Nnamabia In Chimamanda Adichie's Cell One

Nnamabia in the beginning of Chimamanda Adichie’s story, Cell One, is a selfish and apathetic boy. He lies to his family when his father alludes to him being the thief who stole his mother’s jewelry. He tells them “he had done nothing in this case” (Adichie); however, two weeks later he admits that he sold his mother’s jewelry (Adichie). After his admission, his parents still didn’t punish him; nor did they punish him after he sold exam questions, broke a window, or make a replica of the car keys (Adichie). This lack of punishment encouraged him to continue to perform immature actions; it encouraged him to join a cult (I believe he joined a cult), which ultimately resulted in his arrest. It is in prison where Nnamabia finally grows and matures. The first event where Nnamabia starts to mature is when he sees a corpse being dragged out of Cell One. He starts to understand the severity of his situation. But, he still “did not understand how lucky he was… [to be allowed to eat with his family], how stupid he’d been…, and how uncertain his chances [of release were]” (Adichie). The next event that helped Nnamabia mature was the arrival of the old man, whose son was wanted for armed robbery, but since they could not find his son, the police locked him up instead. Nnamabia was upset that the police arrested a man who
When the policemen started to bully the old man into parading around the corridor naked, Nnamabia stands up for the old man and shouted at the policeman that what they were doing was wrong (Adichie). The policemen threatened to take him to the dreaded Cell One if he did not “shut up immediately,” but he didn’t stop, so they took him to Cell One (Adichie). This shows that he has matured; he has showed he cared for the old man by standing up for him even though the policemen threatened him. It shows that he has changed from being a selfish, apathetic, immature boy into an altruistic, empathetic, mature