Who is Peggy in Second Class Citizen?

Peggy in Second Class Citizen is a young female worker at Chalk Farm Library. Adah’s meeting with Peggy occurs in Chapter 12 of the novel.

I’m about to give you the key points you need to know about the character and role of Peggy in Second Class Citizen.

The Character of Peggy in Second Class Citizen

So who is Peggy in Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen? Of what race or nationality is Peggy? Is she young or old. What is the relationship between Adah and Peggy? What influences does Peggy’s character have on Adah and other characters in the novel?

These and many other questions will be addressed in this post. So just relax and consume all there is to take on the character called Peggy in Second Class Citizen.

But before that, take a look at a handful of likely questions about Peggy in Second Class Citizen.

• Who is Peggy in Second Class Citizen and what is her role in the life of Adah?

• Compare and contrast the characters of Peggy and Adah in the novel.

• Assess the character and role of Peggy.

• With close reference to the characters of Peggy and Adah, discuss the theme of a failed relationship in Second Class Citizen.

• Why is Peggy bitter in Second Class Citizen?

Key Points to Note About Peggy

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Below are the salient attributes of Peggy that every student and teacher of Second Class Citizen as a literary text must never ignore.

Peggy is an Irish girl who, like Adah, lives and works in London.

She works as a Library Assistant at Chalk Farm Library. Thus, she is Adah’s colleague at work.

Peggy and Adah are age-mates. She is 23 – just a couple of years older than Adah who is around 21 years of age.

But, while Adah is a married woman with kids, Peggy is single and has no child. In fact, she has just found herself without a boyfriend, having recently been jilted by her Italian boyfriend.

She has a funny-looking hairstyle.

Peggy is not particularly beautiful.

She is a friendly and approachable person who is fun to be with.

But she is also bitter having been treated unfairly by her boyfriend – a young Italian university student she met during her last Summer holiday trip to Italy.

How Peggy Becomes Heartbroken

Peggy went on a Summer holiday in Italy where she met and fell in love with a certain tall, handsome Italian guy. Peggy’s love affair with this Italian is described as love at first sight.

This Italian boyfriend of Peggy’s in Second Class Citizen is a student. He is reading Engineering in a University.

The two made promises to each other before parting ways at the end of the Summer holiday when Peggy had to return to England. But the boyfriend has failed to keep his promise.

This has made Peggy disappointed and bitter. She is always talking about how she intends to “get her own back” with this boyfriend of hers.

Peggy claims she had given too much of herself to him to forgive this disappointment.

The Role of Peggy in Second Class Citizen

Apart from a similarity in age, Peggy contrasts with Adah in several ways. She is European and white while Adah is a black young woman from Africa.

Secondly, Peggy, just like Fay, is unmarried while Adah is married with children.

The pain of disappointment Peggy is smarting under is nowhere near the burdens Adah carries as a mother and wife to the irresponsible Francis Obi.

SEE ALSO:

Who is Fay in Second Class Citizen?

Character and Role of Francis in Second Class Citizen

Development of Adah’s Character in Second Class Citizen

Nevertheless, just like Adah’s unsuccessful marriage to Francis, Peggy’s short-lived affair with her Italian boyfriend contributes to the theme of failed relationships.

Peggy also plays a major role in Adah’s dream to become a published writer.

Together with Bill, the Canadian, Peggy gives much needed encouragement to Adah to enable her to complete the manuscript of her first novel.

It is Francis’s burning of this manuscript, soon after, which catalyzes the collapse of the marriage between Adah and Francis.

Peggy, thus, helps to develop the plot and also advance the theme of dreams in Second Class Citizen.

Thank you!