Second Class Citizen

Second Class Citizen (1974) by Buchi Emecheta is a semi-autobiographical novel that follows Adah, a determined young Igbo woman, from her childhood in Lagos through her migration to 1960s London with her husband Francis. The novel chronicles Adah's struggle against the triple oppression of gender, race and class as she navigates life in a society that treats her as second class on all three counts.

From childhood, Adah dreams of going to the United Kingdom, which she imagines as a paradise. She fights to get an education despite her family's preference for her brother Boy, marries Francis Obi partly to fund her dream, and eventually travels to London with him. There she discovers that the 'United Kingdom' is nothing like her dream: she faces racial discrimination in housing ('Sorry, No Coloureds'), exploitation by childminders, and Francis's increasing hostility as she outearns and outperforms him. Francis burns her first novel manuscript, the ultimate act of control.

The novel ends with Adah's decision to leave Francis and raise her children alone, choosing independence over a destructive marriage. For the WAEC SSCE examination, candidates should focus on Emecheta's treatment of gender inequality, the immigrant experience in Britain, and the autobiographical dimension of the narrative.