Cell One

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses police violence, gang violence, sexual assault, and colorism.

Though the story is narrated by his younger sister, Nnamabia functions as the story’s dynamic protagonist, undergoing a journey rife with political conflict and self-realization that drives the narrative forward. In his sister’s eyes, he is charming and carefree but also disingenuous and shallow. These character flaws are at the root of the story’s conflict, since they motivate the bad behavior that eventually leads to his arrest. Above all, a selfish need to attain popularity by adhering to the mentality of the boys around him leads Nnamabia down a criminal path, demonstrating The Dangers of the Bandwagon Effect. The narrator assesses his intentions in the wake of the gold robbery, observing, “[h]e had done it, too, because other sons of professors were doing it” (Paragraph 6). Here, his blatant disregard for his mother’s feelings demonstrates his self-centered performativity at the expense of empathy.

By the end of the story, however, Nnamabia develops into a conscientious, empathetic character who recognizes the cruelty of the violent systems in which he has participated. This change is catalyzed when he witnesses the senseless cruelty levied against an innocent old man brought to the prison by police and other prisoners.