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The United States of America, often referred as the earth of the opportunities, causes thousands of people to abandon their homes and their homeland to experience the American dream. In the short story “The Thing Around Your Neck” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie the main character, a Nigerian woman, Akunna, wins a the American visa lottery, and she is rewarded with the chance to go to the United States of America. Akunna goes to America to experience the American dream but it is then cut short when she is subjected to sexual abuse at the hand of her uncle. In this literary work the author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie portrays the main characters experiences with the clash in cultures, gender conflict, and identity conflict while trying to experience the American dream that she and her family has heard about. One of the themes found in the story was the main character’s , Akunna, experiences with the clashing of cultures upon arriving to the United States of America. We as Americans grow up eating hot dogs and in some places hot dogs are sold on street corners, festivals, family gatherings, and in people’s homes. But when people from other countries travel to the United States they are not used to the food that is eaten by the majority of Americans. Upon arriving, Akunna’s uncle buys her a hot dog with mustard and ends up getting sick, an “introduction to America” her uncle tells her. Akunna gets sick because she is not accustomed to the hot dog which happens to be a part of the American culture. Not long after, with the help of her uncle Akunna then applies for a cashier’s job and enrolls into the local community college. “…he enrolled you in a community college, where the girls had thick thighs and wore bright-red nail polish, and self-tanner that made them look orange. They asked where you learned to speak English and if you had real houses back in Africa and if you’d seen a car before you came to America. They gawped at your hair. Does it stand up or fall down when you take out the braids? They wanted to know.” Here it is clear that both Akunna and the girls at college do not quite understand each others cultures.
Another theme that the author mentions in “The Thing Around Her Neck” was gender conflict.
Due to all of this Akunna then experienced identity conflict. Akunna speaks about how she wants to write because she had stories to tell. The story says “…to write about the surprising openness of people of America.” This shows that she is was surprised about the way that the American people were so open with the details of their life. An example of identity conflict is how “they told you about the mother fighting cancer, about their sister-in-law’s preemie, the things that one would hide or should reveal only to the family members who wished them well.” Akunna is accustomed to keeping such things to herself and does not understand why