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Kwabena is Amma’s father and Helen’s husband. Kwabena, a journalist from Ghana, was forced to flee his homeland after advocating for the country’s independence. He met Helen after migrating to the UK. Kwabena maintains his fierce socialist convictions in the UK. His life centers around his activism and constantly inundates his wife and children with his political preaching, which helps Amma grow into her own activist identity that comes to define her life’s work. He infuriates Amma because he isn’t a feminist, though. While Dominique understands that Kwabena is a product of his time and tells Amma not to criticize him so harshly, it’s not until after he dies that Amma admits she was too harsh and understands the depths of the trauma he experienced after being forced to flee from his birthplace.
Kwabena Quotes in Girl, Woman, Other
The Girl, Woman, Other quotes below are all either spoken by Kwabena or refer to Kwabena. 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: Amma
Quotes
look at it this way, Amma, she says, your father was born male in Ghana in the 1920s whereas you were born female in London in the 1960s
and your point is?
you really can’t expect him to ‘get you,’ as you put it
I let her know she’s an apologist for the patriarchy and complicit in a system that oppresses all women
she says human beings are complex
I tell her not to patronize me
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Get LitCharts A+she surprised herself at the strength of her grief
she then regretted never telling him she loved him, he was her father, a good man, of course she loved him, she knew that now he was gone, he was a patriarch but her mother was right when she said, he’s of his time and culture, Amma
my father was devastated at having to fell Ghana so abruptly, she eulogized at his memorial, attended by his elderly socialist comrades
it must have been so traumatic, to lose his home, his family, his friends, his culture, his first language, and to come to a country that didn’t want him
once he had children, he wanted us educated in England and that was it
my father believed in the higher purpose of left-wing politics and actively worked to make the world a better place
she didn’t tell them she’d taken her father for granted and carried her blinkered, self-righteous perspective of him from childhood through to his death, when in fact he’d done nothing wrong except fail to live up to her feminist expectations of him
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Kwabena Quotes in Girl, Woman, Other
The Girl, Woman, Other quotes below are all either spoken by Kwabena or refer to Kwabena. 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 1: Amma
Quotes
look at it this way, Amma, she says, your father was born male in Ghana in the 1920s whereas you were born female in London in the 1960s
and your point is?
you really can’t expect him to ‘get you,’ as you put it
I let her know she’s an apologist for the patriarchy and complicit in a system that oppresses all women
she says human beings are complex
I tell her not to patronize me
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Unlock explanations and citation info for this and every other Girl, Woman, Other quote.
Plus so much more...
Get LitCharts A+she surprised herself at the strength of her grief
she then regretted never telling him she loved him, he was her father, a good man, of course she loved him, she knew that now he was gone, he was a patriarch but her mother was right when she said, he’s of his time and culture, Amma
my father was devastated at having to fell Ghana so abruptly, she eulogized at his memorial, attended by his elderly socialist comrades
it must have been so traumatic, to lose his home, his family, his friends, his culture, his first language, and to come to a country that didn’t want him
once he had children, he wanted us educated in England and that was it
my father believed in the higher purpose of left-wing politics and actively worked to make the world a better place
she didn’t tell them she’d taken her father for granted and carried her blinkered, self-righteous perspective of him from childhood through to his death, when in fact he’d done nothing wrong except fail to live up to her feminist expectations of him
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