Second Class Citizen (1974) is a semi-autobiographical novel by Buchi Emecheta. Emecheta grew up in Nigeria and immigrated to England in the 1960s with her husband, Sylvester, following a similar path to the protagonist of the work, Adah. Second Class Citizen is one of Emecheta’s first novels, and it is one of two that focus on the semi-autobiographical character Adah. Emecheta’s first novel, In The Ditch (1972), also focuses on Adah and follows elements of Emecheta’s own life.

In 2020, Second Class Citizen became a Penguin Modern Classic. The novel follows Adah’s childhood in Nigeria, her marriage to her husband Francis, and her experiences as a mother in England. The novel explores an African woman’s dependence and oppression, the struggles of immigration to a former colonizing country, and the fight to achieve one’s own goals and to provide a better future for one’s children.

The novel also discusses issues of race, class, and gender, especially under the lens of discrimination in both Nigeria and in England. A primary focus of the work is the difference between the cultural and social understandings of one’s role as a woman, wife, and mother in both countries; Adah, the protagonist, consistently redefines her own role for herself, her husband, and her children. The novel expresses these stories of struggle and ambition amid oppression, having been published only 14 years after Nigeria gained independence from England, and during a wave of immigration from Nigeria to England following that independence.

This guide uses the Barnes and Noble Nook version of the 1975 American edition of the text published by George Braziller, Inc., originally published in 1974 by Allison & Busby Limited in England.

Content Warning: This novel includes scenes of domestic violence and abuse, as well as racism, sexism, and discrimination. There are occasional uses of racial slurs and bigoted language, as well as instances of sexual violence and assault. This guide quotes and obscures one use of the n-word.

Plot Summary

Second Class Citizen follows Adah’s journey from Nigeria to England, beginning when she is eight years old in Ibuza, Nigeria. Her family is portrayed as a normal Nigerian, Igbo family. Adah is forced to fight for her education, as women are not usually given a full education at this time. Adah’s brother, Boy, is allowed a full education by default, and Adah has to assert herself and her desires in order to go to school. When her parents die, Adah becomes a servant in a new family, and she is only allowed to go to school so long as her chores are completed for her new “father.”

Adah is successful in school, but she realizes that she needs to be married in order to secure a place to live after graduation. She marries Francis, an aspiring accountant, and gets a position working for Americans and earning a large salary. She is able to support herself, Francis, and members of Francis’s family, as well as her new daughter, Titi. Adah convinces Francis to move to England for greater opportunity. Though Francis’s family does not want Adah to move to England with Francis, she manages to convince them to let her visit him, after which she plans to remain in England.

In England, Francis has lost control of himself and his studies. He does not attend classes or lectures for his accounting certification. He has gotten the family a one-room apartment in London, and is unable to provide for or take care of Adah or their children, daughter Titi and a new son, Vicky. Adah becomes the primary earner again by getting a job at a library, but she is forced to leave that position when she gives birth to a second son, Bubu.

Adah and Francis’s marriage deteriorates. Francis complains that Adah is not conforming to the Nigerian cultural expectations that have followed them to England, while committing adultery and demanding most of Adah’s salary. Francis is violent, and regularly uses violence to force Adah into submission. He also refuses to care for the children, though he periodically expresses a protective, fatherly emotion toward them.

After Bubu’s birth, Adah starts taking measures to protect herself, such as getting a new job at a different library, attempting to acquire birth control, and limiting Francis’s access to her money. The family’s new landlord, Mr. Noble, proves to be an asset in preventing Francis from getting too violent with Adah. Adah moves out of the apartment after she writes her first novel, The Bride Price, as Francis burns the novel when Adah is not home. The court system does not support Adah’s suit against Francis, as Francis claims he never beat Adah and that he is not the father of her children.

Francis follows the family for a while after the separation. However, the novel suggests escape as Adah meets an old friend from Nigeria.