James Nwoye Adichie was Chimamanda Adichie’s father. He is a central figure in Notes on Grief, as the text recalls his death and memorializes his life. Adichie was so close with James that her loved ones would often tease her that the two should get married. Throughout the essay, Adichie mourns James—musing on the man he was and the absence his death created. She presents James as a lovable man, an impressive academic, a devoted father and husband, and a diligent, caring professor. Adichie recalls loving to simply “sit with him and talk about the past,” saying, “He gave me my ancestry in finely sketched stories. I not only adored him in that classic manner of a daddy’s girl, but I also liked him so much” (39). This bittersweet passage commemorates who James was as a person and who he was to Adichie, noting in particular how he helped her understand her past—a key aspect of the theme of Fatherhood as Legacy-Making and Identity Inheritance. The two shared a deep bond that helped Adichie feel both grounded and safe and that helped her develop a worldview and navigate life. 

James’s presence is palpable throughout the text, as Adichie’s active attempts at remembering him and preserving his legacy render him alive on the page. In Adichie’s many anecdotes of and with James, she presents Adichie as a warm-hearted, witty, and down-to-earth man. Adichie remarks, for instance, that she admired his “grace and his wisdom and his simplicity, and how utterly impressionable he was […] his luminous, moderate faith, strong but worn lightly” (39). This reference to “simplicity” contributes to Adichie’s portrayal of a man who was intelligent and accomplished but not pompous. She suggests that his humility endeared him to all those around him and gave his children the freedom to discover themselves on their own terms.

Grace Adichie was Adichie’s mother. She appears as a marginal figure throughout Notes on Grief, most often in the context of family Zoom calls or attempted funeral planning sessions. Outside the context of Notes on Grief, Grace Adichie was known for being the first female registrar at the University of Nigeria, where her husband also worked. As Brittle Paper publicized in 2021, Grace died suddenly in March 2021, “[b]arely five months after the burial” of her husband James and on James’s birthday (Okafor, Izunna. “Grace Adichie, Mother of Chimamanda Adichie, Dies on Her Husband’s Birthday.” Brittle Paper). Her and James’s relationship was an arranged marriage, but after the two met, Grace “said she would not marry anyone else” (35). Her family, initially skeptical because James was less well-to-do than Grace’s other suitors, finally acquiesced. According to Adichie’s rendering in Notes on Grief, the two shared a happy, loving relationship. Married in 1963, they had six children together: Ijeoma, Uchenna, Chuks, Okey, Chimamanda, and Kenechukwu.

Okey is one of Adichie’s brothers and one of James and Grace’s six children. At the start of Notes on Grief, Adichie remarks on how grateful she is that Okey is in Nigeria to stop in and see her parents during the pandemic. She also includes witty anecdotes about Okey teasing their father or joking with her, painting a portrait of him as good-humored. However, her presentation of Okey changes following James’s death in a way that echoes her remark that he is also “stalwart” and “sensitive.” Okey assumes much of the burden after James dies, devoting himself to the family, doing everything he can to ensure that their father’s body is taken care of at the morgue, and fighting to get funeral services. Adichie references her conversations with Okey throughout the text, incorporating Okey’s wisdom and remarks into her own reflections to illustrate James’s impact on the entire family.