The Thing Around Your Neck Characters

In "Imitation," Amaechi is Nkem's housegirl. She and Nkem are friends, although it's a somewhat tense and complicated friendship given their madam/housegirl relationship. Amaechi is loyal to Nkem, but she also knows that Obiora keeps girlfriends and believes that it's natural for men to conduct relationships outside their marriages.

In "A Private Experience," Nnedi is Chika's sister; she disappears in the riot in Kano. Nnedi is described as an activist and someone who's always willing to explain current events from a scholarly and theoretical perspective. She's dismissive of religion.

In "Ghosts," Ebere is James Nwoye's late wife. While James never says outright what illness she had, she died after receiving "fake drugs." She visits him as a ghost to moisturize his skin.

In "On Monday of Last Week," Tobechi is Kamara's husband. He's a manager at Burger King and brings small gifts for Kamara when he comes home. Tobechi doesn't notice Kamara's depression or that things like his American accent make her uncomfortable.

In "Jumping Monkey Hill," the Ugandan is the leader of the writers' workshop at Jumping Monkey Hill. He won the Lipton African Writers' Prize the year before the conference, and he tries to impress Edward. Ujunwa doesn't like him, and he's often excluded from the other participants' activities.

In "Jumping Monkey Hill," Isabel accompanies her husband, Edward, to the writers' conference at Jumping Monkey Hill. She's a slight woman who runs anti-poaching campaigns. She regularly asks rude questions of Ujunwa in particular, but she doesn't understand that she's being rude.

In "The American Embassy," Ugonna is the dead four-year-old son of the embassy narrator. He was full of life and provided his mother with purpose and an identity as his mother. Ugonna is killed by men looking for his father, the narrator's husband.

In "The American Embassy," The embassy narrator's husband is a reporter for The New Nigeria, a democratic paper. He prioritizes his work over his wife and his son, Ugonna, and writes articles that anger the government by exposing government corruption. He flees to Benin.

In "Tomorrow is Too Far," Nonso is the tomorrow narrator's older brother. Unlike their cousin Dozie, Nonso will carry on the family name, so Grandmama and the narrator's mother give Nonso all their attention. He dies when the narrator plays a trick on him.

In "The Headstrong Historian," Obierika is Nwamgba's husband. He's loyal to Nwamgba and is a very powerful man in the village, but his cousins murder him. His soul returns to earth in his granddaughter, Grace.

In "The Headstrong Historian," Mgbeke is Anikwenwa's wife. She's a Nigerian woman, but she converts to Christianity and does her best to please her husband. Mgbeke refuses to stand up for herself and is very powerless to assert her wants and needs.

In "The Headstrong Historian," Okafo and Okoye are cousins of Obierika, who take advantage of him and end up poisoning him. Nwamgba hates them and brings a court case against them.

In "The Headstrong Historian," Ayaju is Nwamgba’s friend. She is descended from slaves and goes on trading journeys. She brings news of the arrival of white men and their guns.

In the story "Shiver," Father Patrick is the priest at the Catholic church that Ukamaka attends. He gives Ukamaka advice after Udenna breaks up with her.