Grandmama Character Analysis in The Thing Around Your Neck

In "Tomorrow is Too Far," Grandmama's grandchildren, Nonso, the tomorrow narrator, and Dozie visit her in Nigeria every summer. Grandmama makes sure that Nonso gets first dibs on food and gets the most attention and affection. Nonso is her favorite because he's her only grandchild who will carry on the family name.

Grandmama Character Timeline in The Thing Around Your Neck

The timeline below shows where the character Grandmama appears in The Thing Around Your Neck. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Women, Marriage, and Gender Roles Theme Icon

...summer she spent in Nigeria. It is now 18 years later, but she remembers how Grandmama let her brother Nonso climb the fruit trees to shake the branches, even though the... (full context)

...reached a fever pitch. And it was the summer that Nonso died. When Nonso died, Grandmama yelled at his body that he betrayed her, and asked who would carry on the... (full context)

18 years later, Grandmama's garden looks the same as it did then. Dozie watches the tomorrow narrator, and the... (full context)

Dozie says he didn't think the tomorrow narrator would come back, since she hated Grandmama. The narrator thinks that when Dozie called her to tell her that Grandmama died, she... (full context)

The tomorrow narrator's mother then asked how Nonso died. The narrator told her mother that Grandmama had asked Nonso to climb the avocado tree, and when Nonso was at the top,... (full context)

...told Dozie that Nonso needed to get hurt so that he was less loveable. While Grandmama was inside, the narrator suggested Nonso climb the avocado tree. Nonso was heavy from eating... (full context)

The tomorrow narrator thinks about Dozie saying that she hated Grandmama. She thinks about the months after Nonso's death, as she waited for her mother to... (full context)