Structure

The short story “Ghosts” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie follows a mainly chronological plot structure.

The story begins in medias res, with James Nwoye, the narrator and main character, claiming that he met a man he thought was dead: 

Today I saw Ikenna Okoro, a man I had long thought was dead. Perhaps I should have bent down, grabbed a handful of sand, and thrown it at him, in the way my people do to make sure a person is not a ghost.

The abrupt statement from the beginning captures the reader’s interest, as the...