Grade 11
TO WHAT EXTENT CAN IT BE SAID THAT FRANCIS'S LOVE FOR ADAH IS CONDITIONAL AND PARASITE?
Francis is presented as a character who had no independent thinking, and he depends on others for suggestions. He is a male chauvinist, though he is educated in a very expensive school, his outlook on life was entirely African. He scolds Adah when she refused to cry for him,as he is set to leave for Europe. He lacks the wisdom to understand the strength and character of Adah.
FRANCIS'S love for Adah is conditional and parasite this is because, he is vision less and dogmatic in nature. He is a carefree individual who seems not to be bothered about how to improve the well being of his wife and family, he is not interested in supporting his family financially, he is only interested in having more kids. Francis consider Adah a sex symbol and this causes a big distraction to Adah's dream.
Another instance from the text that shows that Francis love for Adah is conditional and parasite in nature is his violent nature. He physically and emotionally bullies, maltreat and beats Adah, especially when she tries to persuade him to get a job. To Adah, Francis is a parasite who depends on its host to feed, Francis practically depends on Adah's salary to travel abroad and still depends on her for his school fee and another necessity in life.
When Adah gave birth to her third child Bubu, she was down emotionally this is because of the operation she undergo before having the baby. Francis did not show any support to Adah in the hospital,infact he was more interested in using Adah's bonus from work to pay his accounting fee. This made Adah to cry and wishes she was love like some other woman in the ward. Also Francis could not buy new clothes for Bubu because he sees no need for that, this act made Adah to feel ashamed and left the hospital without informing the other woman.
Francis does not truly love Adah, this is evident in the way he cheated on Adah with other woman. He started dating Trudgy at Adah's back. He spends Adah's money on Trudy, even when Vicky was sick as a result of the careless of Trudy Francis still send the night in her house. All this shows clearly that Francis love for Adah is conditional.
THEMES OF SECOND CLASS CITIZEN
1. Racial discrimination and identity crisis
The novel explores the psychology trauma Africans go through as a result of their skin colour.The title of the novel refers to substandard, inferior and black citizen in the American society. The fact that there is second class citizens and first class makes racism and identity crisis evident in the novel. The blacks in the novel are restricted and are not allowed to live with the white ,they are force to live in slums and engage in menial jobs with little pay.
Adah and are family projects the theme of racial discrimination and identity crisis in the novel. Adah's first encounter with racism was when she first landed in England and Francis took her to Ashdown street, she was surprised about the living conditions of the blacks. Also they were served notice to quit the house. This is not because she had problems with her fellow tenants, as she has done everything to avoid any clash or confrontation with them. Some of the things working against her and her family include the fact that the are blacks and Adah has refuse to send her kids to Foster homes. Their search for a new home yields no result, nearly all the vacant spaces they come act bear an inscription,"sorry No Coloured" .This made Adah to be aware the level of racial discrimination at that time.
Adah's house hunting is made more difficult because of racism and identity crisis, for she is black, with two children and pregy with another. Psychologically, Adah became ashamed of her skin colour ,she view herself as inferior in the mist of white. The effect of this on Adah is that she vows never to measure up with the white folks but to live a low life style and to stop looking for house in a clean neighborhoods. She also started suspecting anything beautiful because such things are for whites and not blacks.
Also, the effect of racism made Adah to change her Nigerian born accent so as to sound like a white lady in order to secure an accommodation. Racial discrimination affect the psyche of Francis and made him burnt the manuscript of Adah novel because he believes that writing is only meant for white.
2. Theme of love and marriage : The marriage between Adah and Francis is based on individual selfish interest. While Adah works hard in other to contribute financially to her immediate family and her husband, Francis on the other hand is a parasite benefiting from Adah. Adah is also not happy that her mother married again after the death of her father,she view it as a betrayal to Pa.
Adah has always wish to marry a rich young man that would allow both Ma and Boy to come and live with her, but the ones that keep coming her way are quite elderly and she can't consent to stay with a man whom she will have to treat as a master and refer to as sir. The people of Ibuza community where Adah hails from see marriage as a master servant union where the woman is subjected to serve the man, gives birth to countless children and cares for them with little or no assistance from the man. Education for a girl child is not an option because the feel that education makes a woman arrogance and irresponsible.
However,Adah decides to settle down with Francis a young man who is still reading to be an accountant at a very tender age. Francis is poor and can't afford to pay for Adah's bride price.Basically , Francis actions prove that he married Adah because of her money. It is clear that Adah's hard work, passion for the family fuel their love and marriage as Francis refuse to take up any job to contribute to the family.
Assignment:
Comment on Adah house hunting in England and it's significance in the novel.
3. Theme of hard work and determination: Second class citizen is a prose narrative that teaches the virtue of hard work, self-motivation, sense of purpose and determination. All these are Adah's notable traits and attributes. Adah's story resolves round her determination to acquire education which is viewed as a right for the men in the African society. She had a dream of traveling to the United Kingdom, and she is determined to make her marriage with Francis work and raise her children in a racial society like London. At the beginning of the story Adah was determined to obtain education which she believes is the only tool that can change her destiny. It took the efforts a police woman to convince Ma before Adah could be registered at a cheap school. Things becomes worst and complicated when she is to enroll for her common entrance examination. Because of her drive and determination to go to school, she had to steal her cousin money to pay for her entrance fee. She performs excellently well in the examination and get herself a scholarship. After her secondary school education, Adah got a job at the American consulate. Adah continues to work hard and assume the role of a breadwinner in her immediate family.
CHARACTERIZATION AND ROLES OF MAJOR CHARACTERS IN SECOND CLASS CITIZEN
1. Adah Ofili: she is a feminist character who through her actions challenge the status quo that education is only meant for the male child. She is a determined character, this can be seen from the way she forces her self into school when her parents refuse to register her into school.
Adah is a dreamer and self motivator. Her dream of going to the United Kingdom begins when she was just eight years old. She had to sponsor Francis education to England so as to enable her to also join him.
She is a patient and hardworking lady. She believes in working hard and being consistent in whatever she does. It is this attribute that helped her achieved most of her goals and also makes her developed a think skin to withstand and confront all the challenges she encountered while growing up as a young girl.one of such challenge occur when her father died and she is sent to live with her mother's brother. When she could not pay her entrance examination, she cunningly obtain money from her cousin to pay her fee. Adah demonstrated lot of patience when she moved to England. She provided all the necessities in the house including Francis's fee. Her husband practically left all the family responsibility to her.
Adah is also a responsible mother to her children and family and she is ready to go the extra mile to make her children happy and comfortable. She refused to Foster her children even when Francis and her neighbors advices her to. As a responsible woman, Adah is poised to work and contribute to the family and she was determined to care for her five children when she eventually divorces Francis.
Adah projects the strength of an African woman. She was able to withstand challenges and proves that an African woman can actually be self independent.
As a novel of personal and development, Adah grew from the state of naivety and ignorance to the state of self realisation and independent.
2. Francis obi: He is Adah husband and he represented the patriarchal African society. He has the believe that it is the role of the woman to provide for the family. He is from a humble and poor family, this explains why he could not buy a wedding ring for his wife, this made the priest to refuse to join them since they could not afford a ring.
Francis is presented in the text as a vision less and dogmatic character. He does not seem to be bothered about how to improve the living conditions of his family. He depended on Adah for his daily needs. He is not interested in getting a reasonable job in order for him to contribute to the family all he does is to keep getting Adah pregnant.
Francis is violent, irresponsible and cannot serve as a role model to his children. He physically and emotionally bullies Adah, especially when she tries to persuade him to get a job. Francis does not truly loves Adah but he sees her as a means to an end. Francis Obi is presented as a character who does not have a mind of his own, what ever he does is as a result of whà t people tell him. He told Adah that their children should be taken to a foster home, this is because of what the neighbors told him. Also most of what he does is as a result of what his parents told him .
Francis is shown to be a self centered, narrow minded and cruel individual. Instead for him to support the creative ability of Adah he destroys her first manuscript. He he to inject in Adah the spirit of inferiority because he feels that woman are second class citizens.
3. Ma : She is the mother of Adah. She is an uneducated woman and she that the role of a girl child is to cook and get married. This explains why she denied Adah the opportunity to go to school. She is of the opinion that education is the right of the male child. When Pa died, she was inherited by one of his brothers.
Assignments
1. Writes on the significance and roles of the following characters
* Mr. Babalola
* Mr. Cole
* Mr. Noble
2. Examine the character of Adah as a goal getter and a dreamer in the novel.
Note: all assignments should be forwarded to my email ( ugamaegwu@yahoo.com) by next week
STYLE AND NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE IN SECOND CLASS CITIZEN
There are several narrative techniques that Buchi Emecheta employs in her novel, Second Class Citizen to produce a more stimulating, powerful, and convincing reading. The following narrative techniques are used in Second Class Citizen.
1. Use Of Language: Language refers to the writer’s choice of words or the style of his/her writing. In the context of this study, language refers to Emecheta’s distinctive vocabulary choice and style of expression in her novel. From the point of view of literature, the writer’s choice of words is seen as the mark of quality of the work. The reader should be made to understand that in Second Class Citizen, the feature that enriches and increases its literary merit is Emecheta’s use of language. Regarding the use of language in her novel, Second Class Citizen, Emecheta employs language that is simple and fresh; she uses an easy conversational style of writing to the understanding of readers. In her novel, we see lyrical flow of language which corresponds to the spirit of the narration.
2. Indigenous Language :At several places in her work, Emecheta uses many Nigerian lexical items to make the narrative realistic and to increase the interest of the readers. Attention must be drawn to the fact that these indigenous expressions are refined and decorous. Equally striking is the fact that Emecheta employs some of these words in very impressive and compelling ways to clarify and create awareness of the experience in the readers’ mind. Here are some of the instances where she uses indigenous language in the novel: a. “Adah Eze” (Igbo expression) -- meaning “Princess, daughter of a king” (14). b. “Ezidijiji de ogoli, omeoba(Igbo expression) – meaning “When a good man holds a woman she becomes a queen” (15). c. “Iyawo” – is “a Yoruba word for a young wife” (98). d. “opoho” – is “the Western Ibo word for woman” (109). e. “okeri” - is “the Western Ibo word for man” (109).
3. Loan Words: This are words adopted from one language (usually the source language) and integrated into another language (usually the target language) without translations. There are a good number of lexical items borrowed from Yoruba, Hausa and Pidgin languages. The following are examples of loan expressions: a. “Yoruba-Ngbati accent” (8) – Yoruba expression used denote a person who speaks English with the tonal result of Yoruba. b. “craw-craw” (11) – Pidgin word used to refer to rashes. c. “boli” (12) – Yoruba word for roast plantain. d. “koboko” (23) –Hausa word for cane. e. “agbada” (27) – Yoruba word for male robe worn over a jumper.
1. Figures Of Speech : figure of speech as is generally understood are imaginative tools used for explaining speech beyond its normal usage. Quite often, writers deploy figurative language when they want to convey their message in an implicit or indirect way. Emecheta uses figurative expressions to a large degree in her novel, Second Class Citizen; so much so that her novel is appreciated for having grace and splendour. Thus making the literary experience of Emecheta’s novel, Second Class Citizen, a scintillating story and a compelling narrative. The eye-catching figures of speech and textual examples Emecheta employs in her novel are illustrated below
(ii) Metaphor :As commonly understood, a metaphor is a comparison of two different things which share some common characteristics. A metaphor is a sort of compressed simile where parts of it, such as the similarity markers are removed to convey the meaning connotatively. The intent of metaphor is to describe an entity, occurrence or quality more comprehensively in a concise language. Examples include the following: a. “These women were so proud of this new lawyer, because to them it meant the arrival of their own Messiah” (8). In this regard, the new lawyer is likened to a Messiah for the Ibuza women. “She knew there was discrimination all over the place, but Francis’s mind was a fertile ground in which such attitude could grow and thrive” (63). In a manifest way, Francis’ mind is regarded as a fertile ground for racial discrimination. This quotation brings to the fore Francis’s acceptance of the notion of inferiority complex. In England, Francis clearly displayed an overdeveloped sense of being inferior to Europeans.
* Euphemism: This is the use of a less offensive word or phrase in place of an expression that might be considered too direct, harsh, disturbing, unpleasant or offensive. Emecheta in this novel uses euphemism to lessen the offensiveness or vulgarity of the subject of sex. euphemism should be regarded as a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing. Below are some examples: a. “As soon as her [Adah’s] husband touches her, she gets a swollen tummy” (28). By “touch” in this context, the narrative voice means to “have sexual intercourse” and “swollen tummy” means “to become pregnant”. b. “Is it too much for a man to want his wife?” The word “want” in this sentence denotes “sexual desire”. c. “She [Adah] made sure she chose the right moment. These moments were usually when Francis was pressed with desire for her” (94). The word “pressed” refers to “sexual craving”. d. [Adah] is “to be slept with at any time, even during the day” (181). The expression “to be slept with” means to “have sex with”.
* Hyperbole: This is a figure of speech where by a word or phrase is deliberately exaggerated for the sake of emphasis or used for effect. The important point to be observed is the fact that hyperboles are only intended to be used to emphasize a point and not to taken literally. Emecheta uses hyperbole in her novel for both dramatic effect and to enhance meaning of her novel. Here are some examples: a. “Let her [Adah] go and work for a million Americans and bring their money here, into this house” (26). In this sentence, there is an obvious exaggeration in the use of the expression “a million Americans” and of the fact that it is impossible for Adah to work for a million persons. b. “that in Lagos you [Adah] may be a million publicity officers for the Americans; you may be earning a million pounds a day… but the day you land in England, you are a second-class citizen” (43). Apparently in this sentence, there is an obvious use of exaggeration to draw the attention of readers to the likelihood of Adah being a million publicity officers and getting a million pounds a day.
*Repetition - Repetition is a literary device that repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer and more memorable. As a rhetorical tool, repetition is used for emphasis or reinforcement of a crucial idea. In Emecheta’s novel, repetition is used either as a word, a phrase or a full sentence to persuade and convince readers to the nature and significance of certain ideas in the text. Below are some examples: a. “These women were so proud of this new lawyer, because to them it meant the arrival of their own Messiah. A Messiah specially created for the Ibuza people. A Messiah who would go into politics and fight for the rights of the people of Ibuza. A Messiah who …was going to do all sorts of things for the people of Ibuza” (8). In this quotation above, certain words have been repeated a number of times for the purpose of emphasis. The word “Messiah” is repeated four times whereas the word “Ibuza” is repeated three times in the context of this short excerpt. To look at the issues of repetition in another light, we present another category of repetition that runs throughout the entire length and breadth of the novel, Second Class Citizen. The following examples will illustrate our point. b. “It had all begun like a dream...until it became a Presence” (7). c. “It lived with her, just like a Presence” (17). d. “Adah heard the Presence telling her” (21). e. “She [Adah] wished the Presence was still with her...in England. Was the presence her instinct?” (60). Repeatedly, the narrative makes reference to the word “Presence” for the sake of emphasis. Interestingly however, the word “Presence” is intricately linked to two concepts. It is used to refer to both Adah’s dream – something she had hoped for (7) and to call attention to a supernatural being that Adah feels to be nearby, when Adah queries if the presence was her instinct? (60). Thus, the repetition of the word “Presence” has been deployed by Emecheta to create rhythm and unity of the novel and to produce meaning. We are made to see that Adah accomplished her dreams through the guidance of the “Presence” that saw her through her travails and attainment; form childhood into adulthoodand from innocence to maturity.
3. Point Of View Point of view is the perspective from which an author chooses to tell his/her story. What had been deployed in crafting the novel Second Class Citizen is the third person point of view. As a third person viewpoint, it tells the story of the protagonist, Adah. It should be noted that the third person point of view also allows for authorial intrusion and generalization. This thus enables Emecheta to project her viewpoint within the context of the narrative of the novel. It is correct to say that the protagonist of this novel is a young female and the story is constructed by the bildungsroman tradition, which reflects Adah’s growth. Emecheta also uses the third person point of view to showcase the social nature of life in Nigeria, which denies a female child any form of independence. Emecheta uses the language of sorrow when she describes the pain Adah encounters as a female child. The narrative voice brings to the fore that being a disappointing event, the birth of a girl child can go uncelebrated or unrecorded. The narrative voice thus denounces the societal attitude towards girls and justifies the bitter feelings of Adah as she informs us that: She was not even quite sure that she was exactly eight,
NON AFRICAN POETRY
Not for me!
Francis is presented as a character who had no independent thinking, and he depends on others for suggestions. He is a male chauvinist, though he is educated in a very expensive school, his outlook on life was entirely African. He scolds Adah when she refused to cry for him,as he is set to leave for Europe. He lacks the wisdom to understand the strength and character of Adah.
FRANCIS'S love for Adah is conditional and parasite this is because, he is vision less and dogmatic in nature. He is a carefree individual who seems not to be bothered about how to improve the well being of his wife and family, he is not interested in supporting his family financially, he is only interested in having more kids. Francis consider Adah a sex symbol and this causes a big distraction to Adah's dream.
Another instance from the text that shows that Francis love for Adah is conditional and parasite in nature is his violent nature. He physically and emotionally bullies, maltreat and beats Adah, especially when she tries to persuade him to get a job. To Adah, Francis is a parasite who depends on its host to feed, Francis practically depends on Adah's salary to travel abroad and still depends on her for his school fee and another necessity in life.
When Adah gave birth to her third child Bubu, she was down emotionally this is because of the operation she undergo before having the baby. Francis did not show any support to Adah in the hospital,infact he was more interested in using Adah's bonus from work to pay his accounting fee. This made Adah to cry and wishes she was love like some other woman in the ward. Also Francis could not buy new clothes for Bubu because he sees no need for that, this act made Adah to feel ashamed and left the hospital without informing the other woman.
Francis does not truly love Adah, this is evident in the way he cheated on Adah with other woman. He started dating Trudgy at Adah's back. He spends Adah's money on Trudy, even when Vicky was sick as a result of the careless of Trudy Francis still send the night in her house. All this shows clearly that Francis love for Adah is conditional.
THEMES OF SECOND CLASS CITIZEN
1. Racial discrimination and identity crisis
The novel explores the psychology trauma Africans go through as a result of their skin colour.The title of the novel refers to substandard, inferior and black citizen in the American society. The fact that there is second class citizens and first class makes racism and identity crisis evident in the novel. The blacks in the novel are restricted and are not allowed to live with the white ,they are force to live in slums and engage in menial jobs with little pay.
Adah and are family projects the theme of racial discrimination and identity crisis in the novel. Adah's first encounter with racism was when she first landed in England and Francis took her to Ashdown street, she was surprised about the living conditions of the blacks. Also they were served notice to quit the house. This is not because she had problems with her fellow tenants, as she has done everything to avoid any clash or confrontation with them. Some of the things working against her and her family include the fact that the are blacks and Adah has refuse to send her kids to Foster homes. Their search for a new home yields no result, nearly all the vacant spaces they come act bear an inscription,"sorry No Coloured" .This made Adah to be aware the level of racial discrimination at that time.
Adah's house hunting is made more difficult because of racism and identity crisis, for she is black, with two children and pregy with another. Psychologically, Adah became ashamed of her skin colour ,she view herself as inferior in the mist of white. The effect of this on Adah is that she vows never to measure up with the white folks but to live a low life style and to stop looking for house in a clean neighborhoods. She also started suspecting anything beautiful because such things are for whites and not blacks.
Also, the effect of racism made Adah to change her Nigerian born accent so as to sound like a white lady in order to secure an accommodation. Racial discrimination affect the psyche of Francis and made him burnt the manuscript of Adah novel because he believes that writing is only meant for white.
2. Theme of love and marriage : The marriage between Adah and Francis is based on individual selfish interest. While Adah works hard in other to contribute financially to her immediate family and her husband, Francis on the other hand is a parasite benefiting from Adah. Adah is also not happy that her mother married again after the death of her father,she view it as a betrayal to Pa.
Adah has always wish to marry a rich young man that would allow both Ma and Boy to come and live with her, but the ones that keep coming her way are quite elderly and she can't consent to stay with a man whom she will have to treat as a master and refer to as sir. The people of Ibuza community where Adah hails from see marriage as a master servant union where the woman is subjected to serve the man, gives birth to countless children and cares for them with little or no assistance from the man. Education for a girl child is not an option because the feel that education makes a woman arrogance and irresponsible.
However,Adah decides to settle down with Francis a young man who is still reading to be an accountant at a very tender age. Francis is poor and can't afford to pay for Adah's bride price.Basically , Francis actions prove that he married Adah because of her money. It is clear that Adah's hard work, passion for the family fuel their love and marriage as Francis refuse to take up any job to contribute to the family.
Assignment:
Comment on Adah house hunting in England and it's significance in the novel.
3. Theme of hard work and determination: Second class citizen is a prose narrative that teaches the virtue of hard work, self-motivation, sense of purpose and determination. All these are Adah's notable traits and attributes. Adah's story resolves round her determination to acquire education which is viewed as a right for the men in the African society. She had a dream of traveling to the United Kingdom, and she is determined to make her marriage with Francis work and raise her children in a racial society like London. At the beginning of the story Adah was determined to obtain education which she believes is the only tool that can change her destiny. It took the efforts a police woman to convince Ma before Adah could be registered at a cheap school. Things becomes worst and complicated when she is to enroll for her common entrance examination. Because of her drive and determination to go to school, she had to steal her cousin money to pay for her entrance fee. She performs excellently well in the examination and get herself a scholarship. After her secondary school education, Adah got a job at the American consulate. Adah continues to work hard and assume the role of a breadwinner in her immediate family.
CHARACTERIZATION AND ROLES OF MAJOR CHARACTERS IN SECOND CLASS CITIZEN
1. Adah Ofili: she is a feminist character who through her actions challenge the status quo that education is only meant for the male child. She is a determined character, this can be seen from the way she forces her self into school when her parents refuse to register her into school.
Adah is a dreamer and self motivator. Her dream of going to the United Kingdom begins when she was just eight years old. She had to sponsor Francis education to England so as to enable her to also join him.
She is a patient and hardworking lady. She believes in working hard and being consistent in whatever she does. It is this attribute that helped her achieved most of her goals and also makes her developed a think skin to withstand and confront all the challenges she encountered while growing up as a young girl.one of such challenge occur when her father died and she is sent to live with her mother's brother. When she could not pay her entrance examination, she cunningly obtain money from her cousin to pay her fee. Adah demonstrated lot of patience when she moved to England. She provided all the necessities in the house including Francis's fee. Her husband practically left all the family responsibility to her.
Adah is also a responsible mother to her children and family and she is ready to go the extra mile to make her children happy and comfortable. She refused to Foster her children even when Francis and her neighbors advices her to. As a responsible woman, Adah is poised to work and contribute to the family and she was determined to care for her five children when she eventually divorces Francis.
Adah projects the strength of an African woman. She was able to withstand challenges and proves that an African woman can actually be self independent.
As a novel of personal and development, Adah grew from the state of naivety and ignorance to the state of self realisation and independent.
2. Francis obi: He is Adah husband and he represented the patriarchal African society. He has the believe that it is the role of the woman to provide for the family. He is from a humble and poor family, this explains why he could not buy a wedding ring for his wife, this made the priest to refuse to join them since they could not afford a ring.
Francis is presented in the text as a vision less and dogmatic character. He does not seem to be bothered about how to improve the living conditions of his family. He depended on Adah for his daily needs. He is not interested in getting a reasonable job in order for him to contribute to the family all he does is to keep getting Adah pregnant.
Francis is violent, irresponsible and cannot serve as a role model to his children. He physically and emotionally bullies Adah, especially when she tries to persuade him to get a job. Francis does not truly loves Adah but he sees her as a means to an end. Francis Obi is presented as a character who does not have a mind of his own, what ever he does is as a result of whà t people tell him. He told Adah that their children should be taken to a foster home, this is because of what the neighbors told him. Also most of what he does is as a result of what his parents told him .
Francis is shown to be a self centered, narrow minded and cruel individual. Instead for him to support the creative ability of Adah he destroys her first manuscript. He he to inject in Adah the spirit of inferiority because he feels that woman are second class citizens.
3. Ma : She is the mother of Adah. She is an uneducated woman and she that the role of a girl child is to cook and get married. This explains why she denied Adah the opportunity to go to school. She is of the opinion that education is the right of the male child. When Pa died, she was inherited by one of his brothers.
Assignments
1. Writes on the significance and roles of the following characters
* Mr. Babalola
* Mr. Cole
* Mr. Noble
2. Examine the character of Adah as a goal getter and a dreamer in the novel.
Note: all assignments should be forwarded to my email ( ugamaegwu@yahoo.com) by next week
STYLE AND NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE IN SECOND CLASS CITIZEN
There are several narrative techniques that Buchi Emecheta employs in her novel, Second Class Citizen to produce a more stimulating, powerful, and convincing reading. The following narrative techniques are used in Second Class Citizen.
1. Use Of Language: Language refers to the writer’s choice of words or the style of his/her writing. In the context of this study, language refers to Emecheta’s distinctive vocabulary choice and style of expression in her novel. From the point of view of literature, the writer’s choice of words is seen as the mark of quality of the work. The reader should be made to understand that in Second Class Citizen, the feature that enriches and increases its literary merit is Emecheta’s use of language. Regarding the use of language in her novel, Second Class Citizen, Emecheta employs language that is simple and fresh; she uses an easy conversational style of writing to the understanding of readers. In her novel, we see lyrical flow of language which corresponds to the spirit of the narration.
2. Indigenous Language :At several places in her work, Emecheta uses many Nigerian lexical items to make the narrative realistic and to increase the interest of the readers. Attention must be drawn to the fact that these indigenous expressions are refined and decorous. Equally striking is the fact that Emecheta employs some of these words in very impressive and compelling ways to clarify and create awareness of the experience in the readers’ mind. Here are some of the instances where she uses indigenous language in the novel: a. “Adah Eze” (Igbo expression) -- meaning “Princess, daughter of a king” (14). b. “Ezidijiji de ogoli, omeoba(Igbo expression) – meaning “When a good man holds a woman she becomes a queen” (15). c. “Iyawo” – is “a Yoruba word for a young wife” (98). d. “opoho” – is “the Western Ibo word for woman” (109). e. “okeri” - is “the Western Ibo word for man” (109).
3. Loan Words: This are words adopted from one language (usually the source language) and integrated into another language (usually the target language) without translations. There are a good number of lexical items borrowed from Yoruba, Hausa and Pidgin languages. The following are examples of loan expressions: a. “Yoruba-Ngbati accent” (8) – Yoruba expression used denote a person who speaks English with the tonal result of Yoruba. b. “craw-craw” (11) – Pidgin word used to refer to rashes. c. “boli” (12) – Yoruba word for roast plantain. d. “koboko” (23) –Hausa word for cane. e. “agbada” (27) – Yoruba word for male robe worn over a jumper.
1. Figures Of Speech : figure of speech as is generally understood are imaginative tools used for explaining speech beyond its normal usage. Quite often, writers deploy figurative language when they want to convey their message in an implicit or indirect way. Emecheta uses figurative expressions to a large degree in her novel, Second Class Citizen; so much so that her novel is appreciated for having grace and splendour. Thus making the literary experience of Emecheta’s novel, Second Class Citizen, a scintillating story and a compelling narrative. The eye-catching figures of speech and textual examples Emecheta employs in her novel are illustrated below
(ii) Metaphor :As commonly understood, a metaphor is a comparison of two different things which share some common characteristics. A metaphor is a sort of compressed simile where parts of it, such as the similarity markers are removed to convey the meaning connotatively. The intent of metaphor is to describe an entity, occurrence or quality more comprehensively in a concise language. Examples include the following: a. “These women were so proud of this new lawyer, because to them it meant the arrival of their own Messiah” (8). In this regard, the new lawyer is likened to a Messiah for the Ibuza women. “She knew there was discrimination all over the place, but Francis’s mind was a fertile ground in which such attitude could grow and thrive” (63). In a manifest way, Francis’ mind is regarded as a fertile ground for racial discrimination. This quotation brings to the fore Francis’s acceptance of the notion of inferiority complex. In England, Francis clearly displayed an overdeveloped sense of being inferior to Europeans.
* Euphemism: This is the use of a less offensive word or phrase in place of an expression that might be considered too direct, harsh, disturbing, unpleasant or offensive. Emecheta in this novel uses euphemism to lessen the offensiveness or vulgarity of the subject of sex. euphemism should be regarded as a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing. Below are some examples: a. “As soon as her [Adah’s] husband touches her, she gets a swollen tummy” (28). By “touch” in this context, the narrative voice means to “have sexual intercourse” and “swollen tummy” means “to become pregnant”. b. “Is it too much for a man to want his wife?” The word “want” in this sentence denotes “sexual desire”. c. “She [Adah] made sure she chose the right moment. These moments were usually when Francis was pressed with desire for her” (94). The word “pressed” refers to “sexual craving”. d. [Adah] is “to be slept with at any time, even during the day” (181). The expression “to be slept with” means to “have sex with”.
* Hyperbole: This is a figure of speech where by a word or phrase is deliberately exaggerated for the sake of emphasis or used for effect. The important point to be observed is the fact that hyperboles are only intended to be used to emphasize a point and not to taken literally. Emecheta uses hyperbole in her novel for both dramatic effect and to enhance meaning of her novel. Here are some examples: a. “Let her [Adah] go and work for a million Americans and bring their money here, into this house” (26). In this sentence, there is an obvious exaggeration in the use of the expression “a million Americans” and of the fact that it is impossible for Adah to work for a million persons. b. “that in Lagos you [Adah] may be a million publicity officers for the Americans; you may be earning a million pounds a day… but the day you land in England, you are a second-class citizen” (43). Apparently in this sentence, there is an obvious use of exaggeration to draw the attention of readers to the likelihood of Adah being a million publicity officers and getting a million pounds a day.
*Repetition - Repetition is a literary device that repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer and more memorable. As a rhetorical tool, repetition is used for emphasis or reinforcement of a crucial idea. In Emecheta’s novel, repetition is used either as a word, a phrase or a full sentence to persuade and convince readers to the nature and significance of certain ideas in the text. Below are some examples: a. “These women were so proud of this new lawyer, because to them it meant the arrival of their own Messiah. A Messiah specially created for the Ibuza people. A Messiah who would go into politics and fight for the rights of the people of Ibuza. A Messiah who …was going to do all sorts of things for the people of Ibuza” (8). In this quotation above, certain words have been repeated a number of times for the purpose of emphasis. The word “Messiah” is repeated four times whereas the word “Ibuza” is repeated three times in the context of this short excerpt. To look at the issues of repetition in another light, we present another category of repetition that runs throughout the entire length and breadth of the novel, Second Class Citizen. The following examples will illustrate our point. b. “It had all begun like a dream...until it became a Presence” (7). c. “It lived with her, just like a Presence” (17). d. “Adah heard the Presence telling her” (21). e. “She [Adah] wished the Presence was still with her...in England. Was the presence her instinct?” (60). Repeatedly, the narrative makes reference to the word “Presence” for the sake of emphasis. Interestingly however, the word “Presence” is intricately linked to two concepts. It is used to refer to both Adah’s dream – something she had hoped for (7) and to call attention to a supernatural being that Adah feels to be nearby, when Adah queries if the presence was her instinct? (60). Thus, the repetition of the word “Presence” has been deployed by Emecheta to create rhythm and unity of the novel and to produce meaning. We are made to see that Adah accomplished her dreams through the guidance of the “Presence” that saw her through her travails and attainment; form childhood into adulthoodand from innocence to maturity.
3. Point Of View Point of view is the perspective from which an author chooses to tell his/her story. What had been deployed in crafting the novel Second Class Citizen is the third person point of view. As a third person viewpoint, it tells the story of the protagonist, Adah. It should be noted that the third person point of view also allows for authorial intrusion and generalization. This thus enables Emecheta to project her viewpoint within the context of the narrative of the novel. It is correct to say that the protagonist of this novel is a young female and the story is constructed by the bildungsroman tradition, which reflects Adah’s growth. Emecheta also uses the third person point of view to showcase the social nature of life in Nigeria, which denies a female child any form of independence. Emecheta uses the language of sorrow when she describes the pain Adah encounters as a female child. The narrative voice brings to the fore that being a disappointing event, the birth of a girl child can go uncelebrated or unrecorded. The narrative voice thus denounces the societal attitude towards girls and justifies the bitter feelings of Adah as she informs us that: She was not even quite sure that she was exactly eight,
NON AFRICAN POETRY
Bat
At evening, sitting on this terrace,
When the sun from the west, beyond Pisa, beyond the mountains of Carrara
Departs, and the world is taken by surprise ...
When the tired flower of Florence is in gloom beneath the glowing
Brown hills surrounding ...
When under the arches of the Ponte Vecchio
A green light enters against stream, flush from the west,
Against the current of obscure Arno ...
Look up, and you see things flying
Between the day and the night;
Swallows with spools of dark thread sewing the shadows together.
A circle swoop, and a quick parabola under the bridge arches
Where light pushes through;
A sudden turning upon itself of a thing in the air.
A dip to the water.
And you think:
"The swallows are flying so late!"
Swallows?
Dark air-life looping
Yet missing the pure loop ...
A twitch, a twitter, an elastic shudder in flight
And serrated wings against the sky,
Like a glove, a black glove thrown up at the light,
And falling back.
Never swallows!
Bats!
The swallows are gone.
At a wavering instant the swallows gave way to bats
By the Ponte Vecchio ...
Changing guard.
Bats, and an uneasy creeping in one's scalp
As the bats swoop overhead!
Flying madly.
Pipistrello!
Black piper on an infinitesimal pipe.
Little lumps that fly in air and have voices indefinite, wildly vindictive;
Wings like bits of umbrella.
Bats!
Creatures that hang themselves up like an old rag, to sleep;
And disgustingly upside down.
Hanging upside down like rows of disgusting old rags
And grinning in their sleep.
Bats!
In China the bat is symbol for happiness.
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ReplyDeletePlease what were Adah’s travails immediately she relocated to the uk ?
ReplyDeletePlease what were Adah’s travails immediately she relocated to the uk ?
ReplyDeletePlease what were Adah’s travails immediately she relocated to the uk ?
ReplyDelete