CELL ONE.
I'm doing a daily review of each of the stories in the book The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
This book is a collection of 12 short stories, much like the moonlight folktales we read in primary school. Each story, no matter how short, is deeply emotional and easily relatable.
Here's what I have to say about Story 1.
Story 1: Cell One
I loved how descriptive it was. It felt like I could feel the underlying emotions. The story centres around a lecturer's family in Nsukka, particularly their son, Nnamabia, who was the favourite child. He was charming, handsome, popular, and the kind of kid who got away with a lot of things.
He wasn't a cultist, but he was arrested alongside some of his cultist friends when they were drinking past curfew, and that's how he ended up in a cell.
At first, he didn't seem shaken by the conditions. He played smart, became a favourite among the inmates, and generally appeared to be doing okay. Until a sick, old, fragile-looking man was brought into his cell for a crime his son had committed.
What stood out to me was how deeply concerned he became about the man. For the first time ever, he seemed sober and reflective, and all he could talk about was the suffering of that poor, innocent old man.
Because really, the measure of our humanity is how empathetic we are to the suffering of others, and this was his transformative experience in prison.
It was a short, simple tale with a lot of psychological depth that you might not immediately pick up on. And, in classic Chimamanda style, we're left hanging, wondering what happens next.
Does this experience change him for good, or does he return home and go back to his former extravagant lifestyle? How shaken is he? What becomes of him?
Alright, that's all for today.
Tomorrow, I'll share my review of the next story.
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