The Thing Around Your Neck

The Immigrant Experience is a major theme of “Imitation.” Nkem struggles to align her feelings of frustration and isolation with the status she feels she has as the wife of a rich man who brought his family to the US. Though she misses Nigeria, she also struggles due to the parts about living in the US that she enjoys. As a fellow immigrant from Nigeria to the US says to her “But how can I live in Nigeria again? she said. When you’ve been here so long, you’re not the same, you’re not like the people there. How can my children blend in?” (27-28). Obiora’s focus on Nigerian art and his decoration of his American home with imitation pieces shows this divide between origin and place. The suburban American house is filled with these imitations, just like Nkem is stuck in an imitation of a marriage where her husband is almost never there.

These feelings also show the struggle that Nkem has with not just the US, but also with the ideals she was brought up with. She states that “At first, when she had come to America to have the baby, she had been proudly excited because she had married into the coveted league, the Rich Nigerian Men Who Sent Their Wives to America to Have Their Babies league” (25). She says of Obiora’s proposal that it wasn’t really necessary for him to ask as he could have just told her what to do. Her motivations for following this path are shown to be her sense of duty: Before she married Obiora and acquired financial stability for her family, she was upset “that she could not do any of the things expected of the First Daughter” (29). The story thus shows that Nkem struggles not only because she feels isolated in her marriage, but also because she feels isolated in her role for her family.

The story also emphasizes class divides. Nkem’s isolation and Obiora’s absence are motivated by Obiora’s desire for power and status, the likes of which he would not have living in the US. He stays in Nigeria most of the time because “America does not recognize Big Men. Nobody says ‘Sir! Sir!’ to them in America” (28). Nkem’s relationship with Obiora is itself motivated by their difference in class—she married him because he was wealthy and willing to provide for her and her family. He has undeniable power over her because of this, with Nkem ceding all major decisions in the relationship to him. Nkem’s feelings toward the young maid they brought from Nigeria, Amaechi, are also complicated by class divides. Nkem complains that “It is what America does to you, she thinks. It forces egalitarianism on you. You have nobody to talk to, really, except for your toddlers, so you turn to your housegirl. And before you know it, she is your friend. Your equal” (28). This statement adds more nuance to Obiora’s absence—not only does Nigeria offer him the respect he wants, but also American social norms might be something he specifically wants to avoid.