Kaffir boy was an extremely honest tale of what life was like during apartheid. Apartheid was a system designed by Holland settlers to separate the native Africans from their settlers. They conformed them into small ghettos or tribal reserves which where unpractical and unsanitary. Although many people might feel torn about how the story ended. Many people feel he should have stayed or retaliated against his peers. It also leaves people wondering how they would have handled the situation themselves. In this paper, I will discuss what I would have done if I were in the same situation, what I felt he should have done, and some conflicts that were in his way.
I personally feel that Mark Mathabane made the right decision in leaving on his tennis scholarship for America. Some people look at this as him trying to run away, flee the country, but I look at it as him being very wise. I think it was a wise decision for him to go to America. Once he was there people would start to notice his skills and admire him, which could help make his views more influential on others. His influence would then enable him to regain awareness to Americans about the cruel treatment of African Americans in South Africa, which would hopefully raise enough concern for the American government feel the need to intervene. Once mark had his visa and no longer was living in South Africa he could return, protest, and not receive the same punishment that a regular black South African would. I also feel it was a good decision for him to go to America because he should have to sacrifice his dreams just because his black or because he has to leave behind his people.
It is hard for me to decide what I would have done if I were in Mark Mathabanes shoes. I honestly do not feel I would even have the courage to begin start up tennis considering the environment that he lived in. I would have been far too afraid of what people would say and think about me.
In his autobiography, Kaffir Boy, Mark Mathabane demonstrates the hardships of growing up in the black ghetto of Alexandra in South Africa during the 1960s and 1970s. ... The word kaffir comes from Arabic origin and means "infidel". ... Members of the African Bantu-speaking peoples were often called "kaffirs". ... Kaffir Boy can be related to postcolonialism. ...
"Struggle For Education" In "Kaffir Boy", Mark "Johannes" Mathabane's mother strives to send him to school. She does not let anything get in the way of her ambition. Even though her husband disapproves, she will not let anything get in her way, but now her desires for her son to be educated are stro...
Throughout his book, Kaffir Boy, Mark Mathabane describes in intricate detail how the white South Africans controlled South Africa in the 1960's and 1970's. ... As a boy, Mark would help the people who could not read get the documents they needed to keep their books in order. ...
Experience is Not Always Better The novel The Power on One written by Bryce Courtenay tells a story of the experiences and the hardships that a boy named Peekay must face. ... It was only a kaffir, a dirty stinking yellow man, why you hitting a white man over a kaffir?" ... Peekay helps the "kaffirs". ...
Frikkie is a white boy who has a Dutch descent while Tengo is a native black African boy. ... On the farm, he used to play with a white boy named Frikkie at his age. The white boy was the farm owner's nephew. ... At the same time, the madam came in and told Frikkie's sister in a sharp voice, "you should never let a kaffir boy into your room again!" Afterward, Tengo felt extremely angry and then he realized that there was a line between him and the white boy that must not be crossed. ...
There is a very rude red headed girl at the party who is incredibly disrespectful to Old Ezekiel (the eldest member of the Kaffir People) by calling him "boy" when he is actually much older than her. ...
During the unfair treatment a young boy endured, he had to decide if the value of friendship can overcome extreme tensions risen by a unfavorable system. ... Tengo was a black boy who laborer on the farm of Frikkie's uncle. ... He was accustomed to privileges, such as freedom and schooling, and did not have to encounter the poverty and afflictions of Kaffirs (the black boys). ...
In a way, "Kaffir-town- could represent an African scheme, and this realization is not lost on Roy when John's arrest means a return trip to Edinburgh: "Edinburgh to me represented serfdom. I realized that it was exactly the same situation as Johannesburg; the only difference was that the Kaffirs were white and called schemies or draftpaks- (Welsh 80). ... His assault of the boy seems to be South Africa/Uncle Gordon's influence in all of this. ...
They take away books that they feel Nyasha should not be reading, forces their daughter to eat when she says that she is not hungry, and even uses violence to reprimand her for staying out too late with a boy. ... Nyasha pretends to be a settler and insults her father by calling him a "good boy, a good munt. A bloody good kaffir" (Dangarembga 200). The use of the term "boy", which implies the bottom of social hierarchy, shows that black African men are perceived to be inferior and forced to be obedient to the white settlers. ...