What were they faced with living in England at that time as black couple that brought relief or stress to them
Britain's welfare state comes under Emecheta's keen gaze in this novel. Sometimes it seems to function well enough, and Adah benefits from its offering. However, it is also depicted as problematic, especially for women and immigrants (of which Adah is both). As a woman, Adah is subject to rules that privilege male control over women, and as an immigrant, Adah has to deal with the immensity of the system without much help at all.
Britain is typically viewed as a place that struggles more with class than race, but for immigrants, those two categories are inextricable. Adah and Francis's Blackness precludes their getting affordable housing, as well as dictates how they are generally treated. It initially pushes them into a lower class, though Adah's tenacity and intelligence help propel the family forward a bit. Adah struggles with the conflation of race and class, for she cannot fathom how she has to inhabit the same spaces as people who would have been servants of hers back in Nigeria.
Second Class Citizen, GradeSaver
