Cell one
Cell One (2007) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a short story that addresses issues of police corruption and class politics in Adichie’s home country of Nigeria. Utilizing themes of The Dangers of the Bandwagon Effect, The Harms of Privilege-Fueled Apathy, and The Normalization of Violence Under Oppressive Systems, Adichie paints a portrait of these societal issues through the lens of one erudite family’s crisis when their son is arrested and imprisoned. This social critique is in-keeping with Adichie’s body of work, which focuses largely on confronting oppressive power structures enforced in Nigerian and American societies, such as sexism and racism..
Quotes
[edit]- Osita [who] was two years older than Nnamabia”
- (Paragraph 7).
- The vice chancellor announced that all evening classes were cancelled and everyone had to be indoors by 9 p.m. This did not make much sense to me, since the shooting happened in sparkling daylight
- He thought the police would have to do better; everyone knew the cult boys had more modern guns
- If we ran Nigeria like this cell," he said, "we would have no problems in this country. Things are so organized. Our cell has a Chief called General Abacha and he has a second in command. Once you come in, you have to give them some money. If you don't, you're in trouble.
- And when he told her she placed both hands on her head and cried, ‘Oh! Oh! Chi m egbuo m! My God has killed me!’ I wanted to slap her.”
- (Paragraph 4)
- Boys who had grown up watching ‘Sesame Street,’ reading Enid Blyton, eating cornflakes for breakfast and attending the university staff primary school in polished brown sandals were now cutting through the mosquito netting of their neighbors’ windows, sliding out glass louvres, and climbing in to steal TVs and VCRs.”
- (Paragraph 6)
- I don’t know whether Nnamabia felt remorse for stealing her jewelry. I could not always tell from my brother’s gracious, smiling face what he really felt.”
- (Paragraph 9)