Discussion Topic
The role and character of Adah in Second-Class Citizen
Summary:
Adah, in Second-Class Citizen, is the protagonist who embodies resilience and determination. Despite facing systemic racism and gender discrimination in 1960s Britain, she strives for a better life for herself and her children. Adah's journey highlights her strength and perseverance as she navigates the challenges of being an immigrant and a woman in a prejudiced society.
What is Adah Ofili's role in Second-Class Citizen?
Throughout Second-Class Citizen, our protagonist, Adah Ofili, is expected to fulfill a variety of roles. She is a dutiful daughter, and after tragedy strikes, she becomes a ward and slave. Later, she becomes a wife, breadwinner, and mother. At the end of the novel, she stands up for herself and pursues an independent future for herself and her children.
In terms of the story that Buchi Emecheta is telling, I would argue that Adah Ofili’s role is portraying a powerful woman who is capable of bringing change to her life and who has the courage to defy the patriarchal norms laid out by her society. For starters, she remains determined to get an education. Even when her father, who was fairly liberal, passes away and Adah is sent to the “care” of abusive relatives, she manages, against the odds, to continue to pursue her education.
Adah’s role bridges...
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the divide between what is expected of young women in Nigeria and what Adah herself, as a free-thinking, strong woman, wants from her life. She knows that she is expected to marry but chooses for herself to not marry a much older man. She accepts her role as a wife, which leads to her having five children.
Through her job at the library, she resolves to take more control of her life, and when Francis burns the manuscript of the novel that Adah has written and savagely beats her, Adah realizes that it is time to pursue an independent role.
Who is the character Adah in Second-Class Citizen?
At the start of this novel, Adah is a young Nigerian girl who has dreams of getting an education and making something of her life. By the end, she is a battered wife determined to leave her husband, the devoted mother of numerous children, the author of a manuscript that she wants to have published, and a woman determined to be in control of her own destiny.
Adah strikes a fine balance between meeting the demands that Nigerian society places on her and being determined to forge her own destiny. From a young age, she fights to be allowed to get an education. Her tenacity creates a way for her to complete her secondary education, but in her culture, she knows she will have to marry in order to pursue a tertiary education. She becomes Francis Obi's wife and serves as a breadwinner for him and his family throughout most of the story. When she joins Francis in London, she quickly realizes that she will no longer have the same respected role in society that she had in Lagos. In other words, Adah becomes a "second-class citizen."
Throughout the novel, Adah shows herself to be a woman of strength and resourcefulness. Despite her reservations about having more children, she is a dutiful wife who, at least for most of the story, submits to her husband. At the end, however, she breaks free. Despite being pregnant with a fifth child, she resolves to make a life for herself and her children without her abusive, controlling husband.
What is the role and character of Adah in Second-Class Citizen?
The role of Adah in Second-Class Citizen is to highlight the problems encountered by the wave of post-war immigrants in the United Kingdom.
Adah's experiences are fairly representative of those immigrants from Commonwealth countries in the 1950s and 1960s. During this time, the United Kingdom faced severe labor shortages, and they were filled to a large extent by immigrants from lands that either formed or used to form part of the British Empire.
As with so many of her fellow immigrants, Adah has to face problems such as a sudden change in climate, racism, prejudice, and a general lack of understanding by society toward her plight. To make matters worse, she has to deal with a chauvinistic husband who treats her like dirt.
Nevertheless, Adah is nothing if not a strong character. Whatever problems she encounters, she bounces right back and gets on with her life. A highly intelligent, independent-minded woman, Adah is determined to change her life and become a writer. Such a project requires real guts and persistence, especially given the many problems in her life. That Adah is eventually able to achieve her goal is a testament to her fortitude and drive.
In Second-Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta, the protagonist, Adah, evolves throughout the novel in several ways. Adah is a natural optimist as a young girl and is willing to ignore or justify abusive behavior from Francis. This acceptance of his behavior continues as she joins him in London, where the accommodations are inadequate. Francis burns her manuscripts and beats her repeatedly, squashing any hopes of a happy life as a writer, wife, and mother.
After the birth of her fourth child, a birth she had unsuccessfully tried to avoid, Adah becomes hardened to the realities of the world and the certainty that Francis is irredeemable. At this point, Adah decides to leave Francis and is forced to take full physical and financial responsibility for their four children. Francis even destroys the children’s documents and denies his paternity. Life’s circumstances have led to a shift in Adah and her approach to life. Those circumstances also strengthen her resolve. At the end of the novel, Adah has completed her manuscript, The Bride’s Price.