Story 6: Jumping Monkey Hill

"There wasn't a single monkey in sight, yet everyone at the workshop seemed to be jumping through hoops..."

On today's story review of The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, we're looking at story 6 titled Jumping Monkey Hill.

You guyssssss, it's the way I want to scream, cry, and get angry all over again because damn it, this story has been my favourite so far.

Maybe it's because one of my dreams is to attend a writing workshop. Maybe it's because I could almost share in the rage of the main character, Ujunwa. But nothing annoys me more than people who are not African trying to tell Africans what being African should look like.

The story follows a group of writers from different African countries who are selected for a writing workshop outside Cape Town at a place called Jumping Monkey Hill. The workshop is organized by Edward, a white man who constantly talks about his love for African literature.

The writers are expected to write stories and review one another's work. Simple Abi?.

Except Edward seems to have a very specific idea of what an African story should be.

One participant writes about a lesbian coming out, and Edward dismisses it because it isn't "reflective of Africa." So I wasn't exactly surprised when he later claimed Ujunwa's story wasn't Nigerian enough, a story about a woman refusing to entertain a wealthy client in the way her boss expected, and Edward insisted that this wasn't believable in Nigeria because, according to him, Nigerian women in powerful positions wouldn't face that sort of pressure

I actually laughed. Because what do you know about Nigeria?

And I think that's what frustrated me the most. Edward wasn't just criticizing stories. He was acting as though he had the authority to decide which African experiences were real and which ones weren't.

The more I thought about it, the more the title made sense. There wasn't a single monkey in sight, yet everyone at the workshop seemed to be jumping through hoops, trying to fit into someone's idea of what African writing should be.

One thing that also stood out to me was when the Tanzanian participant suggested they shouldn't challenge Edward because he was connected and could open doors for them. It felt like a masterclass in how people slowly lose themselves in exchange for opportunities.

This story had me thinking about how often we generalize. How we take our limited experiences and use them to make sweeping conclusions about entire countries, cultures, and people.

A frustrating read, a brilliant read and definitely my favourite so far.

Do you think someone outside a culture can ever truly decide what stories are authentic to that culture?

@favvy_Okwans🖤.