Second Class Citizen Chapter 12 Summary
Second Class Citizen Chapter 12 is titled ‘The Collapse’. Our summary of Second Class Citizen Chapter 12 will, therefore, cover the following areas.
- Adah’s unsuccessful attempted abortion
- The Presence returns to draw Adah closer to it.
- The ever-widening gulf between Adah and Francis
- Experiences at the Chalk Farm Library
- The role of Peggy and Bill in Adah’s life
- An encounter with Mr Okpara
- The birth of Dada – Adah’s fourth child (second girl after Titi, the first born)
- Francis gets to work again this time as a ‘Clerical Officer’.
- Adah prepares to write her first-ever novel.
Please note that the structure of this summary of Second Class Citizen Chapter 12 may not necessarily follow the above order of the highlights.
The above are the highlights of the events in Second Class Citizen Chapter 12. Remember that this summary of Chapter 12 of Second Class Citizen is the penultimate in our chapter-by-chapter summarizes of Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta, the renowned Nigerian novelist.
As you will soon find out, just like Chapter 2, Chapter 12 turns out to be a lengthy one. It is one of the most eventful chapters of Second Class Citizen. The incidents in this chapter will finally determine the direction of Adah’s marriage to Francis and also shape her own future.
MUST READ:
Chapter 2 Summary of Second Class Citizen
How to Answer ‘Relate the Title to the Theme’ Questions in Literature
100+ Useful Phrases for Writing Essays
Beyond Chapter 12, we have just a single chapter left to summarize in this epic story about the life and dreams of Adah, the protagonist. I’m referring to the Chapter 13 summary of Second Class Citizen.
So without further ado, let’s go straight to our summary of Second Class Citizen Chapter Twelve.
Adah attempts an abortion.
As we saw in our summary of Chapter 11 of Second Class Citizen, Adah has failed in her desire to stop giving birth to more children after Bubu, the third child and second boy (besides Vicky).
Given her iron-will determination, Adah tries to terminate her fourth pregnancy. She goes to see an Indian Doctor and announced that she ‘wanted the pregnancy terminated’.
The Indian doctor gives the desperate Adah some white pills with the promise that ‘they would work’.
Since Adah’s only focus is on how to terminate the pregnancy, she shows no interest in knowing whatever the Indian doctor means by ‘they would work’. She believes all the same that the pills are meant to ‘terminate the pregnancy.
Adah sees this fourth pregnancy as the latest in a string of challenges she has faced over the years. And she believes she will live through this challenge and come out of it stronger.
Among the other challenges are the following.
- As a young girl growing up, Adah had to almost single-handedly see herself through school.
- She sees her marriage to Francis as a gamble that she took and lost.
The Presence returns.
It is at this moment of her latest challenge that Adah begins to, once more, feel the nearness of the Presence. She believes that it is this Presence that has directed her through her difficult moments.
What is the Presence in Second Class Citizen?
The Presence is Adah’s conception of God or a supreme supernatural being. It is this awe-inspiring Presence that has been her mainstay all her life. It is in Second Class Citizen Chapter 12 that we get the clearest idea of what the Presence is.
PLEASE NOTE:
Remember, we have seen much about the Presence in Chapter 1 of this novel. You can read more about The Presence here.
Now, Adah speaks to the Presence while she goes about her daily chores. This is partly because, unlike in Nigeria, life in England is too busy for her to find the time to go to church.
London, having thus killed Adah’s congregational God, created instead a personal God who loomed large and really alive. She did not have to go to church to see this one. He was always there when she was shelving books in the library, when she was tucking her babies up to sleep, when she was doing anything.
BUCHI EMECHETA (Second Class Citizen)
But it is not Adah alone who has no time or has lost interest in attending church in London. Many people in England simply do not have the time nor the interest to go to church.
In fact, compared to the noisy atmosphere inside most churches back home in Nigeria, church-going in England is a rather dull affair.
The gulf between Adah and Francis widens.
In this chapter, while Adah appears to draw nearer to God, she and Francis, at the same time, drift farther and farther apart.
At this stage in her life, Adah’s yearning for freedom from emotional bondage under Francis’s roof grows. She expresses her determination to break up with Francis. Adah has fully convinced herself that there is nothing for her to lose by leaving Francis except her ‘chains’.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: Apostrophe Rules and Guidelines Worth Following
Two major previous incidents combine to show Adah what she must do with her marriage to Francis Obi. They serve as a turning point, speeding up the ‘collapse’ of their already stormy relationship.
- the University College Hospital Incident and
- Adah’s unsuccessful attempt at family planning incident (the cap incident)
So, by the close of Chapter 12, almost everything that still supports this shaky marital relationship will have collapsed.
The gulf between them which had grown with her stay in the hospital, had been made deeper by the cap incident, and now this new child would make it greater still. But she was not going to tell Francis about it and she did not feel guilty about it. Francis would not be of any help.
BUCHI EMECHETA (Second Class Citizen)
This sets the stage for the end of the marriage – ‘The Ditch Pull’ (as Buchi Emecheta names Chapter 13, the last chapter of her novel).
LIKELY QUESTIONS
- Consider Adah’s relationship with God in Second Class Citizen
- Comment on the role of the Presence in Second Class Citizen.
- What is the role of the Presence in Adah’s life in the novel?
Chalk Farm Library
Chalk Farm Library is the place where Adah finds employment in London after returning from the maternity ward of the University College Hospital.
This is why this Chapter 12 Summary of Second Class Citizen will not be complete without a reference to Adah’s experiences at Chalk Farm Library.
While at Chalk Farm Library, Adah meets Bill, the Canadian, and Peggy among others. A close relationship develops between Adah and her colleagues at Chalk Farm Library.
However, while Peggy, Bill, and Fay freely speak of their personal problems to the hearing of Adah, she, on the other hand, has chosen not to reveal her own marital woes.
Also, the keen interest Bill and Peggy show in books provides Adah with much encouragement to revive her writing dreams. This enables her to complete writing the ill-fated manuscript of her first novel, ‘The Bride Price’.
SEE ALSO:
The Significance of Chalk Farm Library in Second Class Citizen
Domestic violence intensifies.
The physical, sexual, and emotional abuses that Adah suffers at the hands of Francis get worse in this chapter. Mr. Noble, the landlord, finally gets fed up with the unending fights and, consequently, asks Adah and Francis to move out of his house.
Thus, in our Second Class Citizen Chapter 12 summary, there is a lot to learn and write about the theme of domestic violence in the novel.
It is interesting to note that, by Chapter Twelve, Adah has experienced so much abuse from Francis Obi that she has begun to grow in courage.
The beatings and the slaps do not bother her anymore. Adah has started hitting back and even biting Francis each time he tries to abuse her physically.
Francis, in return, has deliberately grown very long nails to dig into Adah’s flesh each time she bites him. This makes Adah begin to fear for her life.
She reckons that she could be killed at any moment. So while Adah thinks it wise to, at least, give in to Francis’s brutish sexual advances, she simultaneously plans to leave the marriage.
Francis’s womanizing gets worse.
Meanwhile, Francis has taken his womanizing attitude to a completely new level. He has started making advances at all the women in their house.
So bad is the situation that the women have come together to write a letter to complain to Adah.
In their protest letter, the women ask Adah to find a way to control Francis so he can stop chasing them. They are simply fed up.
Sadly, the letter is not sealed properly. As a result, many colleagues of Adah’s at Chalk Farm Library are able to read it and discover the true state of Adah’s marital life.
Adah plans to leave Francis.
Adah, though not happy with the turn of events, cares very little about it. At this stage, things have come to a head. She is bent on leaving.
Now, for the first time, she has some concrete plans as to how to break up with Francis. She wants to go find a place for herself and the children.
Adah’s abortion attempt fails.
It is now three months since she has been to see the smallish-looking Indian doctor. Her mission then was to ask him to help her terminate the new pregnancy.
Now, Adah returns to see the Indian doctor. She wants an answer from the Indian doctor as to why the pregnancy is still there.
For some reason, the Indian doctor is frightened upon realizing that the white pills he gave Adah have failed to abort the baby. There and then, he claims innocence, telling the visibly disturbed Adah,
‘I did not give you the pills to abort the child.’
Adah is not amused at all:
All right so I’m having the baby. But I’ll tell you this, the pills you gave me were abortive and you know it and I know it, because I carry the child and know what happened the first few weeks you gave them to me. If my child is imperfect in any way, you are responsible and you know that.
BUCHI EMECHETA (Second Class Citizen)
Adah regrets coming to London.
When she walks out of the Indian doctor’s office, Adah decides not to go back to the house. Instead, she heads for a public park near a place called Gospel Oak Village.
She wants a quiet place to think through her predicament.
It is at the park near Gospel Oak Village that Adah feels regret for coming to England.
Clearly, the dream she has nurtured since childhood of coming to the United Kingdom, God’s Holiest of Holies, has turned sour.
Adah blames herself for not remaining in Nigeria to finish her A-Level correspondence courses. This would have enabled her to gain admission to Ibadan University.
After all, Ibadan University was, at the time, affiliated with her cherished London University.
Then she comforts herself that it has not been all doom and gloom. At least, her children now attend prestigious nursery schools in London.
All these confusing thoughts make her begin to cry. Yes, Adah, our tough, Igbo Tigress, who would rather sink her flesh into the back of a fellow student than cry from the pain of a severe beating by her headmaster, begins to sob uncontrollably.
Clearly, Adah is overwhelmed by the problems in her life. Thanks to a toxic relationship with an abusive and irresponsible man called Francis Obi.
It is in this state of emotional turmoil that Adah meets Mr. Okpara.
MUST READ: Who is Mr. Okpara in Second Class Citizen?
An Encounter with Mr. Okpara
Mr. Okpara approaches the visibly worried Adah in the park near Gospel Oak Village.
He easily identifies himself with Adah because he reckons that Adah is an Igbo (going by the tribal marks on her face).
After a brief interaction between the two, Mr. Okpara demands that Adah take him to her house so that, together, they can apologize to Francis, her husband.
You can find the details and significance of Mr. Okpara’s meeting with Adah and Francis here.
Francis shows little interest in the pregnancy.
Now Adah can no longer keep the five-month-old pregnancy a secret. She must, of necessity, tell Francis since she has failed to terminate it without his knowledge.
But Francis cares little about these things. His reaction to the news is a wicked, dismissive laugh.
When she told him he was expecting another child, the laughter that greeted this announcement was like a mad monkey’s in the zoo. It was so animal-like, so inhuman, so mirthless, and yet so brutal.
At the very best, Francis appears to be mocking Adah. He has once more shown her that he determines what happens to her – even her reproductive rights mean little to him.
Adah prepares for her confinement time
Adah is determined that this time around, she will not go to the hospital as a ‘poor nigger woman’.
True to her nature, she begins to get resourceful. In the process, she takes some actions that amount to nothing more than an escape from the stark realities in her life.
The fake greeting cards are one example of this desperate attempt on Adah’s part to appear to be what she is not. Circumstances in her life have begun to turn her into something else.
At the same time, these steps show how assertive she has become. She is now prepared to take back her personal freedom and independence as a woman.
Below are some of the key actions Adah takes to make the birth of Dada (her fourth child) less miserable than that of the previous one (Bubu’s).
SEE ALSO: Significance of Bubu’s Birth
- She addresses 20 greeting cards to herself and asks a West Indian girl called Irene to send them to her while she is in the hospital.
- Adah asks Irene to send two big bunches of flowers to her as well.
- She makes sure she is on the right, prescribed diet.
- Henceforth, Adah refuses to hand over her pay packet to Francis. She is not willing to suffer for his sake anymore.
She tells Francis:
From now on, fend for yourself. I know the children are mine, because they need to be fed. You must go out and work. If not, I shall only cater for my children.
BUCHI EMECHETA (Second Class Citizen)
A quarrel follows.
Funnily but unsurprisingly, Francis is not happy. So a quarrel follows.
Francis announces that he has gone to report the matter to ‘the Ministry or Board or something because she had signed that she would not feed him anymore.
Dada is Born
Then Dada, a baby girl, arrives.
Adah was sure that the child arrived in the world smiling and laughing. She was so small, less than five pounds in weight, but beautiful, just like a black doll – and a girl.
BUCHI EMECHETA (Second Class Citizen)
Though Francis went with Adah in an ambulance to the hospital, this time around, he flatly refuses to come for her when Adah is due to return home.
Francis starts work again.
Yet another significant development in this Chapter 12 summary of Second Class Citizen is the sudden decision taken by Francis to find a new job.
This is about the second attempt Francis Obi has made to work to take care of his own needs. As you will recall, his first job as a postman in Chapter 10 also followed the birth of a new baby, Bubu.
Driven by hunger, Francis begins work at the Post Office as a ‘clerical officer’. For a moment, Adah’s hopes rise to the sky.
She now begins to insist on Francis’s living up to his manly responsibilities. He must pay for rent, food and so on.
From now on, Adah declares, she cannot shoulder these responsibilities anymore. Only her children will matter to her.
And when Francis threatens to refuse to allow her to go out to work in the Civil Service, Adah, apparently growing in self-confidence, retorts:
‘This is England, not Nigeria. I don’t need your signature to secure a job for me.’
Meanwhile, Francis suddenly begins to show glimpses of a positive change in his attitude. He buys for himself a new suit and some shirts. But this will not last long enough.
Again, the child in him refuses to go away. He has used part of his pay to buy a transistor radio. Since he will not allow anybody to touch the radio, he carries it like a toy everywhere he goes.
Adah prepares to write the manuscript of The Bride Price
The last significant incident in our summary of Second Class Citizen Chapter 12 is Adah’s preparations towards the writing of the manuscript of her first-ever novel.
While still nursing her baby girl, Dada, Adah decides to resurrect her passion for writing.
She buys herself a copy of a writing guide titled ‘Teach Yourself to Write’ at Foyle’s.
By the close of Chapter 12, therefore, Adah is poised to write the ill-fated manuscript of The Bride Price.
Related Posts
Final Thoughts
We have come to the end of our Chapter 12 summary of Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen.
In case you haven’t yet read the summary of one or more of the preceding chapters of Second Class Citizen, just click the link below. You will find the summaries of all 13 chapters of Second Class Citizen there.
Chapter-by-Chapter Summaries of Second Class Citizen
Now, if all you need is a single post on the full summary and analysis of Second Class Citizen (with themes, characters, and more) you will find it right here.
You can also find tons of useful learning and teaching resources to download in PDF format for FREE on this page.
And, finally, make sure you take part in at least one fun quiz before you leave this website. You will get the result of your performance instantly. Don’t worry, it is strictly private and confidential.
Author
Discover more from AOne English College
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
