Chimongo is Morgan’s father and Julie’s husband. He doesn’t turn away when Julie’s white-passing family objects to her marrying a Black man, and he eventually wins them over. His story highlights how interracial relationships place undue burden on the person of color in the relationship. Chimongo is hard-working like Slim, and he likewise wants his children to be proud of their race. He buys them picture books featuring Black characters so they can see themselves represented in stories. When Hattie finds out about this, she feels guilty and wonders if there were books like that back in the 1940s that could have helped her own children love themselves, highlighting how social progress is benefitting the younger generations. Throughout Morgan and Julie’s fights over Morgan’s gender identity, Chimongo takes a backseat and defers to his wife.
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Chimongo Character Timeline in Girl, Woman, Other
The timeline below shows where the character Chimongo appears in Girl, Woman, Other. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4: Megan/Morgan
...isn’t feminine, and her mother worries for her and hopes she’ll outgrow it. Her dad Chimongo, who’s from Malawi, agrees with her mother and the day after her meltdown about the...
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...marrying an African man. Her mother insists she’s color-blind when she looks at her husband, Chimongo, seeing only the “lightness of his spirit.” Megan doubts her mother’s color-blindness because her dad’s...
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Chapter 4: Hattie
...time she got mad was when the family objected to Julie’s marrying an African man, Chimongo. The family was getting whiter with each generation and he’d “ruin” that. Hattie was furious,...
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