Structure

The plot of “Tomorrow Is Too Far” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie can be summarized as follows: upon her grandmother’s death, the narrator recalls how she was responsible for her brother’s death 18 years previously, but she made her parents be…

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Beginning

The short story begins with a long exposition in which the narrator introduces readers to the time and context of the events - 18 years earlier, in her grandmother’s yard in Nigeria:

It was the last summer you spent in Nigeria, the summer before your parents’ divorce, before your mother swore you would never again set foot in…

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Middle

The middle of the short story overlays events from the past with present events, revealing that the story about the death of Nonso is a flashback memory.

The rising action begins by presenting the events following Nonso’s death:  the grandmother’s grief, the reaction of the neighbors, and the phone call to America and the response of the narrator’s mother: “Grandmama screamed at him – at his limp body – saying i laputago m, that he had betrayed her, asking him who would carry on the Nnabuisi name now, who would protect the family lineage?” (p. 25, ll. 32-34); “Are you all right? she kept asking you. Are you all right? She sounded fearful, as though she suspected that you were all right, despite Nonso’s death.” (p. 26, ll. 10-12)

This introduces readers to a second conflict—the one between the narrator and her mother. We gradually find out that, like the grandmother, the mother favored Nonso over her daughter.

The narration jumps to the present time of the action, 18 years later, after the grandmother’s death: “It has been eighteen years and the trees in the yard look unchanged, they still reach out and hug each other...” (p. 26, ll. 32-33); “Even Grandmama’s grave in the backyard seems tiny and you imagine her body being crumpled, folded, to fit a small coffin.” (p. 26, ll. 35-36)

A new flashback is introduced, as the narrator recalls her cousin Dozie picking her up at the airport, and callin…

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Ending

The falling action returns to the present moment, when the narrator and Dozie talk about Nonso and we find out that Dozie failed to stop the narrator not because he wanted to harm Nonso but because he loved the narrator: “He tells you that it did not occur to him to want because what mattered …