Roland Quartey Character Analysis in Girl, Woman, Other

Roland is Amma’s co-parent and Yazz’s father. Roland is a professor and author who has found mainstream success as a major television news personality. The son of African immigrants, Roland decides early on to assimilate and pursue mainstream success—to reform systems from within rather than from the outside as a radical like Amma. He hates when people who interview him on TV force him into the role of spokesman for Black people and cultural diversity. He never wanted to base his academic career on his identity as a gay, Black, man the way that society expects of Black people in academia, as Amma has done with her theater career. Becoming Yazz’s father profoundly changes Roland, motivating him to be his best self and achieve success. He loves her deeply and wishes that she would recognize, rather than criticize, the remarkable opportunities his success has afforded her. Their relationship reveals how generational differences can sour parent-child relationships.

Roland Quartey Character Timeline in Girl, Woman, Other

The timeline below shows where the character Roland Quartey appears in Girl, Woman, Other. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Contradiction, Complexity, and Intersectionality Theme Icon

Radical vs. Reformist Social Movements Theme Icon

...years ago. Determined to raise Yazz unconventionally, she decided to co-parent with her gay friend, Roland, Amma’s sperm donor who took Yazz on weekends. She breastfed in public, let Yazz wear... (full context)

Diaspora, Culture, and Identity Theme Icon

Yazz spots her dad, Roland, a couple rows ahead, who wears expensive clothes but claims he can’t help pay for... (full context)

Yazz’s godfather Kenny, Roland’s partner, is seated next to him. He’s also old-fashioned but she likes him because he... (full context)

...are thinking about getting out of London first thing in the morning when they recognize Roland, the TV personality, standing next to a girl who’d stood out in the audience of... (full context)

...Amazon of Dahomey and is greeted with a champagne toast, ecstatic round of applause, and Roland, who kisses her on the cheeks. She looks beautiful in a wraparound dress that she’s... (full context)

Roland spots “Chairman Mao Sylvester” who he’d hooked up with in his younger, partying years. Reminiscing... (full context)

Annoyed with Roland’s academic ramblings, Sylvester cuts him off and walks away. This deeply offends Roland, who thinks,... (full context)

Roland walks outside and looks out onto the Thames. He loves London and the city loves... (full context)

While responding to the critique, Roland thinks to himself that he’s loath to use the word black, which he thinks is... (full context)

...so glad the play is a success and they both agree they’re proud of Amma. Roland credits Yazz with his success, dividing his life into “Before Yazz” and “After Yazz” eras.... (full context)

While Amma’s career is intertwined with her identities, his has never been that way. Roland hates that Black intellectuals, like all Black people in Britain, are still so defined by... (full context)

From the moment Yazz was born, Roland has loved Yazz more than he loves anyone else, even Kenny. Like Amma, she refuses... (full context)

...there’s “rice, peas, curry goat simmering […] in the kitchen.” Searching for Lennox, she spies Roland who she got to know after she became Yazz’s godmother, and who she used to... (full context)

...her friend’s plays because she wants to avoid all these people from her past, like Roland and Sylvester, who she’d caught up with briefly earlier. (full context)