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Adah’s Ma
Adah’s Pa is a quiet, reliable man whom Adah loves very much. As a child, Adah believes that Ma is the one keeping her out of school—if it weren’t for Ma’s influence, Pa would send Adah to school if she asked. When he and Ma do decide to send Adah to school, Pa insists that Adah go to the same fancy prep school as her younger brother Boy rather than a cheaper school. Pa dies suddenly shortly after Adah begins going to school at around age eight. Adah mourns Pa throughout her life and finds it easier to make and trust male friends due to Pa’s example of what a man can be.
Adah’s Pa Quotes in Second Class Citizen
The Second Class Citizen quotes below are all either spoken by Adah’s Pa or refer to Adah’s Pa. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1: Childhood Quotes
She was not even quite sure that she was exactly eight, because, you see, she was a girl. She was a girl who had arrived when everyone was expecting and predicting a boy. So, since she was such a disappointment to her parents, to her immediate family, to her tribe, nobody thought of recording her birth. She was so insignificant.
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Chapter 2: Escape into Elitism Quotes
That was the trouble with Jesus, He never answered you; He never really gave you a sign of what to do in such a tempting situation. Anybody could twist what He said to suit his own interpretation.
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Boy was now all alone. He had to work very hard to keep the family name going. Adah had dropped out of it. She had become an Obi instead of the Ofili she used to be. Boy had resented this, but his presence at the wharf showed that he had accepted the fact that in Africa, and among the Ibos in particular, a girl was little more than a piece of property.
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Chapter 5: An Expensive Lesson Quotes
She told herself to stop being over-romantic and soft. No husband would have time to ask his pregnant wife how she was feeling so early in the morning. That only happened in True Stories and True Romances, not in real life, particularly not with Francis for that matter. But despite the hard talking to herself, she still yearned to be loved, to feel really married, to be cared for.
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Chapter 9: Learning the Rules Quotes
Her adoptive parents were good, she added quickly, too quickly for Adah, who could never guess how it could be possible for somebody else to love you as if you were their very own flesh and blood. They did love her, her adoptive parents, but she was determined to make a happy home for herself, where she would be loved, really loved, and where she would be free to love. She had been lucky. It seemed as if her dream was coming true.
“It is not coming true; it is true. You are now almost like a princess,” Adah said, wanting to cry.
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Adah’s Pa Character Timeline in Second Class Citizen
The timeline below shows where the character Adah’s Pa appears in Second Class Citizen. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: Childhood
...Adah walks Boy to his English-language-only prep school, she feels jealous and thinks that her Pa would have sent her to school already if her mother hadn’t interfered.
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...to school, he will teach her her letters independently. Adah doesn’t want to go home: Pa will just beat her with a cane a little, but Ma will hit her and...
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Back at home, Adah’s Pa hits her with a cane a few times. Afterward, he calls her “nne nne,” a...
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...to celebrate his return (they couldn’t get work off to meet him upon his arrival). Pa is disgusted at Lawyer Nweze’s newfound preference for soft meat, but he’s glad Lawyer Nweze...
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...travel to the UK. She kept her dream secret, because as the female child of Pa, who worked on railroads; and Ma, who only read the Bible and the Anglican hymnal,...
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Chapter 2: Escape into Elitism
Adah’s dream suffers a terrible setback. Shortly after she starts school, Pa goes to the hospital and dies. As is customary, the family disperses: Ma’s brother takes...
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...sad. After Francis boards, the plane door closes with “finality,” and Adah recalls how her Pa’s coffin had the same “aura of finality.” She begins sobbing. Francis’s family thinks Adah is...
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Chapter 3: A Cold Welcome
Adah is excited when the boat arrives in the UK—she internally announces to her Pa that she has made it—but when they dock in Liverpool, the weather is cold and...
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Chapter 9: Learning the Rules
Adah bursts into tears, wishing that her Pa had not died, that she had not needed to marry as a teenager to secure...
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Chapter 10: Applying the Rules
...great man, but she isn’t sure about Jesus’ divinity. She’s a Christian primarily because her Pa was and because she went to Christian school. She thinks God will “understand” that the...
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Chapter 12: The Collapse
Adah and Bill become friends. Adah trusts men more easily because her Pa was so reliable. She already reads a lot, and Bill always wants to talk about...
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Chapter 13: The Ditch Pull
...a voice suddenly calls out to her, “Nne nna,” pronouncing the old nickname as her Pa used to. She turns and recognizes the man who called out: he’s a friend from...
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