Chinaza's Food (Olfactory Imagery)
In "The Arrangers of Marriage," Chinaza cooks coconut rice for Ofodile. Shirley, the couple's neighbor, tells Chinaza that her cooking has caused the entire building to smell. This makes Ofodile self-conscious, as he does not want to be known "as the people who fill the building with smells of foreign food." Chinaza's food indicates her customs and her identity. When Chinaza tells her to change her cooking style and prepare American food, he attempts to hide his own background in an effort to assimilate to American culture.
Nonso's Fall (Visual Imagery)
When Nonso falls from the tree, the narrator recounts his death in vivid detail. As he lies on the ground with blood spilling from his head, the narrator makes a conscious choice not to call for help. The blood spilling indicates the situation's gravity and rising intensity. In choosing to remain passive, the narrator demonstrates her motivations for her brother's incident. This indicates the narrator's issues with her treatment as a woman in her family.
Phone Conversations (Auditory Imagery)
A number of characters, such as Nkem, Kamara, and Akunna, are separated from their Nigerian families in the United States. Their only method of communication is through phones. Phone conversations represent the difficulties of the immigrant experience and the hardships of distance. The characters experience connectivity and communication issues through phones, and they are unable to determine the truth and motivations of the individuals on the other end. In this way, relationships and connections to home become strained.
Hair Styles (Visual Imagery)
Hair is a visual image that reveals the status and the differences between characters. Kamara has natural hair, but when she meets Tracy, a black American woman with braids, she feels a desire to have braided hair as well. In "On Monday of Last Week," Kamara's desire to have a different style of hair is an image that represents cultural assimilation—she wants to have the hairstyle of someone who better meets Western beauty standards. In "The Thing Around Your Neck," Akunna mentions her boyfriend’s blonde hair a number of times. The contrast between her hair and her boyfriend's hair becomes an image that represents the couple's different races.
