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Symbols
Throughout the story collection, characters consistently take note as to what cars other characters drive. Particularly in the stories that take place in Nigeria, the cars act as a symbol of Western influence, and for some characters, a status symbol. The Cell One narrator notes that due to the influence of American rap videos, cult members on the Nsukka campus drive their parents' cars with the seats pushed all the way back. Combined with the violence of the cults, and in particular the cult members' regular habit of stealing cars, the cars themselves become a symbol of power borrowed from the West. Professor James Nwoye in "Ghosts" is very proud of his car: it's an older model, but impeccably maintained, and is therefore indicative of his status as a (retired) professor. For those characters in America, owning a car of any type shows that they're making it in America and pursuing the American dream.
Cars Quotes in The Thing Around Your Neck
The The Thing Around Your Neck quotes below all refer to the symbol of Cars. 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:
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Cell One
Quotes
They may have once been benign fraternities, but they had evolved and were now called "cults"; eighteen-year-olds who had mastered the swagger of American rap videos were undergoing secret and strange initiations that sometimes left one or two of them dead on Odim Hill.
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Imitation
Quotes
"You got a great house, ma'am," he'd said, with that curious American smile that meant he believed he, too, could have something like it someday. It is one of the things she has come to love about America, the abundance of unreasonable hope.
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Cars Symbol Timeline in The Thing Around Your Neck
The timeline below shows where the symbol Cars appears in The Thing Around Your Neck. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Cell One
...stole their mother's jewelry. Their parents were out of town, and Nnamabia drove their mother's car, a Peugeot 504. The narrator and Nnamabia sat in church together for ten minutes before...
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...complained about the "riffraff" stealing their possessions. The thieves were popular and drove their parents' cars. The narrator mentions the neighbor who stole from them, a handsome boy that the narrator...
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...other cults, and the violence soon became normal. The police tried to help, but their cars were rickety and their guns were rusty, and Nnamabia said that the cult boys had...
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One Monday, four cult boys steal a professor's car and shoot three other cult boys outside a lecture hall. Nnamabia doesn't come home that...
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...first week in prison, Mother, Father, and the Cell One narrator visit daily in Father's Volvo. The narrator notices that her parents begin to behave differently—they don't criticize the brutal police...
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The Cell One narrator sits in the backseat of the car with the policeman. When they arrive at the prison compound, it looks neglected. The officer...
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Imitation
...The woman spoke about their husbands' habit of leaving them in America with the children, cars, and big houses, and only visiting occasionally. The woman had said that their husbands won't...
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A Private Experience
The narrator says that later, Chika will see burned cars and discover that the riot began when a Christian man drove over a Koran on...
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Ghosts
...the men talk about their troubles. As he leaves the men to return to his car, Ikenna Okoro calls out to James.
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...evacuating the Nsukka campus to escape the approaching federal soldiers. James' family was in their Impala and they saw Ikenna's car heading back towards campus. James waved at Ikenna to stop,...
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...the day he and Ebere returned to Nsukka. Soldiers shoved a wounded soldier into their car and the blood ran into the ripped upholstery. James says the blood reminded him of...
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...Ikenna vaguely agrees, but James knows he won't see Ikenna again. James goes home and carefully parks his Mercedes in the garage. He observes his yard on his way in and...
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On Monday of Last Week
...competition as Josh digs for his shoelaces in his backpack. He pulls out a Shabbat card that he made in school and tells Kamara in a serious tone that he forgot...
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Jumping Monkey Hill
The Ugandan sits in the front of the car and Ujunwa worries that Edward is driving too fast. At the resort, Ujunwa and the...
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...call from Merchant Trust Bank. She knows people who work there; they all drive nice cars and live in apartments. The manager tells Chioma that if she can bring in a...
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The Thing Around Your Neck
The narrator, Akunna, says she thought that everyone in America had a car and a gun. She wins the visa “lottery,” and her family members tell her that...
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...men on Jeopardy. She tells him about the time her father hit a Big Man's car in rainy Lagos traffic and laid out in the road in shame. The Big Man's...
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The Shivering
...program of study, but he sidesteps her questions. He thanks God that Ukamaka has a car, and Ukamaka is thrilled that they're friends and that he'll keep listening to her talk...
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Ukamaka invites Chinedu to come to Catholic Mass with her. In the car, she tells him about her shivering experience when they prayed together the first time, and...
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