Mind Map A Private Experience

My mind map explanation for ‘A Private Experience’ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was written to regard conflict between religion and ethnic backgrounds. The story takes place in Kano Nigeria at a market where Chika (the protagonist) and her sister Nnedi went to buy some produce. Suddenly, a riot began causing Chika to lose her sister in the crowd, she was rush to safety by a woman who led her to a small rundown store to hide. (In my mind map I added a picture of rundown stores in Nigeria to give you a better understanding of the setting.)We quickly learn how different Chika and the woman’s lifestyles are. The woman was at the market to sell produce and Chika was there for vacation. Almost all Chika’s thoughts were based on the fact of how much better off she was than the woman. “I dropped everything” She does not add that the handbag was a Burberry, an original one that her mother had bought on a recent trip to London.” The story is limited omniscient therefore we only know the thoughts of Chika’s not the woman’s but if I were to infer, the women knows Chika isn’t from here. We learn the riot started when a man drove over a copy of the Holy Koran. The woman is very familiar with the riot and stays calm throughout it, despite being worried about her daughter, she knew that the smartest thing to do is to stay put and look for her afterwards. The woman was very aware of her personal responsibilities. Chika feels as if she doesn’t belong here, like this is the type of things she reads about. “Riots like this were what she read about in the Newspaper. Riots like this were what happened to other people.” They begin to chat about Chika’s family and how she is in university practicing medicine. The woman then explained that her nipple is burning so she took her blouse off inferring for Chika to examine it for her. Chika and the woman communicated very well with each other, not only with talking but with their body language, Chika could infer the woman wanted her help without Her even asking. The incident somewhat created a bond between them. (That’s why I chose a picture of two woman holding hands.)As the crowds settle down and the smoke clears Chika decides to go and when she did the streets were empty and silent. (I choose the picture with the cars and empty street to show how the people left so quickly to get out of danger. It gives me zombie apocalypse vibes.) As she walked along it nearly in a daze, she almost doesn’t see the burned body along the side of the road. “When she sees the body. She almost doesn’t see it, walks so close to it that she feels its heat.” She couldn’t tell if the body was Igbo or Hausa, Christian or Muslim.” Which is funny to think that this whole riot started over religion and ethnicity and once it was over you can’t even tell who was killed or who “won.” The theme is how religion and ethnic background don’t matter cause in the end were all just people. Chika was so overwhelmed that she bolted back towards the store not realizing she cut her leg. When she made it back into the store the woman wet a piece of her scarf and wrapped it around Chika’s wound. Chika wakes up to the woman opening the window saying, “danger is finished.” Chika will walk home and pick up a stone and realize she will never see her sister again. But in the moment, her and the woman smile at each other acknowledging this will be the last time they will see each other.  

 

Edited by ash Malikzada