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Nwamgba
In "The Headstrong Historian," Grace/Afamefuna is the daughter of Anikwenwa and Mgbeke, and she seems to possess her grandfather Obierika's soul. Though Anikwenwa insists that Grace receive a Western and Christian education, Grace is very close to her grandmother Nwamgba and loves her grandmother's poetry and stories. As she grows up, Grace comes to resent her father for rejecting tradition so strongly. She makes it her life project to write about Nigerian history and connect with her roots. As an old woman, Grace legally changes her name to Afamefuna, the name her grandmother called her.
Grace / Afamefuna Quotes in The Thing Around Your Neck
The The Thing Around Your Neck quotes below are all either spoken by Grace / Afamefuna or refer to Grace / Afamefuna. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Headstrong Historian Quotes
It was Grace who would read about these savages, titillated by their curious and meaningless customs, not connecting them to herself until her teacher, Sister Maureen, told her she could not refer to the call-and-response her grandmother had taught her as poetry because primitive tribes did not have poetry.
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The narrator describes Grace's changing understanding of her roots over the course of her lifetime, beginning with this early realization that she herself is related to these "savages" she reads about in her textbooks. This passage sets up first of all that Grace, who is a young African girl, initially doesn't see herself as such. Her education thus far has been a Western one, and one that teaches Grace to identify with her Western teachers and their culture rather than her Nigerian roots. Essentially, her education seeks to first deny her access to her Nigerian heritage. Then, when Grace does Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corpori
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Grace / Afamefuna Character Timeline in The Thing Around Your Neck
The timeline below shows where the character Grace / Afamefuna appears in The Thing Around Your Neck. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Headstrong Historian
...the boy. Mgbeke has several more miscarriages and then has a girl. She names her Grace, and Nwamgba calls her Afamefuna. Nwamgba knows that her granddaughter has Obierika's spirit. Grace shows...
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When Grace leaves for school, Nwamgba knows she's going to die soon. Anikwenwa wants to baptize her...
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In Grace's schoolbag is a book about the "pacification" of Nigerian tribes. She goes on to read...
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In college in 1950, Grace changes her degree to history after hearing about a Nigerian man who resigned from an...
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As an older woman, Grace goes to the courthouse and changes her name to Afamefuna. As a child, however, sitting...
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