Cell One in The Thing Around Your Neck by C.N.

Adichie

“Cell One” in The Thing Around Your Neck by Dr Jennifer Minter (English Works
Notes, 2016)

Cell One deals with many of Adichie’s key concerns about Nigeria. Post-colonial Nigeria is not only
gripped by a sense of lawlessness but also civil war.

The setting/place: social and political context:

In a Cell One, a sense of lawlessness begins to take hold as many of the younger Nigerians join
subversive cults as a sign of the breakdown of authority. In this short story, Adichie focuses on the
wayward, rebellious son and his experiences with the corrupt political system. She also criticises the
“professor parents” who have condoned the irresponsible behaviour of their offspring.

Adichie begins the story with a reference to a robbery. In this case, “it was our neighbour” who
robbed the narrator’s house and it was not the “first time”. This reference makes the reader aware
that Nigeria is a very dangerous place and citizens cannot trust anyone – not even one’s neighbour
and not even a member of one’s family.

Many young Africans are joining cults such as The Black Axe, the Buccaneers and the Pirates and
Nnamabia is no exception. These cults have a Western influence and the cult members swagger to
the sound of American rap videos. They are victims of “tortured loyalties” and guns. Adichie reminds
readers that “cult wars had become common”.

The son/brother: Nnamabia, a member of a cult?

The wayward (rebellious) son becomes a symbol of the anarchic (lawless) state of Nigeria. He is
typical of the 17-year-old “sons of professors” who are joining gangs or cults and who are
undermining (going against) authority. Adichie is critical of such boys are becoming used to a
Western lifestyle. They have been brought up watching Sesame Street, reading Enid Blyton and
eating cornflakes for breakfast. These same boys are those who are stealing from their own,
wealthy, families, and these same “professor parents”, Adichie, suggests, turn a blind eye, and
complain about the “riffraff from town”.

Nnamabia robs their house and steals the mother’s jewelry. Ironically the priest encourages
members of the congregation (church) to, “go in peace” at the very moment that Nnamabia is
robbing the mother’s jewels. The narrator comments that her brother often goes for a smoke or
visits a girl. The father and the sister instinctively knew that Nnamabia was the thief because of the
nature of the robbery. He returns after two weeks and admits that he has lost the money.

This time, Osita, Professor Ebube’s son, stole the TV and the parents condone (overlook) the theft. In
this regard, Adichie criticises both the children, who lack a sense of morality, and their parents, who
have over-indulged (spoilt) their children and have failed to instil in them a sense of (African) pride
and responsibility. Adichie criticises the mother who constantly makes excuses for her son and
rationalises his irresponsible and wayward behaviour.

The breakdown of laws in society reflects the breakdown of the family.

Also, Adichie foregrounds the rivalry between brother and sister, which reveals her concerns at the
gender imbalance in Nigerian society.
The narrator is incensed (angry) that the parents constantly spoil Nnamabia and condone (overlook)
his faults. At one stage, she points out that the family is spending a lot of money on petrol to make
the three hour visit. The mother makes the narrator feel guilty because of her uncaring attitude. Her
look says “I could sit there and do nothing while my innocent brother suffered”. So angry, the
narrator picks up a stone near the “ixora bush and hurled it at the windshield of the Volvo” and
scores a small victory. She notes that nobody “went to see Nnamabia that day”.

In this case, Adichie starts with the robbery to show the brother’s personal growth. He shows that he
is capable of doing the right thing and defending the old man.

After a shooting on campus, N is arrested and suspected of being a member of a cult with three
other boys. (his change)
A brutal, corrupt and aggressive government

The constant backdrop of brutality in stories such as Cell One and The American Embassy warns
readers of the difficult lives endured by people in Nigeria and their desperate desire to escape.

Adichie constantly reinforces the power of the soldiers to show their lack of compassion; their
disregard for human rights and their indifference towards the citizens of Nigeria. The soldiers are
indifferent (do not care about) to human rights. The family have to bribe the policemen and the
mother always brings “jollof rice” to ensure that Nnamabia receives better treatment.
As the mother notes, if the police cannot find their victim, they will lock up relatives and do not care
if they have committed a crime. (15) Nnamabia knows that the old man “did nothing”. He is
completely blameless. He has not seen his son for four months and he is treated shamefully by the
police.

In Cell One, the old father is imprisoned because they cannot find the son/suspected criminal. He is
dehumanised, humiliated and treated contemptuously. To secure a “free bucket of water” he had to
take his clothes off and parade the corridor. “The cell mates were laughing.” (20)

Cell One: Everyone is scared of Cell One because it is a place of brutal torture.

Family members experience an overwhelming sense of fear as they seek to track down their son,
Nnamabia because they know that the prison system is unjust and the policemen and guards are
harsh. Even the prisoners themselves fear Cell One which is deemed (considered) to be worse than
their current conditions. The son could not “imagine a place worse than his cell which was so
overcrowded that he often stood pressed against the cracked wall”. (12)

The senior policeman’s “blank face” kindles their feelings of rage and anger at a system that
dispenses so easily with the lives of its citizens. As the narrator recalls, their encounter with the
policeman is filled with dread because “each of us suspected privately that Nnamabia had been
killed by trigger-happy policemen and that this man’s job was to find the best lie to tell us about how
he had died”. (18)
The son is transferred to Cell One because, as the policeman says euphemistically, he “misbehaved”.
Their fear is palpable and the author constantly repeats the daughter’s feelings. She felt “chilled by
fear” and her “heart was beating” as they drove across to the “deserted” part of town where unruly
prisoners are despatched.

(Violence and aggression) As a foreshadowing device, Adichie recounts the incident of two
policemen who were “flogging somebody who was lying on the ground under the umbrella tree”.
(17) The boy on the ground was “writhing and shouting with each lash of a policeman’s koboko”, but
it was not Nnamabia. However, the son is not immune from punishment. (he does not escape
punishment). When he is released, “he came close enough for my mother to hug him and I saw him
wince and back away; his left arm was covered in soft-looking welts. Dried blood was caked around
his nose”.

The policeman seeks to excuse and rationalise the brutality. His advice to the narrator’s parents
reflects the attitude of many in positions of authority. He tells the parents, “you cannot raise your
children well, all of you people who feel important because you work in the university. When your
children misbehave, you think they not be punished. You are lucky, madam, very lucky that they
released him”.
However, in this case it is ironic because Nnamabia has been punished, not because of his arrogant
(supercilious) behaviour but because he probably questioned the brutal treatment of the old man
and sought to defend his dignity.

The son’s change in attitude

In this case, Adichie starts with the robbery to show the brother’s personal growth. He shows that he
is capable of doing the right thing and defending the old man.

Ironically, after the narrator’s angry outburst, she notices a marked change in her brother the next
day. He looked “oddly sober, an expression I had not seen before”. He is affected by the treatment
of the old man. The brother cannot eat his rice. He speaks “even-toned” and becomes more
‘subdued” (quiet and reflective).

Nnamabia explains why he was transferred to Cell One. He tried to defend the old man and protests
his innocence. He told the policeman “that if they kept him here they would never find his son
because he did not even know where his son was. They said I should shut up immediately or they
would take me to Cell One. I didn’t care. I didn’t shut up.”

This is a remarkable change for a boy who was stealing his mother’s jewellery .

Adichie does not recount Nnamabia’s traumatic experiences as he tries to resist the unjust
treatment of the old man, but she fills in the gaps from her own assumptions and intuitions. She
repeats the phrase, “instead I imagined him raising his voice” and gives a picture of the typical
actions that are likely to transpire. She also asks us to imagine that those in positions of power
would be “stunned at the audacity of the handsome boy from the university” because of his stance.

The fact that Nnamabia “misbehaved” reveals his own personal turmoil. He evidently sought to
challenge or question the authorities and their treatment of the old man. The son reveals that he
seems to be struggling with his principles and his views about human rights. If he misbehaves, it is
ironically, not because he is stupid or arrogant, as the policeman suggests. It is because he questions
the harsh and unjust use of authority.