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Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. “Noah’s memoir is extraordinary. Essential reading on every level. Now Noah revisits his childhood with the new memoir, Born a Crime. It's the story of his life, but the comedian is clear about who the real star of the book is. 'I thought that I was the hero of my. Trevor Noah at the 48th NAACP Image Awards. Marcus Ingram / Getty Images. The title Born a Crime was chosen very deliberately because when Noah was born he was a crime—it was illegal in South Africa at the time for Blacks and whites to have children (yes, really).
‘Born a Crime,’ Trevor Noah’s Raw Account of Life Under Apartheid Trevor Noah, host of “The Daily Show,” in 2015. His memoir provides a harrowing look at life in South Africa under apartheid. In his 2016 memoir, Born a Crime, Noah wrote about how his mother, who raised him in Johannesburg, South Africa, taught him about love. “Love is a creative act. Look back on Trevor Noah’s.
Born A Crime Summary
Born A Crime By Trevor Noah
Setting
Born a Crime consists of stories from a South African Childhood. The book is an autobiographical comedy book written by the South African Comedian Trevor Noah, published in 2016.
Main Characters
Trevor Noah – Trevor is the protagonist and narrator of the story, which follows him as he grows from a very young child into a man in his early twenties.
Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah – Trevor Noah’s mother. She made the radical choice to have a mixed-race child at a time when this was illegal in South Africa.
Robert – Trevor’s father, a white man of Swiss-German descent. He is a presence in Trevor’s early childhood but the two gradually become estranged.
Andrew – Trevor’s younger half-brother, the son of Patricia and Abel.
Isaac – Trevor’s youngest half-brother, the son of Patricia and Abel.
Abel – Trevor’s stepfather. He marries Patricia and father, two sons, with her. He is a physically abusive alcoholic who shoots and tries to kill Patricia.
Plot Summary
Trevor Noah’s memoir interweaves pieces from his childhood and adolescence with reflections on the history and culture of South Africa. The various episodes are not presented in a strict chronological order, and they include information about his life and the life of his mother.
Trevor's mother, Patricia Noah, is born into a Black South African family that belongs to the Xhosa tribe. After her parents' divorce and her father goes to live with his second wife and new family, Patricia grows up feeling neglected as the middle child of a working-class single mother. Although she hopes to return to live with her father, she ends up being sent to live with her paternal aunt in an impoverished rural area. Patricia, however, is able to get a good education and is ambitious, determined to make a better life for herself.
She gets a job as a secretary, and when she becomes frustrated with her family members taking most of her money, she moves to an apartment in Johannesburg by herself. There, she meets Robert, a white man with whom she becomes friends. Patricia persuades Robert to father her child so that she can establish a new family for herself. She gives birth to Trevor, a light-skinned, mixed-race child. At this time, it is illegal in South Africa for people to have sex with individuals from different racial classifications, so Trevor is evidence of her criminal activity.
Trevor recalls a happy early childhood growing up first in a small flat, and then, as the influence of apartheid gradually diminishes, in a primarily colored neighborhood called Eden Park. He visits with his father every week, and he also spends time with his mother's family in the Black neighborhood of Soweto. He is a high-spirited child and his mother often disciplines him strictly, but they also have a very loving relationship. Patricia encourages Trevor to be a curious and independent thinker who reflects critically, asks lots of questions, and thinks for himself. She plants the seeds of ambition in him, encouraging him to believe in himself and have aspirations. She also gives him a good educational foundation by getting him enrolled in a private Catholic school, although Trevor often gets in trouble there for challenging rules and questioning authority.
Patricia meets a charismatic mechanic named Abel when Trevor is about six years old. After dating for a while, they decide to get married. Trevor does not trust his soon-to-be stepfather, but there is little he can do. The marriage and then the birth of Trevor's half-brother Andrew introduce new dynamics into the family. For instance, Abel does not like Trevor spending time with his father Robert, so Trevor visits less frequently. This diminishing relationship leads to Robert moving away to Cape Town when Trevor is thirteen years old. Around this time, Trevor also gets kicked out of Catholic school and transfers to a public school called H.A. Jack at the end of the sixth grade. Starting at the new school, where students of different races don't intermingle much, Trevor realizes that he feels most comfortable with the Black students and identifies as Black.
However, by this time it is clear that he doesn't fit in well with any specific group. His mother's family and other residents of Soweto have always treated him differently because he was light-skinned and spoke perfect English. In the primarily colored neighborhood of Eden Park, he's considered either too black or too white to fit in. Trevor rarely has close friends, is often bullied or outcast, and becomes resourceful about moving fluidly between communities, focusing on honing his language skills so that he can try to fit in wherever he goes.
This pattern continues once Trevor starts high school at Sandringham, a large public school. By this time, his stepfather has experienced serious economic troubles after trying to start his own car repair shop. Patricia provided money to help him, but Abel's problems with alcohol make him irresponsible and the business fails. Abel has also begun to occasionally be physically abusive towards Patricia, Trevor, and their pets.
They sell the shop to cut their losses and move to a primarily white neighborhood called Highlands North. Patricia legally divorces Abel but continues to live with him, supporting the family with her income while he drinks more and more heavily. Trevor becomes interested in his own business ventures, first making money placing lunch orders for other students, and then eventually selling pirated and mix CDs. While awkward and unsuccessful at attracting girls, Trevor does have a few close friends and starts making a significant income for himself.
When Trevor finishes high school, he has no clear plan in place. He doesn't have the money to attend university, and the only work he can find is expanding his CD business and also beginning to DJ parties. This line of work leads him to spend more and more time in Alexandra, an impoverished neighborhood dominated by petty crime. By this time, tensions between Trevor and Abel have led Trevor to move into his own apartment. The relationship between Patricia and Abel has deteriorated, and he is hoping that his mother will leave Abel entirely. Trevor is devastated when he finds out that Patricia is pregnant again, and he spends less time with his mother and younger brothers after this. When he is in his early twenties, his career starts to take off, giving him other things to focus on. When Trevor is twenty-four, his mother encourages him to seek out his estranged father, Robert. Trevor tracks down Robert and begins to rebuild a relationship with him. Patricia also eventually leaves Abel and remarries.
One day Trevor receives a phone call that startles him and learns that Abel has shot his mother. He rushes to her side and covers her medical costs. Luckily, Patricia sustains only minor injuries, and the incident reaffirms the deep love between mother and son. Unfortunately, Abel is able to avoid jail time and goes on to live as a free man, having served only parole.
Themes
- Race
Trevor Noah Autobiography Book
The race is a key theme in the memoir because South Africa is a place where someone's race determines many details of their life, and also because it is a constant source of tension and confusion for Trevor. He fully belongs neither in the Black nor the White communities, and he is constantly made to feel different from others because of his mixed racial heritage. Trevor's personal experience of racial ambiguity is compared against an exploration of how South Africa has made race an individual's defining characteristic.
- Language
There are 11 official languages in South Africa. Along with race and culture, language is used as a major way for groups to classify who belongs and who is considered an outsider. Alongside being racially ambiguous, Trevor also speaks multiple languages, and this allows him to easily fit in with different groups who might otherwise not be accepting of him. Trevor's language skills allow him to broaden his horizons and move between different communities, giving him a degree of freedom and flexibility which not many South Africans possess.
Trevor Noah Memoir Book
- Family
Family is a key theme in the memoir, being mainly represented via Trevor's loving but complex relationship with his mother, Patricia. Other family members such as his grandparents, cousins, father, and younger brothers play secondary roles. Family is sometimes a source of pain and confusion for Trevor, as he does not initially understand why his mother is so strict with him. Additionally, when Trevor is a very young child, both of his parents have to hide their relationship with him. Nonetheless, the unconditional love and values he receives from his mother are a defining force in Trevor's identity.
- Growing Up
The memoir follows Trevor’s progress from a young child with limited awareness of the world around him to a young man who can think critically and make decisions about the life he wants to live. Many of the incidents Trevor chooses to narrate are ones where he learns a key lesson and moves towards greater maturity and deeper self-understanding. The memoir creates a structure for Trevor to turn seemingly random memories into a chain of events that helped him to mature and grow over time.
- History
The memoir is constructed both to tell the story of Trevor's personal history and to offer a broader reflection on the history of South Africa. By comparing personal and national histories, the memoir hints at how the two are interconnected. Trevor would not have been the same person if he had grown up in any other place: much of his identity and experience is directly tied to the way in which race was embedded in the history and politics of South Africa. The focus on ordinary and comical events in Trevor's life also serves to challenge and unsettle ideas of what history means. Most people would assume that the history of South Africa would focus on major political movements and profiles of famous leaders. However, Trevor's story implies that history also encompasses individual lives and experiences.
- Violence
Trevor's life is marked by violence and the threat of violence. Whether it is being threatened by a mini-bus driver while riding with his mother as a child or being afraid of being assaulted during the time he spends in jail. Trevor often has to cope with the reality that living in South Africa as a colored man means facing dangerous situations. He is also impacted by domestic violence when his stepfather becomes abusive towards both him and his mother. Culminating with his mother's shooting, Trevor's experience of violence forces him to confront assumptions he holds and also helps him to realize just how important his mother is to him.
- Masculinity
Trevor grows up primarily raised by women, without a lot of male role models, but he nonetheless absorbs ideas of what he thinks masculinity should look like. As he gets older, he tries to enact different forms of masculinity by trying to make himself physically attractive, pursuing girls, trying to make money, and trying to become popular. He also observes other men and their values, such as when he notices the tension between his mother and stepfather due to Abel wanting a very traditional wife who respects his authority without question. Trevor's vision of what masculinity should look like is shaped by his close bond with his mother and a deepened understanding of how different people can embody masculinity in different ways.
Trevor Noah's memoir interweaves vignettes from his childhood and adolescence with reflections on the history and culture of South Africa. The various episodes are not always presented in a strict chronological order, and they include information about his life and the life of his mother.
Trevor's mother, Patricia Noah, is born into a Black South African family that belongs to the Xhosa tribe. After her parents' divorce and her father goes to live with his second wife and new family, Patricia grows up feeling neglected as the middle child of a working-class single mother. Although she hopes to return to live with her father, she ends up being sent to live with her paternal aunt in an impoverished rural area. Patricia, however, is able to get a good education and is ambitious, determined to make a better life for herself. She begins working as a secretary, and when she becomes frustrated with her family members taking most of her money, she moves to an apartment in Johannesburg by herself. There, she meets Robert, a white man with whom she becomes friends. Wanting to have a baby so that she can establish a new family for herself, Patricia persuades Robert to father her child; she gives birth to Trevor, a light-skinned, mixed-race child. At this time, it is illegal in South Africa for people to have sex with individuals from different racial classifications, so Trevor is evidence of her criminal activity.
Although both Patricia and Robert have to make sure that they hide their relationship to Trevor for fear of being arrested, he recalls a happy early childhood growing up first in a small flat, and then, as the influence of apartheid gradually diminishes, in a primarily colored neighborhood called Eden Park. He visits with his father every week, and he also spends time with his mother's family in the Black neighborhood of Soweto. He is a rambunctious child and his mother often disciplines him strictly, but they also have a very loving relationship. Patricia encourages Trevor to be a curious and independent thinker who reflects critically, asks lots of questions, and thinks for himself. She plants the seeds of ambition in him, encouraging him to believe in himself and have aspirations. She also gives him a good educational foundation by getting him enrolled in a private Catholic school, although Trevor often gets in trouble there for challenging rules and questioning authority.
When Trevor is about six years old, Patricia meets a charismatic mechanic named Abel, and after the two of them have dated for a while, they decide to marry. Trevor doesn't trust the man who will become his stepfather, but there's little he can do. The marriage and then the birth of Trevor's half-brother Andrew introduce new dynamics into the family. For example, Abel does not like Trevor spending time with his father Robert, so Trevor visits less frequently. This diminishing relationship leads to Robert moving away to Cape Town when Trevor is thirteen years old. Around this time, Trevor also gets kicked out of Catholic school and transfers to a public school called H.A. Jack at the end of the sixth grade. Starting at the new school, where students of different races don't intermingle much, Trevor realizes that he feels most comfortable with the Black students and identifies as Black. However, by this time it is clear that he doesn't fit in well with any specific group. His mother's family and other residents of Soweto have always treated him differently because he was light-skinned and spoke perfect English. In the primarily colored neighborhood of Eden Park, he's considered either too black or too white to fit in. Trevor rarely has close friends, is often bullied or outcast, and becomes resourceful about moving fluidly between communities, focusing on honing his language skills so that he can try to fit in wherever he goes.
This pattern continues once Trevor starts high school at Sandringham, a large public school. By this time, his stepfather has experienced serious economic troubles after trying to start his own car repair shop. Patricia provided money to help him, but Abel's problems with alcohol make him irresponsible and the business fails. Abel has also begun to occasionally be physically abusive towards Patricia, Trevor, and their pets. To cut their losses, they sell the shop and move to a primarily white neighborhood called Highlands North. Patricia legally divorces Abel but continues to live with him, supporting the family with her income while he drinks more and more heavily. Trevor becomes interested in his own business ventures, first making money placing lunch orders for other students, and then eventually selling pirated and mix CDs. While awkward and unsuccessful at attracting girls, Trevor does have a few close friends and starts making a significant income for himself.
When Trevor finishes high school, he has no clear plan in place. He doesn't have the money to attend university, and the only work he can find is expanding his CD business and also beginning to DJ parties. This line of work leads him to spending more and more time in Alexandra, an impoverished neighborhood dominated by petty crime. By this time, tensions between Trevor and Abel have led Trevor to move into his own apartment. The relationship between Patricia and Abel has deteriorated, and he is hoping that his mother will leave Abel entirely. Trevor is devastated when he finds out that Patricia is pregnant again, and he spends less time with his mother and younger brothers after this. When he is in his early twenties, his career starts to take off, giving him other things to focus on. When Trevor is twenty-four, his mother encourages him to seek out his estranged father, Robert. Trevor tracks down Robert and begins to rebuild a relationship with him. Patricia also eventually leaves Abel and remarries.
Trevor is startled to receive a phone call one day when he is in his mid-twenties and learn that Abel has shot his mother. He rushes to her side and covers her medical costs. Miraculously, Patricia sustains only minor injuries, and the incident reaffirms the deep love between mother and son. Unfortunately, Abel is able to avoid jail time and goes on to live as a free man, having served only parole.