Themes

The main themes of the short story “Tomorrow Is Too Far” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie are sibling rivalry and parental favoritism, themes that are closely linked. The message of the author with the short story is that parental favoritism can …

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Parental favoritism

The theme of family or parental favoritism is explored through the characters of the parents and the grandmother. In the story, the girl-narrator and her cousin Dozie become invisible to their grandmother who favors her grandson Nonso—the son of her son, the only one to carry the family name further.

The grandmother’s favoritism is culturally influenced. She is a traditionalist Nigerian woman who firmly believes that family pride comes from carrying one’s family name further. She also believes that girls are less important than boys and their only role is to marry and be good wives.

The grandmother makes no effort to conceal her views or the fact that she favors Nonso over her other grandchildren. She only allows Nonso to climb the trees, she gives him coconut water first and she feeds him better than the others. This leads to the narrator feeling invisible and excluded, because she realizes that her brother being the favorite is an arbitrary decision based on gender (for instance, she is a better climber than he is).

But the story reveals that it is not only the narrator’s grandmother who favors Nonso, but also her parents, particularly her mother. The narrator has noticed that her mother a…

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Sibling rivalry (jealousy)

The theme of sibling rivalry or jealousy is explored through the characters of the narrator and her brother. The narrator begins to feel jealous of her brother because the adults in her family make no secret of the fact that they favor Nonso. The grandmother clearly expresses her preference, while the parents do not express it directly, but suggest it through their actions and attitude. As a result, the narrator begins to feel frustrated and invisible, particularly since the adults’ favoritism is not based on merit, but rather on the fact that Nonso is a bo…