Second Class Citizen Characters

Adah Ofili is an ethnically Ibo (also called Igbo) girl born in Nigeria during World War II. A curious, strong-willed child, she resents that her Ma and Pa send her younger brother Boy to school… read analysis of Adah

Francis Obi, an accounting student, marries Adah when they are both minors in Nigeria because Francis’s poor parents expect that Adah’s education will make her a good earner. As a child, Francis observed his father… read analysis of Francis

Titi is Adah and Francis’s first child, a daughter, with whom Adah gets pregnant shortly after her marriage to Francis. Because Titi is a girl, Adah’s in-laws are disappointed in Adah until she gives… read analysis of Titi

Vicky is Adah and Francis’s second child, a son whose full name is Victor, though Adah never calls him that. Adah gives birth to Vicky shortly after Francis leaves for England. When Adah has… read analysis of Vicky

Dada is Adah and Francis’s fourth child, a daughter. Adah finds out she is pregnant with Dada after she tries to get contraception without Francis’s knowledge and Francis beats her violently for the attempt. Adah… read analysis of Dada

Trudy is a plump, coarse white woman who dyes her hair black and wears red lipstick. She is a registered child minder in Adah’s first neighborhood in London; Adah starts taking Titi and Vicky to… read analysis of Trudy

Adah’s Ma is a seamstress from Ibuza who now lives in Lagos. As a child, Adah believes that her mother is the major obstacle to her going to school. When Adah sneaks off to school… read analysis of 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… read analysis of Adah’s Pa

Boy Ofili is Adah’s younger brother. When their Ma and Pa send Boy to a prep school and keep Adah home, it motivates Adah to sneak off to school—which forces her parents to pay… read analysis of Boy

Janet is a white Cockney girl, pregnant at 16 by a West Indian man, whose stepfather kicks her out of the house when she insists on keeping her baby. A Nigerian immigrant named Mr. Babalola… read analysis of Janet

The sleek woman is an overdue pregnant woman on the same maternity ward as Adah. The sleek woman’s loving relationship to her much-older husband brings home to Adah how unhappy and abusive her marriage… read analysis of The Sleek Woman

Bill is a tall, handsome Canadian man who works with Adah at her second library job. He talks about literature with her and introduces her to the work of important Black writers such as James… read analysis of Bill

Okpara is an ethnically Ibo/Igbo Nigerian immigrant to England who meets Adah in a public park after she realizes the abortifacient pills she took to end her fourth pregnancy haven’t worked. Okpara, assuming Adah has… read analysis of Okpara

Mr. Noble is Adah and Francis’s second landlord in London. A Nigerian man who immigrated to England in the 1940s, prior to Nigerian independence, he failed to achieve his educational goals, was injured attempting… read analysis of Mr. Noble