empathize with someone else, we all have had a variation or a part of an experience that allows us to sympathize with a person. Using the title “The Thing Around Your Neck” shows the connection between all the stories. Each protagonist is struggling with something around his or her neck. Whether it is the desperation that comes from living under a corrupt government, the confusion of fighting a sexual identity, or the feeling of inadequacy and anger that accompany sexism and sexual harassment, each character is struggling in one way or another. These feelings of pain and sorrow link all the characters that we, as readers, all sympathize with.