PATRIARCHAL, RACIAL AND SOCIAL OPPRESSION ON ADAH AND HER EMANCIPATION THROUGH EDUCATION AND WRITING IN BUCHI EMECHETA’S SECOND CLASS CITIZEN

Abstract

Buchi Emecheta is a prominent Nigerian writer in African feminist literature. In Buchi Emecheta’s novel Second Class Citizen (1994), the protagonist Adah suffers from tripple oppression. Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen (1994) puts emphasis on the concerns of racism, gender, sexism, marriage, bride price, polygamy, women’s obligation to bear male children, education, financial freedom, and writing fiction, as well as class oppression. In her opinion, subalternation and oppression of African women should be put an end. Buchi Emecheta analyzes the gender, class, and race intersectionality in her novel Second Class Citizen as a representation of African female literature on the basis of patriarchy. The analysis is made from the post-colonial feminist and Afro-centric perspective; therefore, it reveals how the social and ideological constructions of gender, class, and race cause racism, classism, and sexism in society. The female character, Adah, lives in the margins both at home and in the public. Emecheta not only wants to underline the patriarchal roots of her own Igbo tribe, but also wants to be critical of the British society that lets them stay in second-class citizen conditions. Adah has to experience the feeling of being the other in Western society whereas she has to struggle with the paternal thoughts of the African culture. In her novel, Emecheta underlines the lack of educational opportunities for girls in a culture which pushes girls to grow up as obedient wives. The novel clearly illustrates the difficulties of Igbo immigrants in London, who are regarded as second-class citizens, are supposed to stay in hovels in slum districts and simultaneously cope with the problems of sexual discrimination both in the domestic sphere as well as in the public sphere. As a black woman, the main character is both trapped by her gender and race. In her post-colonial feminist depiction, Emecheta attributes tripple oppression to Adah character. With her description of the protagonist, Adah, the author shows how it was difficult to be a black woman both in Nigeria and in England. Emecheta is not only critical of the gender discrimination practices in her own country, but also wants to criticize the hostilities in England towards the black people. In accordance with Floya Anthias and Nira Yuval Davis’ ideas, this article will argue that Adah has complex relations with her state as a black woman who suffers from patriarchy, racism and class distinction. Thus, this study articulates how Adah Obi is dejected in the patriarchal discourses of Nigeria or England and how she is marginalized as a black woman, as an immigrant, as a young girl, and as a woman. Finally, Adah’s gaining self- confidence and her self affirmation will be related to Helene Cixous’ ideas about the importance of writing in women’s lives for their emancipation process.