Second-Class Citizen By Buchi Emecheta

 

                                                                     AFRICAN PROSE

Second-Class Citize-Buchi Eme

Background of the Novelist

 Buchi Emecheta was born in Lagos in 1944 to Ibuza (Delta State Nigeria) Parents.  She attended Methodist Girls’ High School Yaba and later read a.  Her experiences in London were a major motivation and inspiration for her writing, her work often speaks on sexual politics and racial prejudice. 

 

Emecheta’s works are intersectional in their scope, representing the Diaspora single woman, effects of colonization, and the clash of tradition with modernity. She wrote about nineteen books and she is a mother of five.  Some of her novels include:  In the Pitch, (1972) Second-Class Citizen, (1974), The Joy of Motherhood (1979) The wrestling Match (1980), Destination Biafra (1981), and others, She died in 2017.

 

Setting/Background of the poem

 

 Emecheta’s Second-Class Citizen is a Semi-auto- a biographical novel which is based on Adah’s Childhood in Lagos and early life in London with her husband before she divorced him.  The novel is set in a village called Ibuza and Lagos, Nigeria during World War II.  Although life initially seems rough for Adah, things turn sour when it becomes clear that Francis is physically and emotionally abusive.

 

 This prose narrative is intersectional in its scope, representing the diasporic single woman in its scope, the effects of colonization, and the clash of tradition with modernity.  There is also gender and race issue which cuts across education and poverty, and question traditional ideas regarding women and education.  Here, we will examine the setting of her novel in two broad ways:  Physical setting and historical setting and both effects on the heroine and antagonist.

 

 Firstly, the physical setting is traceable To Ibuza, that is, Adah’s village and London.  It is through Adah’s roots that we discover the culture and tradition of the land, her society is said to be communal in nature, there is this spirit of oneness that exists among them.  We are highly aware of the role of gender and education have played in their lives.  In Ibuza community or in Nigeria, parents often tend to send boys to school and push girls towards marriage.  The main reason for this is because patriarchal cultures typically stigmatize female sexuality as inferior, unclean, intended only for fertility and procreation.

 

  Francis’s sexuality is weaponized against. Adah, has no right to refuse the sexual advances of her husband.  Female children are often considered less important and are flown at, and that is why her date of birth was not recorded, even when she gave birth to her first child, a girl, and is given the “Is” that all look?., despite having a “long and painful ordeal” (112)

 

The second part is a historical setting which is 20^th century when racism and identity the crisis was the order of the day when Adah moves to London with her family. Adah’s experience or encounter with the whites makes her feels that blacks are inferior because their skins are bitter and demoralizing.

 

For instance, Adah and her family are forced out of their accommodation at Ashdown street not because of their inability to pay rent or they have done something wrong to be ejected, but because of the color of their skins Racial discrimination is so visible at this time that some white houses could bear the tag, in “sorry, No coloreds”

 

Plot Account

 

    Buchi Emecheta’s Second-Class Citizen is a novel of personal development known as bildungsroman which deals with a young African woman and her gradual acquisitions of knowledge about herself as a potential artist and about themes of love, marriage, and the subject of student life overseas.  The novel examines Adah’s thorny childhood, her eventual dreams to travel aboard which becomes a reality, her sick and loveless marriage to mischievous Francis – struggle for childbirth and the eventual discovery that the United Kingdom is not London of heaven she was brought up to believe.

 

          Adah’s Ofili who is the protagonist of In the novel she is portrayed as an intelligent, ambitious young girl who has fought against considerable odds to gain education in Lagos,  As a young girl, she has to inject herself into the classroom of a friendly neighboring teacher, Mr. Cole, a Sierra Leonean before she is finally enrolled in school.  This is so because her parents, especially her mother has doubts about the wisdom of sending girls to school.

 

 Tragedy soon visits Adah when her relatively liberal father dies not too long after her registration at school.  She then moves into a relative’s house where she is kept as a ward- cun slave.  After a life of abject misery and exploitation and also by dint of hard work and proper self-motivation.

 

Adah is able to win a scholarship in the highly competitive secondary entrance examination.  Courtesy of the Cousin Vicent’s meat money she stealthily used to pay for the exam.

 

 Fortunately, Adah is to procure a job as a librarian at the American consulate in Lagos. a job that easily brings her the comforts of middle-class life.  This is as a result of a first-rate performance in her school-leaving examinations.  During this same period, she meets Francis Obi, a young student of accounting whom she agrees to marry because he (Francis) thinks she will provide some necessary protection, support, and above all, love for her in Lagos.  Looking at Adah’s salary is convenient means of financial support.  Francis with his parents’ approval decides to go and continue his studies in Britain. The idea is fully accepted by Adah because, in part, it provides an avenue for her to fulfill her own childhood dreams of going to study in England.

 

Francis goes to England and is soon followed by Adah and their three children, Vicky, Titi and Bubu.  From the time she arrives in Britain, Adah begins to notice that England is far different from her fatherland she had been brought up to conjure.  Worse still, she realizes that Francis, who had always been dependent on her, has become even more so and more manipulative in his dealing with her in England.  His lifestyle is now characterized by gross antisocial behavior a feeling of inferiority, laziness and utter irresponsibility, as he neither supports the family financially, materially nor emotionally.  His decision is completely controlled by his family, tradition, ideas, and belief.

 Adah tries at first to support the family and take care of the home.  But it also becomes clear to her that Francis’s irresponsibility is in direct proportion to his desire to create and make more babies which is contrary to Adah’s plan for the family.   When Adah confronts him with this obvious domestic problem, Francis becomes defensive and starts brutalizing and maltreating her endlessly, especially when Adah secretly resorts to the birth control method as a result of Francis's non-compliance and this leads to their temporary separation.

 

   The final clash occurs when, after the birth of their fifth child, (at a time when Adah is barely twenty-two) Francis spitefully burns the manuscript of Adah’s first novel, titled, The Bride Price.

 

 The novel, Second Class Citizen ends with the heroine seizing independence for herself and her five children and with the decision and preparation to begin life anew.  Adah has gradually learned that coming to England is not, and should not necessarily be the pinnacle of one’s dream.

 

She also gets to know, through her experience with the child nanny, Trudy that some British people can be just as dishonest and irresponsible as people anywhere else.  Adah becomes aware of the true nature of racism when she together with Francis, embarks on house-hunting in London.  She is also exposed to petty jealousy and envy from some of her fellow Nigerians living in London.  These characters who include the landlord and landlady of the Ashdown street house, out of spite and malice, do all they can to bring Adah down to the inferior level they have partly allowed society to relegate them to.

 

           It is also true, however, that towards the end of the story, Adah fully recognizes Francis’s absolute lack of love for her as well as the need for her own freedom.  She is greatly assisted in this regard by another character, Who helps her on the part toward the knowledge of her self-worth.  Several of those characters include her boss at the Flinchley Road Library, Mrs. Konrad, and Mr. Okpara, a Nigerian.

 

 

CHAPTER ANALYSIS

Major events in the Novel

 

1. CHILDHOOD

 

The Circumstances surrounding Adah’s birth

 

            Adah who is just eight years old cast her mind back when she was still very tender.  She was given birth when her parent was expecting a baby boy as male children are more valued than females ones.  She is a big disappointment to her expectant parents.  For her birth is insignificant to her family, tribes and nobody bothers to record her date of birth.  She is only aware that she was given birth to during the Second World War.

 

           At this point, the society women in Ibuza village was preparing to welcome the first lawyer,, Nweze from the United Kingdom.  As they are waiting for his arrival, the women composed all sorts of songs to shower encomium and praises on him as a messiah who has done the village proud.

 

 They sincerely hope that he will provide electricity, tarred road and other good things to the people of Ibuza community.  Adah on her part intends to go with her mother and other women to Apapa wharf to welcome lawyer Nweze, but her hope is soon dashed because it falls on a school day.

         

Adah’s obsession for school

 

           Adah’s hunger and passion for formal education is noticeable at a tender age.  The Ibos see education as the savior of poverty and diseases.  But unfortunately, boys are usually given Preference over girls.  Boy, that is, Adah’s brother is a male and he’s already in school, while Adah who is eight is still at home because the parents are still contemplating whether it is wise to send her to school to learn only how to write her name and count.  While Boy is now making progress at Lady-Lak institute, an expensive school in Lagos.  As a result, Adah begins to grow with envy and frustration which is evident in everything she does in the house.  Adah takes secret joy in disobeying her parents just to draw their attention to her plight of not being registered in a school.

 

           One fateful afternoon, a thought strikes Adah-not a mischievous one, but an idea that will see her registered in a school-Methodist school around the corner. Their next-door neighbor, Mr. Cole, a Sierre Leonean teaches in the school.  One morning, Adah sneaks out of the house to enlist herself in the school, when Ma engrosses in a conversation with two women.  With her head up in determination, she walks down the center looking for Mr. Cole’s class.  As soon as Adah walks into the class, some of the children giggle and Mr. Cole is undaunted, but gives her a nod of commendation and walks her to a seat.  Mr. Cole gives her a note of assurance to come again, by also promises to teach her Alphabet. But the thought of her parents’ wrath on her when she gets home overwhelms Adah.  Pa will probably beat her up.  To pacify Adah’s worries of what awaits her at home, Mr. Cole takes her to Bolu's stall and buys her roasted plantain.  He implores her not to get herself worked up.

 

Ma is forced to drink a bowl of garri with water as punishment for child neglect

 

          Back home, there is a serious case against Adah’s Parents, like Pa, her father has been sent for at work, while Ma is already in police custody. charged with child neglect. Adah is declared missing and her parents are said to be responsible.  Ma who has been taken to the police station is forced to drink a bowl of garri with water as punishment for neglecting her child.

 

Adah, and if she insists, she will be taken to court.  Ma tearfully complains to them that she cannot swallow it anymore as a result of exhaustion.  pa pleads with the policemen to pardon her since she has learned her lesson. The chief policewoman considers her plea but warns Ma that if such a thing happens again, she will personally take her to the court.

 

           Meanwhile, the news about how Adah nearly sent her mother to prison spreads like wildfire.  She feels triumphant, especially when she heard Pa’s friend advising him to allow Adah to start school.  Consequently for Adah’s action that almost sent Ma to prison.  Pa administers her some strokes of canes for Ma’s benefit.

 

            Long before Adah begin to shed tears profusely.  Pa tries to pacify her and he calls her by her pet name,  Nnenna which means “father’s mother”. How she came by that name is a story in itself.  There is a reincarnation story surrounding that name.  It was believed that Pa’s mother who died when he was five had vowed she would come back again to compensate him for leaving him so young.  So Adah was loaded with names as she possessed the striking resemblance of Pa’s mother.  But she is well-known for the name.

 

Adah, when she eventually starts Methodist Girls’ High School in Lagos. Again then, Adah is also nursing her dream of traveling to the United Kingdom someday not even her father who is a railwayman can stop her.

2. ESCAPE INTO ELITISM

 

The fate of Adah’s dreams

 

          Adah’s dream of a bright future becomes bleak as she experiences a setback when she lost her father. She is to live with her mother’s elder brother as a servant, and Ma is inherited by Pa’s elder brother.  And Boy is conditioned to live with one of Pa’s cousins.  The money in the family, which is hundred pounds, would be spent on Boy’s education.  Adah’s education would have been put on hold, but for the people.  They consider that the more education she acquires the bigger her future bride price (dowry).

 

Contrarily, nobody is interested in her person, except for the money she will fetch and the tedious housework.  She had to wake up as earlier as four-thirty to fetch water in all the available containers in her new home.  Meanwhile, Ma is not happy with her new husband.  Adah on her part sees her mother's second marriage as a betrayal of Pa, and she also nurses the idea of getting married to a rich man early enough to bail Ma out of financial difficulties. But the only men that keep coming are the big ones with bald heads.  She personally admits that she cannot settle down with a man whom she will treat as master and refers to as sir.

 

          The thoughts of having to leave school and the required fees to take the entrance examination worries, Adah severely.  On this fateful day, one of her cousins.  Vincent gives Adah two shillings to buy meat for him at the market called Sand ground.  Her hope of writing the entrance examination comes alive when she uses the money to pay for the exam fee.  She tries to cook up a story to justify her actions, but Vincent refuses to believe and accept any.

After a hundred and five strokes of the cane on her body.  Vincent vows never to have anything to do with her.  Luckily for Adah, she not only passes the entrance examination but also gets the scholarship with full board.  Her dream is to go to Ibadan University to study Classics, but could not afford the money because of the burden of life.

 

Adah’s Marriage to Francis Obi and the trip to England

 

           Adah decides to marry Francis who is reading to be an Accountant.

Francis is too poor to pay five thousand pounds as bride price, Ma and other members of her family asked for because Adah is educated – “College trained”.  Consequently, upon this, none of her family members attends the wedding.  This wedding in question is a hilarious one, as the priest refuses to join them without a ring, for they couldn’t afford one.  The priest asks the couple to come back the next day before the wedding would hold.  When they are wedded the following day, they travel home on a bus. 

 

After the wedding, things begin to assume a new shape for the better.  Adah gets pregnant and delivers of a baby girl called Titi, Then, after endless interview and form fillings, Adah is selected to work, as a librarian at the American Consulate to work, as a librarian at Compell street.  The fact that she receives three times Francis's salary worries her deeply when Francis seeks advice from his father on what to do because even his colleagues at work will mock him.  His father replies, “you are a fool of a man.  Where will she take the money to?  Her people “Francis’s dad advises Francis to support her since the money is coming into their house.

 

           Suddenly, Adah begins to nurse her dream of traveling to the United Kingdom and she implores her husband to save towards it in order to measure up with the likes of lawyer Nweze of Ibuza who swims in money and whose reputation has gone far and wide.  Meanwhile, Adah offers prayers to God so that Francis’s father could concur to their decision of going to the land of her dreams because Francis is like a puppet in their hands-he can be easily manipulated Luckily, Francis breaks the news to Adah after the evening meal.  “Pa had agreed” Francis bellows.  Adah who is full of happiness just could not listen to hear other parts of the gist which will soon swallow her joy,  “Father does not approve of women going to the U.K.. you will pay for me and look after yourself, and within three years.  I‘ll be back”  (30) Francis stammers.  His father is also of the opinion that since Adah is earning more than most people who have been to England, why must she lose her good job just to go and see London?  Adah is most disappointed about the outcome of her dream to England.  She needs to be as cunning as a serpent but as harmless as a dove. She would get down working on her in-law and working on them very hard until they let her go.

 

Francis’s departure to England

 

           Plans for Francis’s departure are underway.  This time, Adah has spent much money to get him a passport through bribery and other means.  That night of his departure, Francis takes a group photograph with his family, but Adah refuses to pose and appear in the photograph.  Maybe she is too heavy with the new child.  A long prayer is offered to River Uboshi by relatives of Francis’s family.  The goddess in Ibuza is requested to guide Francis, to keep him from the evil eye of white girls, to make him pass his examination in good time, to bless him with all the money in England.  On the contrary, Adah wonders within herself whether this act is in tune with the Bible which says God is a Jealous God visiting the iniquity of fathers upon the children unto the third generation of them that hate him.  Although she is skeptical about Francis’s faith as a Jehovah witness.  He behaves like one whenever he feels like or an exercise for being selfish.  Whenever he feels like or as an excuse for being selfish.  He has once acted contrary to his faith when he gave blood to Adah during her first pregnancy.

 

           The whole family turns out to wish Francis a safe journey at the airport at Ikeja.  Everybody weeps profusely except  Adah, but she tries to shed tears to show that she cares about her husband all to no avail.  Only for Adah to cry as soon as Francis leaves.  Francis writes to Adah accusing her in the letter of her inability to mourn for his departure.  “You were very happy to see me go.. Was that why you didn’t wish to appear in my send-off photograph” You did not care for me”  (34) Francis blasts, Adah.

 

           Adah who is still burning with the desire to go to England wins over her mother-in-law after so much persuasion,  “You will be the envy of all your friends mind you, in England, I’ll work and still send you money” (35) But Francis’s who is still father is still in doubt believes and knows the pay attached to being unemployed and jobs don’t come easy in a foreign land.

 

           Adah’s mind is awash with the thought of leaving the land of her birth.  She meets Boy again, and both of them cry and must work hard to keep the family name going.  One thing is certain for Adah: she might not return a millionaire, but she will come back with pride.  She makes her mother-in-law believe a night before they will only stay a year and six months

 

 

3.  A COLD WELCOME

 

 Adah encounters first disappointment in England

 

            After long hours, on the ships, Adah arrives Liverpool, England-part of the city looks uninhabited by humans.  As a result, she likes changing her mind but she reminds herself not to do so because if people like lawyer Nweze and others could survive  It, so could she.  She notices Francis is not the same person she used to know because she stuns when he kisses her in public, with everybody looking.  Francis also reveals that people do work then this for the name of civilization.  “In England, people make jokes of even things as serious as death” (30) Francis also admits that their separation has made  Adah bold when she accuses Francis of Iying about death.

 

           Adah is greeted with another disappointment when they get to Francis’s horrific accommodation.  Virtually, all the houses are jammed together for lack of availability of lands.  Adah will share the house with one Nigerian who calls her madam at home.  Francis tries to pacify her not to worry and that accommodation is very short in London… African students are usually grouped together, We are all blacks all colored, and the only houses we can get are horrors like these.  Francis reassures his wife.

 

Adah who is not still satisfied with Francis’s explanation opines that she should have thought of her young children who will always bring her into contact with the neighbors,  “You could have got better accommodation if you had really tried.  But you didn’t try hard enough, (42) Adah yells.  Francis makes bold to explain to her that the lifestyle in Africa is two way different from the one in London when he say “You may be living like elite, but the day you land in England, you are a second-class citizen.  So you can’t discriminate against your whole people because we are all second-class” (43).

 

          However, Adah decides to move on with her life and face reality. At first, Francis pesters her to get a job at a shirt factory since he’s still at school, but she obliges and refuses to work with commoners with little or no education.  As luck would have it  Adah is accepted to work as a senior library assistant at North Finchley Library, but the news of her third child, Bubu on the way, ruins her happiness when Titi is barely two and Vicky nine month old.  At first, Francis blames her for the baby and he’s sure she will lose the job during a medical examination.  This scares Adah the more who is excited because if she had not got the job her marriage would have broken up.

 

 

4.  THE DAILY MINDER

 

Adah’s first difficult task as a mother

 

 Three months have passed since Adah arrives in the United Kingdom. She gains employment at the Finchley library.  She works under the chief librarian, known as Mrs. Konrad, from the Czech who is very friendly.  But while Adah is happy that she is having a first-class citizen’s job, the problem of whom to take care of her children lingers on.  Francis is not ready to do that.  Their childless landlord and landlady resent Francis’s idea of bringing his children to England in the first place.  They wish Adah to foster them away, because no African child lives with his parents and it is not convenient.  At first, Ojos advised Adah to send the children to Nigeria because only first-class citizens lived with their children, not the blacks”

 

 At about this time, Adah meets Janet, Nr. Babalola’s wife and they become friends.  Mr. Babalola came to London through a North Nigerian scholarship to read Journalism, but could not continue with it because he wasted all the funds.  He met Janet at a telephone Kiosk who was pregnant for an unknown West Indian guy.  Her stepfather sent her out for her refusal to give away the child.  Her story touched Babalola who agreed to take her in at the age of sixteen.  She became pregnant again with her second child, now  Babalola’s.

 

          As friends, Adah confides in Janet and she suggests that Adah should look for a daily minder for her children until the Nursery has vacancies for them.  Things become worse for Adah when Francis failed his summer examinations, and he blames it all on her.  Francis feels that Adah refuses to give her children out to be fostered. She becomes also pregnant so soon after her arrival.  All these contributed to his failure.  Francis has forgotten so soon that he attempted the first examination five times before he could pass it.

 

Miserable Trudy, the temporary relief

 

 Mr. Babalola introduces Adah to Trudy, a registered daily minder who has two children and she has agreed to take care of Adah’s children Vicky and Titi.  Adah still feels uneasy with Trudy’s personality and she starts paying a visit to Trudy’s house to monitor her.  One fateful day, Adah discovers that Trudy's house is a complete slum, filled with rubbish, broken furniture, very close to an uncovered dustbin is the smelling old toilet.

 

 On another occasion, Adah is on her way to the clinic at Malden Road and she decides to stroll in to visit the children shortly.  Trudy who is busy inside with a man that looks like either her loving husband, has left the children unattended to.  Vicky is busy pulling rubbish out of the bin while Titi is washing hands and face with the water leaking from the toilet and Vicky is without a nappy on.  Adah flares up in anger and reports what she saw to Miss Stirling. the children officer and she reprimands.  Trudy to mend her way and she (Trudy) pleads tearfully for more chance to make amends.  Apart from the fact that Trudy is a chronic liar, her personality is sort of vulgar. Adah pressurizes Mrs. Stirling to find a nursery place for her children.  She prays to God not to allow something horrid to happen to her Children.

 

5.  AN EXPENSIVE LESSON

 

Adah begins to feel loveless marriage

 

 Adah wakes up one morning very tired, and the reasons may be attributed to fatigue, their poor living condition, cramped together in one half-room, or her constant worry about the way Vicky and Titi are being treated – her pregnancy.  She feels that even Francis will not care to know how his pregnant wife feels,  “Would that be too much to ask”  (81) Adah wonders.  It is only the cry of Vicky that wakes him up.   “Can’t I even have eight hours sleeping peace?  “(61) Francis demands angrily.  Adah has told herself to stop being over-romantic and soft, and also begins to understand why some young wives go out of their way to become unfaithful to make themselves feel as humans for the man who will listen to their voices.

 

 At first, Adah pleads with Francis to take the children to Trudy before she leaves for work.  At work, Adah meets Cynthia who is engaged and getting ready to marry and she is very sure her marriage will work.  And unfortunate news flies in while they are both looking for a restaurant to cool off.  Trudy had phoned in that Vicky is very ill.  Adah runs quickly to Trudy’s house.  But what Adah sees is horrible sight – Trudy is holding Vicky and she is wiping his face with a rag as filthy as an old mop head.  She claims to be cooling his temperature with the water that is equally dirty.  At this point, the Indian doctor declares that they are expecting an ambulance that will convey Vicky to Royal Free Hospital.

 

At first Adah attributes the sickness to be ordinary but malaria or that he’s running a high temperature “I think it is malaria, children do have it at home… just as you have common colds “(65) Adah assures herself.  She also views anything free with suspicion and reluctance because in Nigeria, the fatter your purse, the more intensive your treatment. Adah does not believe something meaningful could be done in a free hospital.  The nurse and two doctors reassure Adah that sorts of samples will be taken from Vicky before treatment, and he will be put under observation in an isolated room in the hospital.  She is asked to go home, but Adah is reluctant.

 

Adah learn her lesson a hard way

 

          Three days later, Vicky is diagnosed to have contracted viral meningitis.  Adah wonders where he could have gotten such illness from because there is no record of such in her family.  “His chances of surviving are very slim from statistics I checked in a medical encyclopedia.  I want to know where my son got this virus.  The medical books say he must have taken it through his mouth”  (69) Francis airs his opinion.  Adah who is not pleased with the diagnosis threatens to find out from Trudy and deal with her appropriately.  “I am going to find out from Trudy…  I am going to kill you and that prostitute.  You sleep with her, do you not?  You buy her pants with the money I work for, and both spent the money I pay her, when I go to work (69) Adah warns Francis vehemently.

 

 When Adah confronts Tudy, She admits that she has already phoned the hospital and informed them that Vicky was brought to London from Nigeria a few months ago, and that he must have caught it from the water he drank in Nigeria.  Angered by the statement.  Adah attempts to smash Trudy’s head with carpet sweeper for insulting her country, family, her person, and her child.  Adah could not just eradicate that picture in her mind when she saw Titi and Vicky coming out of Trudy’s filthy backyard the last time.  “ I am going to kill you if anything happens to my child.  I shall sneak in and kill you in your sleep.  If not, I'll pay people to do it for me” (72) Adah continues with her threat.

 

Also, Adah laments bitterly over the society she finds herself in where no one is interested in another man’s problems Adah has learned a bitter lesson that could have been corrected at the initial stage when she discovered Trudy’s miserable traits.  In the end, the council removes “Trudy name from the list of approved child-minders.  Miss Stirling apologies on behalf of Trudy who also refused to apologize to Adah.  She assures Adah that they have a nursery place for the children and they can start on Monday.

 

 

 

6.  SORRY NO COLOREDS’

 

Adah and Francis face the first rod of discrimination in England

 

 Adah is getting set to catch a train to work one morning when France bursts in with sad news.  Adah who is losing patience as to what the news is all about snatches the envelope containing the letter.  The message in the letter is short.  “No meandering.  A solicitor, representing their landlord would like them to quit and give up all claims to the tenancy of their one-room in Ashdown,  Street…  And within a month”  (75) Adah on her part has never had any open confrontation with any tenant, not even the landlord because she has done everything to avoid such clashes. Some of the things working against her include: they are blacks, Nigerians to be precise. Adah had refused to send her children away like everyone else.

 

 Also, they are Ibos, the hated people because they believe in their own ideologies.  The landlord is aware that Adah is expecting a third child and the fact that Vicky has cheated death.  “Adah and her husband must go”  that is what they want. They soon get over the shock and begin in search of a new accommodation but find none.  Nearly all the vacant spaces they come across have the inscription,  “Sorry no coloreds” to them.

 

Her house-hunting is made difficult because she is black, with two children, and pregnant with another.  She is beginning to learn that her color is something she should be ashamed of.  Adah has hashed another plan not to measure up with the white folks but to live a low lifestyle and also stop looking for accommodation in a clean desirable neighborhood.  Worse still, every door seems barred against them, nobody is willing to consider accommodating them, even when they are willing to pay double above the normal rent.

 

Adah often searches around during her lunch hours and on her way home from work.  They have earlier had a gory experience when they were rejected as soon as it was known to the landlord that they have children. The childless landlord claimed that Adah was showing off her children.  When the children cried the landlord would stamp upstairs, warning them that they were disturbing other tenants.  The house matter becomes worse as their landlord gets fed up and decides not to accept their rent to make them vacant the house fast as the solicitor’s letters of warning and notice keep pouring in every week, counting down the number of days to move out.  They are not wanted because they are Ibos, and have children with them, Adah works in a library and because they find it difficult to conform to the standard they were expected to live by.

 

 

Adah an object of laughing stock

 

 The current situation that Adah is facing at the moment seems to invite some sort of laughter and mockery.  Her neighbors who misconstrue her to be a proud black woman harrows mockery direct at her through the use of songs which include:  I can’t wait to see them pack their bags and leave our house”  (79) the landlady jeers at Adah.

 

Two weeks of an endless search for another accommodation has clasped before  Adah comes across a vacant room in Hawley Street.  There is no “sorry, no coloreds’” on it.  Adah decides to phone the landlady as soon as she gets to the library.  But first, she must hide her identity so that the landlady will not be able to distinguish her accents because any white would recognize the voice of an African woman on the phone.  She then practices her voice in the low until she is satisfied with the result.  She will hold her nose so that the landlady will mistake her for a woman from Birmingham or London.  

Adah phones the lady to inquire about the vacant room, the landlady concurs that two rooms are available and the amount is the same they were paying in Ashdown Street.  She does not mind if they have children because she is a grandmother herself, but her children are somewhere in America.  “Was Adah an American the voice wanted to know?  She sounded like one”  (80) she is negatively in doubt.  All the same, the landlady is willing to accept them to keep the house alive.

 

Adah and Francis hope dashed again.

 

Adah and Francis schedule a meeting with the landlady at nine O’ clock pm because it would be dark this time and the woman might not realize in time they are blacks.  If only they could paint their faces, just until the first rent has been paid Adah dismisses such idea because Francis is aware that it wouldn’t work.  Francis's joy is unlimited as he is wishing to get accommodation at last.  They soon discover that some of the houses in that area is in ruins and the area looks like an unkempt cemetery; the roofs ripped off. They knock on the landlady’s door as soon as they get there.  Adah and Francis meet the greatest disappointment when they are informed that the rooms are gone.  She admits that another room is going to be vacant down the road, pointing to some of the wasteland farther down.  This shock of rejection is the one Adah will never forget in her life.

 

 

7. THE GHETTO

 

Mr. Noble the African clown and sung hero

 

 Adah’s endless search for accommodation leads her to Mr. Noble, the son of a certain Benin Chief, who is married to six wives and fathered about twenty children and left them all, and came to England to study law, but failed to make it.  Though there are many reasons behind stories surrounding how he became a living legend.  The first one states that he was a retired civil servant.  His failure was due to a gross miscalculation, especially when he misspent the pension and gratuity he brought to England.  The money was not enough to see him through GCE or matriculation as he kept failing until the money vanished.  He refused to give up and continued in search of paid jobs with no success, instead, he settled down like a liftman at a tube station.  At a point, Mr. Noble becomes a clown for young men, y

young enough to be his sons, as he also turned clown who removed his trousers for a pint of beer.  On one occasion, he was asked to remove his trousers to see whether Africans had tails because of the story they were told during the war.

 

Mr. Noble cheats death to become a fortunate man

 

 Mr.  Noble’s popularity and likeness spread like wildfire.  But an unfortunate incident occurred one afternoon when he attempted to prove his manliness since Africans have been adjudged to be very strong.  He boasted that he could operate the lift manually without electrify, but he was trapped among the twisted metal and he was rushed to the hospital.  After being operated upon, his right shoulders became useless for life.  Consequently, the generous railway authorities paid him a lump sum in compensation for his injury. He wisely invested his money in buying an old terrace house in Wiles Road, just by Kentish Town Station.

 

 The two ladies Mr. Noble met in the house did not only refused to move out, but also refused to increase their rent.  Unknown to him that the law backing tenants in England are stronger than that of Nigeria.  He boasted before the ladies that his mother was the greatest witch In the whole of black Africa and that he had reported them to his dead mother.  Luckily for him.  The first woman died followed by the second one, and the son fled in horror.  “I told them my old mother killed them from her grave”  (93) Mr. Noble boasts.

 

          As the house is too old, too shabby for any white family to rent, Francis and Adah are aware that the room is vacant in the house.  They also heard about the two dead sisters and Mr. Noble’s great power over them, particularly his wife, Sue, who is very filthy also steals from their tenants.  She is warm-hearted, kind, , friendly, loud and unreserved.  Mr. and Mrs. Noble light attitude towards Francis and Adah shows that they are going to get the one-room apartment because they must consider the ghetto house only if they are sure of remaining in Engla

 

 

 

8. ROLE ACCEPTANCE

 

Adah willingly accepts her role as a breadwinner.

 

 A week after Adah and her family have settled down at the Nobles, Adah continues in her work despite she is due to give birth at the beginning of December.  She works as long as she would be able to pay their rent; pay for the children’s nursery and save money as well,  She is also beginning to see it as a duty to work, unlike her husband.  That morning, Adah could not go to work because the railway men had gone on strike for more pay.  Adah will need to go home, coupled with the heavily kicking of her baby.

 

Back home, Francis begins to carry out his role as a Jehovah witness, Adah will need to listen to her husband’s preaching about the diligence of the virtuous woman, whose price is above rubies  (money) and Jehovah will bless such woman.  Her husband would be respected outside the gates. 

 

 Francis quotes some of his favorite portions of the Bible to buttress his points, which includes:  “The truth shall make you free and the creation story about man and woman-the eventual deceit at the garden of Eden. 

 

Adah is initially suspicious of Francis’s sudden transformation and she smiles when she remembers when Francis transfused blood to her when she was having Titi which is against his Christian faith.  At this point, she is beginning to see Francis as a good man who could not with stand the over demanding society he finds himself.

 

The birth of Adah’s third child, Bubu

 

Adah goes to see Dr.  Hudson, the surgeon at the crescent to have her examined due to the pains she is currently going through.  Adah sometimes wonders if it was only Eve that ate the apple.  “Did not the man Adam ate some too?  Why was it that woman had to bear most of the punishment?”  (112) Her reason for seeing Dr. Hudson cannot be attributed to her delivery, but rather to explain to the doctor that she is not given birth at the hospital.

 

She wants to have the baby in their one room to earn them six pounds, because the pounds would feed them all for a week, for eight or nine days. Adah also adds that her husband believes in Armageddon and they don’t need to put more energy on the things of this world in order not to lose the kingdom of God.

 

Adah, therefore, needs to get Francis to phone the midwives to help her deliver of her baby.  The midwives arrived as plan, but could not do much to help deliver Adah of her baby as a result of complication and she is referred back to the hospital before she gives birth to a baby boy through cesarean section (CS)

 

 

9. LEARNING THE ROLES

 

Adah still in her hospital bed

 

 Adah wakes up to find herself in a big open hospital ward.  She is still in between life and death as she is deciding whether life is worth struggling to hold onto.  The life of the woman next to her bed has a lesson for her, for the woman has waited for seventeen years, no miscarriage before God decided to visit her with a baby boy.  She just can’t stop admiring and showing the baby to other people in the ward.  Deep down Adah. tries to imagine what her life with Francis would be if she had not given him a child.

 

Suppose she has to wait seventeen years like the woman, Adah would have either died of psychological pressure or another wife would be brought for Francis.  Maybe, he would have declared himself a Moslem because Francis is known to always change his religion to suit whims.  She can still remember how he changes to become a Jehovah's witness when he started failing his examination and was feeling very inferior to his fellow Nigerians.

 

  Also at the hospital, Adah is getting attached to a certain woman in her ward.  She demands to know how the woman comes to marry a man as handsome as her husband and as old enough to be her father.  Most importantly, Adah needs to know how it feels to be loved, respected, and showered with presents of flowers, funny dolls that produce mad music, beautiful boxes containing all sorts of things.  The woman smiles and discloses that she had been the man’s secretary before the wife died a year ago. leaving him with the two sons. She was an adopted daughter, who never knew her real mother or father.  Her adopted parents took good care of her with much love. They did love her but we're determined to make a happy home for her, where she would be loved and be free to love.  At this point, Adah bursts into tears because her life at this present is a direct contrast to that of the sleek woman.  She wonders why she cannot be loved as an individual, the way the sleek woman is being loved for what she is, not because she could work and hand over money.  Why she is not blessed with a husband like that woman who had to wait for seventeen years for the arrival of her baby?  To Adah, the whole world seems so unequal, so unfair.  Some people were created with all the good things ready-made for them, others were just created like mistakes God’s mistakes, Adah weeps uncontrollably.

 

Meanwhile, the nurses have changed Adah’s wear into a cleaner one.  And also, they ask her to buy a nightdress because she is not supposed to wear a hospital gown after her baby has been born.  This time the thought of Francis’s negligence and unromantic lifestyle crops Adah’s mind once again because Francis has never given her a present.  But at this moment, she deserves a present from him.  She does not mind if she buys it with her money.  Francis is so filled with “Africanness that he neither kisses Adah in public nor asks her how she is feeling.  Adah concludes that Francis must buy her a nightdress since it is screamingly obvious that other women in the ward are already mocking her and say,  “Look at the nigger woman with no flowers, no cards no visitors, except her husband who usually comes five minutes before the closing time.  Looking as if he hates it all, look at her, she doesn’t have a nightdress of her own”  (130)

 

 

Adah expresses her dissatisfaction over Francis’s behavior towards her in anger.

 

 Just as Adah is still brooding over Francis act of negligence towards her Francis visits the hospital with his so-called good news which he thinks supersede Adah’s  conditions at the moment.  It cannot be said that Francis has got a job because he’s not the type who will look for a job unless pushed to do so.  He then hands over the Letter to Adah to read by herself.  In the letter., the boss Adah is working with has asked her to make the best of her stay in hospital and give herself some rest.  Also, the Finchley borough has decided to pay her a lump sum for the holidays she has not taken.

 

  What aggravates Adah’s anger is the fact that she is thinking about how to utilize the money to upset the bills incurred by the family.  Francis is planning how he will give less than forty pounds to Mr. Ibiam to help him in passing his course and works accountancy examinations.  Adah flares up in rage and yells.  “If you don’t go out of this ward, or stop talking, I shall throw this milk jug at you.  I hate you now, Francis, and one day I shall leave you…  I brought my children here to save them from the clutches of your family… they are going to be back as different people, never, never are they going to be type of person you are.  My sons will learn to treat their wives as people, individuals, not like goats… my daughter will marry because they love and respect their men, not because they are looking for the highest bidder or because they are looking for a home”  (133).  She bursts into tears again and she concludes that she is married to a dangerous man.  Like all such men, he needed a victim, and she is not willing to be one.  “Suppose this money had not arrived, what would she had bought the nightdress with?” Adah asks disappointingly.

 

           For the rest of her stay, she has learned another rule which means she will now keep things to herself.  She does not want to talk about herself, family and her children.  But Adah’s next ordeal is getting ready for home.  It is a tradition in the hospital to always dress the baby and the mother with new clothes whenever they are getting set for home, and the new baby in his brand new clothes and shawl will be shown around and everybody will coo and remark on how smarts he looks.  Adah contemplates whether or not to show her baby round for fear of being mocked by other woman because her shawl is old. The whole episode makes Adah feel remorseful and guilty the more.  She knows that she is not loved and she was only used to give Francis an education which the family could not afford.  Her love for Francis is waxing cold because he has not done anything to keep it alive.  She also feels that she has been betrayed by the very man she loves.

 

 The consoling conclusion is that, Adah has learned a new code of conduct from the hospital and from staying together with other women for thirteen days.  She now looks forward to seeing her children whom she is going to love and protect.

 

 

10. Applying the Rules

 

Adah and the lessons of life

 

 Over the years, Adah has learned to deal with life challenges and never to allow the troubles in her family to eat her up, as she is also learning to apply these rules and lessons to her daily living.

 

          Meanwhile, Adah and her family cook in the same room that serves as living room, bedroom, lounge, and bathroom.  The lavatory is the only thing outside. The children -  Titi and Vicky rarely go out to play because there is no place in which they could play, so the same room now serves them as the playroom as well, Francis has been at work for two weeks, for he now works as a postman and the major challenge in the job is the English dogs. This worries Adah greatly because she does not want her children to be fatherless at this stage as a result of the fear that dogs may eat him up someday.

 

 During Christmas, Adah becomes very excited to tell people that her husband is a Jehovah's witness because there is no money for any celebration. Jehovah's witnesses believed that Jesus was born in October and that the charismas celebrations were the work of the devil.  Adah who is also a true believer of Christian faith, raised at all Saints Church in Yaba, in Lagos is still confused about why Jesus Christ should be called the son of God.  But does not want to ask anyone for fear of being branded a fool or pagan.

 

 The Christmas celebration does not hold without some surprise packages for Adah and her children.  A kind woman who was Adah’s boss at the.  North  Finchley library delivers a big parcel containing wonderful gifts including children’s toys, a doll, little guitar, and slaking hedgehog for Bubu.

 

The Nobles also surprise them with a big doll as big as a baby.  Mrs. Noble also explains to Adah that she can equally buy on the “Never never” without – a penny.  All she needs to do is to agree with the seller that you will pay every week or every month and then sign a paper confirming your sanity-an idea that Adah thinks will never work in Nigeria as the buyer may disappear forever after such purchase.  To further spice the December groove up.  Mrs. Noble invites the children down for tea party with enough to eat and drink.

 

 Unfortunate incidence occurs which baffles Adah greatly.  Vicky’s right ear is getting bigger as that of an elephant. But getting a doctor to treat him on Christmas day is difficult.  This aggravates Adah’s fear that her son might die.  The only doctor that is available is a Chinese doctor.  He confirms that Vicky was bitten by bedbugs in their dirty apartment and a letter is given to Francis to their Indian doctor down the crescent.  Francis tears the letter angrily, because doctors are supposed to attend to their patients in an emergency.  “Why should he refuse to attend to Vicky  “(152)  Francis demonstrates this by going to the police station when the Indian doctor would not come.

 

 

 

1. POPULATION CONTROL

 

  Adah gives up child birth.

 

 It is about time for Adah to take absolute control of her life and to call child birth a quit.  She wakes up on Monday morning to go to family planning clinic.  This is because she has stopped trusting her husband and he could hurt her without meaning to.

 

Adah prays to God to forgive her for making other plans (Family Planning) behind her husband.  But the bone of contention is that Adah must get Francis to sign the form.  Meanwhile, getting him to sign the form mean another pregnancy, another traumatic birth, another mouth to feed, because Francis never subscribes to any other form of family planning other than withdrawal method which could be very dangerous and unsafe. 

 

To facilitate the process, Adah forges her husband’s signature and risk being sent to jail for seven years if she is caught.  She is then introduces to three types of family planning which includes:  use of Jelly, Pull and Cap.  Jelly will only work when husband and wife agree to, it because both will have to wait until it is melted before coming in.  The pill causes some skin reactions and she opts for the use of cap and the problem with it is that she will find it difficult to fix it in since they are still living in one-room apartment with no bathroom and toilet as filthy as a rubbish dump.

 

Adah goes to the hospital to obtain the cap.  At the hospital, the nurse on duty keeps trying the cap on Adah and scolding her to relax otherwise she would go home with the wrong cap that would not fit her property and that would result to another child. Desperation and guilty conscience makes her procure wrong cap.  Her mind is filled with what her relatives and in-law will say when Francis finds out and write to her people. 

 

Unfortunately, Francis discovers the whole truth.  That night Francis raises an alarm that catches the attention of Pa. Noble and other tenants coupled with severe beating until Adah becomes dizzy with pain and her head throbbed.  Her mouth bleeds profusely and she attempts to call the police twice but the question is that where would she go after that since she has no friends and relatives in London?  As soon as Francis makes it clear that he’s writing his father and mother.  Adah knows that things would not be the same again.  It is also finished as soon as Francis calls in the Nobles and the other tenants.  Pa. Noble affirms that there is nothing wrong in Adah getting birth control gear, but she should have told her husband.

         

 However, the only person that matters to Adah is her brother, Boy and she resolves to write to him and discloses the truth.  Boy had never liked Francis any way because he looks like a deceitful person.  Before Francis writes to his parents about the cap, his examination result is released and couldn’t make it.  Of course.  Adah is branded the cause.  Before Francis’s parents could reply, Adah becomes pregnant again; for the cap does not work.

 

 

 

2. THE COLLAPSE

 

Troubles in Adah’s Marriage linger on

 

  Adah becomes pregnant again, and she visits an Indian doctor to have the pregnancy terminated.  “You should have come to us for the cap. The ones at the clinic are cheap ones and they go loose quickly.  You should have hold me about it.  “(163) the doctor blames Adah.  The doctor agrees to give her some pills and he’s sure it would work.  She makes up her mind not to tell Francis and does not feel guilty about it, as he would not help in any way. But  then, Adah needs to concentrate on working and enjoying on her new job at the chalk farm library.

 

 Adah realizes that the pill the doctor gave to her did not work, after three months, and she has learnt not to panic about the situation, because most women here experience the worst.  She goes to the doctor to reprimand him that if the child is born imperfect, the doctor is responsible,  “I did not give you the pills to abort the child”.  (169) the doctor explains.

 

The need for forgiveness

 

 Adah who is currently lost in thoughts as a result of the happenings surrounding her life comes across Okpara, Ibo by tribe.  He urges Adah to beg Francis for forgiveness, because in typical Ibo psychology; men never do wrong, only the women beg for forgiveness because they are bought, paid for and must remain like that, silent, obedient slaves.  Mr. Okpara’s reason for wanting to go to Adah’s house is to sue for peace, by doing so Francis might learn from him an become a changed person, but Francis will always be Francis might learn from him and become a changed person, but Francis will always be Francis.  He’d been used to work for a woman whom he knows belonged to him by right.

 

 Francis laughs it off when Adah discloses her new pregnancy to him.  She therefore resolves to detach herself from Francis,  “From now on fend for yourself, I know the children are mine, because they need to be fed. You must go our and work, if not I shall only cater for my children”(177) Adah resigns to fate, because if the world is going to blame her for not feeding her able-bodies husband, let it go ahead.  She does not care anymore.  She is blessed with three children soon there would be fourth one Soonest.  Adah delivers of her baby, Dada and she nick-names the baby sunshine.

 

 To ameliorate the situation Francis is driven out by hunger to find a job as clerical officer in the post office and this might save his marriage after all, Francis will now pay rent and Adah will now serve as a pillar of support.This seems to be working out well for Adah, but her money is running short because her children still need some clothes.  She draws out a workable timetable so as to get three hours of quiet afternoon.  Then her old dream of writing come popping up again. “Why not attempt working “Adah had always wanted to write.  She goes to Foyles and purchase a book which is entitled teach yourself to Write.  She is still nursing Dada when she writes the manuscript of a book called The Bride Price.

 

 

3. THE DITCH PULL

 

The glorious rise and fall of Adah and her marriage

 

The last chapter of the novel explores the rise and ruin of Adah’s dreams of a better life and wonderful family which could not see the light of the day. At this moment, Adah is currently enjoying her role as a real housewife and wishes never to rush back to work after having Dada.  There are so many doings she is planning to do, “This includes becoming a mother and a complete wife and a writer per excellence.  All she needs to do is to get a part time job, take care of her children and settles down to complete her novel.

 

The story is over-romanticized as she has already put everything that is lacking in her marriage into it.  This is owning to Francis notion about women as embedded in African culture.  To him a woman is a second-class human, to be slept with at any-time, beaten when she misbehaves or refuses to comply.  She hopefully resolves not to relent even if Francis tries to stop her.  She is going to show the manuscript to Francis, but first and foremost her friends at Chalk farm library must see it first” “I felt so fulfilled when I finished it, just as if I had just made another baby”.  Adah confesses to Bill as he describes the book as her own brain child.  Adah vows to study harder to be a writer.  But her first challenge is how to publish the book since she does not know anyone in publishing firm.  Bill then encourages her to get it typed and show it to her husband.

 

 Unfortunately, Francis feels indifferent about Adah’s attempt to publish a book as his words lack any form of motivation and encouragement.  “You keep forgetting that you are a woman and that you are black.  The white men can barely tolerate us men, to say nothing of brainless female like you who could think of nothing except how to breastfeed her baby’  (184) Francis snaps at Adah.  The thought of Francis’s words haunts her badly, like bad dream, for he also refuses to read and assess the book. This is because he feels hat Adah would never become a writer since she is black and she is a woman.

 

Francis ends Adah’s dream of becoming a writer

 

 Francis does not only punctured Adah’s dream of becoming a writer with his words of encouragement, but also does physical damage to her dream. Francis sets fire on Adah is first brain child (novel) and burns it all.  The story she is basing her struggle on that she is going to show her children when they grow up is gone.  “I don’t care if it is your child or not.  I have read it and my family would never be happy if a wife of mine is permitted to write a book like that”  (187)  Francis bellows.  Adah avers that she could forgive all he had done before, but not this.  She remains Adamant to her resolution to be her own woman.  Her money is for herself and her children.

    

 Francis then resorts to violent means to subdue Adah.  Their constant fights and quarrel compel the landlady to call the police because she feels Francis was going to kill her.  Adah sustains mirror injuries such as broken finger and swollen lips and she is subsequently treated at Archway hospital.  Adah leaves the house with nothing except her four children, Vicky, Titi, Bubu and Dada.

 

 Meanwhile, Francis has not relent in his effort to keep tormenting Adah, because he eventually traces her to her new apartment with a fight, and the landlady in the house advises her to seek redress in the magistrate court. This scares Adah to the marrow, as she has not been to court before, and all she needs from the law court is for Francis to stay away from her and her children.  She is not suing for maintenance, because she is not entitled to any. She simply wants safety, and protection for the children.  “Next time you might not be so lucky a man who can beat you like this”   (190)  the Indian doctor warms Adah and he also agrees to serve as a witness in the law court.

 

Francis being a difficult person, testifies to the honorable court that he has never be married.  He then asks Adah if she can produce she marriage certificate, passport and the children’s birth certificates, but Adah could not because Francis has burnt them all.  To him, Adah and the kids ceased to exit. The court urges Francis to contribute to their maintenance, Adah just can’t do it all her own.  “I don’t mind their being sent for adoption “(191) Francis shocks the court once again.  “Don’t worry sir, the children are mine, and that is enough.  I shall never let them down as long as I am alive”  (191) Adah resolves to cater for her children all alone before she works out of the court. As she works down Camden Town in front of a butcher’s shop, an old friend of hers she used to know when she was at the Girls’ High School approaches her.  Her friend pays for the taxi and takes her home from Camden Town.