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Ujunwa
In "The Thing Around Your Neck," Akunna wins the "American visa lottery" and gets a green card to go to America. She's very independent and refuses her uncle's sexual advances, instead taking a job in a restaurant to support herself. She finds that most Americans are condescending and know nothing about Africa, and she similarly becomes disillusioned with the boy, her American boyfriend. Akunna sends money to her parents monthly, though she doesn't write letters to tell them about how strange America is.
Akunna Quotes in The Thing Around Your Neck
The The Thing Around Your Neck quotes below are all either spoken by Akunna or refer to Akunna. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Thing Around Your Neck
Quotes
He laughed and said the job was good, was worth living in an all-white town even though his wife had to drive an hour to find a salon that did black hair. The trick was to understand America, to know that America was give-and-take. You gave up a lot, but you gained a lot, too.
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You did not know that people could simply choose not to go to school, that people could dictate to life. You were used to accepting what life gave, writing down what life dictated.
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Get the entire The Thing Around Your Neck LitChart as a printable PDF.
Akunna Quotes in The Thing Around Your Neck
The The Thing Around Your Neck quotes below are all either spoken by Akunna or refer to Akunna. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Thing Around Your Neck
Quotes
He laughed and said the job was good, was worth living in an all-white town even though his wife had to drive an hour to find a salon that did black hair. The trick was to understand America, to know that America was give-and-take. You gave up a lot, but you gained a lot, too.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
You did not know that people could simply choose not to go to school, that people could dictate to life. You were used to accepting what life gave, writing down what life dictated.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
