Born a Crime Chapters 8-13

 Born a Crime 8-13

Quote 1:

“ I went from seeing my dad every Sunday to seeing him every other Sunday, maybe once a month, whenever my mom would sneak me over, same as she’d done back in Hillbrow. We’d gone from living under apartheid to living under another kind of tyranny, that of an abusive, alcoholic man” (Noah, 163). 

I chose this quote because it really stuck out to me. Trevor Noah went from seeing his father every week and having an almost normal relationship with him, to not seeing him as often. He had to adjust to his mother’s new partner who had some issues and problems of his own. It made me wonder if he missed his dad, and if he wished they could have been one family instead of his new stepdad. It made me upset that he and his mother had to deal with his stepdad being abusive and possessive, especially after dealing with the harsh treatment of apartheid. This must have made them feel trapped and hopeless because they went from one tyranny to another. I know that Noah and his mother are strong people, and that they would find their way out of this tragic situation. 

Quote 2: 

“I’d perform for them. I’d catch a bit of their conversation, learn more about their group, and then leave. I overstayed my welcome. I wasn’t popular, but I wasn’t an outcast. I was with everybody, and at the same time I was all by myself” (Noah, 207). 

I chose this quote because it made me question if this is a fulfilling way to live your life. When you’re at school and you’re with lots of different groups of people, you can feel like people like you and want to be around you. At the same time, those people won’t go out of their way to talk to you and invite you to go places with them. It's like if you stopped talking to them and making the effort, the friendship won’t last. I believe this is what Noah was experiencing in this time of his life. He was never actually alone at school because he could just go talk to whoever, but when school was out, he did not have any real friends to hang out with. That’s why he felt like he was all by himself. This reminds me of the saying of “quality over quantity”. It is better to have a small amount of really good friends that you can trust and rely on than to have a lot of friends that ultimately don’t care about you. This is a lesson Noah can take from his experiences at school. He knew that he had people to talk to but not people who were always going to be there for him. 

1. Trevor Noah learns that his father is a very secretive and private person. Noah spent most of his life wondering if his father was ever thinking about him or keeping tabs on him. Noah wanted to know if his dad was proud of him. His mom always reminded him that his dad chose him and wanted Noah in his life. When Noah finally got back in touch with his dad, he learned that his father was keeping track of everything he was doing in his life. He never forgot about Noah. He was always proud of him. Noah wanted to learn everything about his dad, so he tried asking him many questions. He then realized that in order to fully get to know someone, you have to spend time with them. So after Noah spent the weekend with his dad, he learned that his dad is very secretive and reserved. He was like that for his whole life.  

2. Apartheid convinced every race that it’s the other races fault that they are being held back. For example, apartheid made colored people believe that they couldn’t have the status of white people because black people might use the benefit of colored people to sneak in and gain the privileges of white people. Ultimately, apartheid used other races as an excuse for why certain races can’t have certain privileges. Apartheid made up their own rules to classify one as white or black. For example, colored people could apply to get promoted to becoming white. If your hair was straight enough and your skin was light enough, you could get promoted to white. Apartheid made a pencil test, and if your pencil falls out of your hair, you were considered white according to the government. That’s how they would make up rules and tests to change people's race and status. Trevor Noah says he had “done a terrible thing” because he let his stepdad beat the kid that bullied him. A kid was bullying Noah and threw lots of berries at him. As revenge, Noah let his stepdad beat up the kid. Since his stepdad has a really bad temper, he took it way too far. Noah ended up feeling really bad about it because he realized that his bully is just a kid who probably learned hatred from someone else. Noah realized that the revenge wasn’t worth it, especially since he knew how abusive and angry his stepdad gets. 

3. Trevor Noah gets away with shoplifting because of the grainy cameras at the mall. The mall security and police used the footage to try and identify the boy that Teddy was shoplifting with. The camera only picks up white or black color, so since Noah had lighter skin, the camera picked it up as white. This led the police to believe that it was a white person shoplifting with Teddy. Teddy’s skin is darker, so the camera just picked it up as black. Noah got away with it because nobody realized that the cameras wouldn’t show a colored skin tone. I relate to the quote because I feel like I need to take more risks in life. Being afraid of failure is something that a lot of us struggle with, but we need to understand that failure is a part of life. It always teaches us a lesson that we can use to help us succeed. I feel like there’s many things in my life that I just didn’t do because I didn’t want to fail. That is not a good way to live since I don’t want to live with regrets. It’s better to do whatever it is you want to do and fail, than to never try it and regret that for the rest of your life.