Previous
Nzinga
Augustine is Carole’s father and Bummi’s husband. Augustine came from a progressive Nigerian family who readily accepted Bummi when Augustine brought her home, regardless of the fact that she was poor and without a family. Augustine has a doctorate from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, but upon immigrating to London, his credentials prove useless. Far from being the land of opportunity he imagined, Augustine is forced to work as a taxi driver. He works long days and nights to provide for his wife and daughter, working under immense stress and fueled by a poor diet. One New Year’s day, when Carole is still young, Augustine is driving drunk when he suffers a heart attack that kills him. His story highlights the extreme sacrifices that first-generation immigrant parents make for their second-generation children.
Augustine Williams Quotes in Girl, Woman, Other
The Girl, Woman, Other quotes below are all either spoken by Augustine Williams or refer to Augustine Williams. 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:
).
Chapter 2: Carole
Quotes
did me and Papa come to this country for a better life only to see our daughter giving up on her opportunities and end up distributing paper hand towels for tips in nightclub toilets or concert venues, as is the fate of too many of our countrywomen?
you must go back to this university in January and stop thinking everybody hates you without giving them a chance, did you even ask them? did you go up to them and say, excuse me, do you hate me?
you must find the people who will want to be your friends even if they are all white people
there is someone for everyone in this world
you must go back and fight the battles that are your British birthright, Carole, as a true Nigerian
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2: Bummi
Quotes
Bummi and Augustine agreed they were wrong to believe that in England, at least, working hard and dreaming big was one step away from achieving it
Augustine joked he was acquiring a second doctorate in shortcuts, bottlenecks, one-way streets and dead ends
while transporting passengers who thought themselves far too superior to talk to him as an equal
Bummi complained that people viewed her through what she did (a cleaner) and not what she was (an educated woman)
they did not know that curled up inside her was a parchment certificate proclaiming her a graduate of the Department of Mathematics, University of Ibadan
just as she did not know that when she strode on to the graduation podium in front of hundreds of people to receive her ribboned scroll, and shake hands with the Chancellor of the University, that her first class degree from a Third World country would mean nothing in her new country
especially with her name and nationality attached to it
Get the entire Girl, Woman, Other LitChart as a printable PDF.
Augustine Williams Quotes in Girl, Woman, Other
The Girl, Woman, Other quotes below are all either spoken by Augustine Williams or refer to Augustine Williams. 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:
).
Chapter 2: Carole
Quotes
did me and Papa come to this country for a better life only to see our daughter giving up on her opportunities and end up distributing paper hand towels for tips in nightclub toilets or concert venues, as is the fate of too many of our countrywomen?
you must go back to this university in January and stop thinking everybody hates you without giving them a chance, did you even ask them? did you go up to them and say, excuse me, do you hate me?
you must find the people who will want to be your friends even if they are all white people
there is someone for everyone in this world
you must go back and fight the battles that are your British birthright, Carole, as a true Nigerian
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2: Bummi
Quotes
Bummi and Augustine agreed they were wrong to believe that in England, at least, working hard and dreaming big was one step away from achieving it
Augustine joked he was acquiring a second doctorate in shortcuts, bottlenecks, one-way streets and dead ends
while transporting passengers who thought themselves far too superior to talk to him as an equal
Bummi complained that people viewed her through what she did (a cleaner) and not what she was (an educated woman)
they did not know that curled up inside her was a parchment certificate proclaiming her a graduate of the Department of Mathematics, University of Ibadan
just as she did not know that when she strode on to the graduation podium in front of hundreds of people to receive her ribboned scroll, and shake hands with the Chancellor of the University, that her first class degree from a Third World country would mean nothing in her new country
especially with her name and nationality attached to it
