Born a Crime (Book by Trevor Noah) College Personal Essay

In 750 words, with evidence of the writer (you) in it:

State your thesis (takeaway) at the top of the essay. Use BOLD letters. Prove that you read using examples from the book to support your claim.

Your essay must be three pages long.

State a thesis that supports your main idea and ties everything together.

Use at least two quotes & have evidence from your own life and belief system in relation to Noah’s ideas. The point of this essay is to ENGAGE with your ideas to show me that you can develop an essay, stick to the point, use quotes, think outside the box about your ideas & prove to me that you deserve to pass this course. These questions can help prompt thinking:

The use of Race, as a method of control that the US borrowed from apartheid. If this is my topic, I would spend my intro talking about the construction of race as a method to divide and conquer. I would point to the many languages Trevor speaks and the way he fits into both black and white worlds.

I would then spend the ideas in my body paragraphs on developing the idea of race as a way to divide people and make the claim that Trevor still found a way, despite strict social standard, to skirt the line and “be a chameleon”. Quotes I might use: “Ever the outsider, I created my own strange little world” (p. 139). He continues, “Since I belonged to no group I learned to move seamlessly between groups. I was a chameleon, still, a cultural chameleon” (p. 140).

In my conclusion, I would argue that despite the government’s attempts to continue to enslave the people of South Africa, Trevor was able to beat the collapsing system through his ability to communicate and build rapport with a variety of different types of people and “be a chameleon”(140).

The following discussion/essay questions can help you narrow your thinking on your topic.

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Born A Crime Essay | Themes: RACE/ Social Class descrimination

Analyze the theme on its own, and then compare it to your own experience, drawing on evidence from the text.

These questions below are simply to help you find your voice on the matter.

1) Noah prides himself on his ability to fit into a variety of situations and forge friendships with different groups of young people: “Ever the outsider, I created my own strange little world” (p. 139). He continues, “Since I belonged to no group I learned to move seamlessly between groups. I was a chameleon, still, a cultural chameleon” (p. 140). Before he decides to leave Alexandra, Noah realizes that “Bongani and the other East Bank guys, because of where they were from, what they looked like—they just had very little hope . . . in the back of my mind I knew I had other options. I could leave. They couldn’t” (p. 224). Later, when he is in a prison holding cell, he concludes that “racism exists, and you have to pick a side. You can say that you don’t pick sides, but eventually life will force you to pick a side” (p. 240). Assess all the moments throughout the book where Noah acts like a chameleon, noting the benefits and costs of that ability to adapt to a number of situations.

2) Noah has an epiphany when, about to sell a stolen digital camera, he looks at the pictures on it and has second thoughts. He reflects, “In society, we do horrible things to one another because we don’t see the person it affects. We don’t see their face. We don’t see them as people. Which was the whole reason the hood was built in the first place, to keep the victims of apartheid out of sight and out of mind. Because if white people ever saw black people as human, they would see that slavery is unconscionable. We live in a world where we don’t see the ramification of what we do to others, because we don’t live with them” (pp. 221–22). What does this reflection suggest about the nature of guilt and how it influenced Noah’s development and maturation? Do you remember a time in your life that marked your own maturation?

3) Evaluate Noah’s use of humor to explain various instances in his life throughout the book. Discuss the overall impact of using humor, focusing on how humor enabled him to make friends and to get out of difficult situations. In this discussion, pinpoint certain words and phrases Noah uses to support the analysis of the use of humor.