Chapter Five summary of Second Class Citizen is the obvious next stage in this series on the chapter by chapter summary of this novel by Buchi Emecheta, the famous Nigerian author.
So what is the main incident in Chapter Five of Second Class Citizen? Well, it is an episode that anyone preparing to answer an exam question on this interesting novel cannot afford to ignore.
Chapter Five of Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta recounts an incident which causes Adah unbearable pain and nearly cost her the life of Vicky, her baby son with his “small Francis mouth”.
An Expensive Lesson
Going according to this incident, Chapter Five of Second Class Citizen is titled “An Expensive Lesson”. You will soon learn about this very significant event in our Chapter Five Summary of Second Classs Citizen.
SEE ALSO: Chapter 4 Summary of Second Class Citizen
It is in the month of July and, Adah, feeling very heavy and lethargic, pleads with Francis to send Titi and Vicky to Trudy’s place for her. But Vicky won’t let go of Adah. He clings on to his mother, crying.
Titi (the older child and a girl), on the other hand, seems not to care anymore. She appears to have become used to their father’s unfriendly attitude toward them as well as the filth waiting for them at Trudy’s.
Francis reluctantly sends the children and Adah manages to get to the library, her place of work.
Adah Suffers Hunger
Adah has been starving herself these days. The reason is her salary, their sole household income, cannot get her food for work. Not after seeing to other expenses such as those for housekeeping and Francis’s examination costs.
With the pangs of hunger rumbling through her stomach, Adah steps out to go window shopping. She savours the scents and sights of food in the shops lining the streets.
A Mother’s Premonition
Then a sudden feeling of unease comes over Adah. Involuntarily, she begins to hurry back to the library.
Cynthia, a fellow worker is surprised to realize that Adah is aware, without anyone telling her so, that something terrible has happened to one of her children. It is the legendary mother’s gut instincts at work here.
It is Vicky.
Adah heads straight to Trudy’s place. Trudy and the Indian doctor are there, waiting for her. Vicky is apparently very ill. But no one is saying what the illness could be. Adah can only conjecture that it might be treatable malaria.
An ambulance is waiting to take Vicky to the Royal Free Hospital. Adah begins to wonder and hope that a hospital with “free” in its name is not too cheap and too low-quality a place to save her precious Vicky’s life.
At the hospital, Vicky is examined and placed under close observation pending the results of the test.
Francis Cries Like a Woman
Francis appears at the Royal Free Hospital much later that night. He cannot even comfort his wife for the mental agony she is going through over the uncertainty still hanging in the air over Vicky’s real condition. All he can do is cry. Yes, Francis joins Adah and cries like a woman.
Adah Explodes
After a rather long wait, Adah finally learns that Vicky has contracted a certain disease called viral meningitis. She wastes no time to blame Trudy for Vicky’s illness. And she vents her anger and frustration on both Francis and Trudy.
“The medical books say he must have taken it through his mouth. I am very careful with Vicky and have not made as many mistakes as I did with Titi. I want to know where he got it from, and look, Francis, I don’t care what you think anymore, I am going to find out. From Trudy. … If anything happens to my son, I am going to kill you and that prostitute. You sleep with her, do you not? You buy her pants with the money I work for and you both spend the money I pay her, when I go to work. I don’t care what you do but I must have my children whole and perfect. The only thing I get from this slavish marriage is the children. And Francis, I am warning you, they must be perfect children.”
All Francis can do is to reprimand Adah, accusing her of being just like her quarrelsome mother.
And when Trudy has the nerves to retort that Vicky contracted the disease from the water they drank back in Nigeria before coming to England, Adah can take it no more. She picks a carpet sweeper nearby and swings it in Trudy’s direction. Trudy is lucky enough to dodge the object.
So Vicky is to spend some more time at the hospital.
A Nursery Place for the Children at Last
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Meanwhile, Miss Stirling assures Adah that they now have a nursery place for her children. Titi will start going immediately. Vicky will later join her any time he is discharged from the hospital.
As for Trudy, her name is removed from the Council list of approved child minders.
Final thoughts
Thus, Vicky’s scary illness is the main incident in this chapter. It is the significant event that you must not lose sight of as you study the Chapter Five Summary of Second Class Citizen and the novel as a whole.
This is the end of our eventful Chapter Five summary of Second Class Citizen.
You may want to check out these very likely exam questions on Second Class Citizen.
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