Kaffir Boy
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Mark Mathabane, in his autobiography Kaffir Boy, tells the story, first, of one man's suffering at the mercy of South Africa's system of apartheid, and, second, of that man's ultimate individual victory over that racist system. Mathabane wrote the book at a time---the mid-1980s---when it appeared that apartheid was weakening its hold on South Africa, and it is clear that the author is hopeful about racial liberty in his country, and that he is not writing to vent his rage against whites in general who implemented apartheid. In fact, he dedicates the book in part "to those handful of white South Africans who helped me to grow as a human being and a tennis player, and with whom I share the hope of someday seeing a South Africa free of apartheid" (v). Of course, his primary purpose is to present candidly and comprehensively his own experiences and those of other black South Africans who suffered as a result of apartheid. He wants to "explain what it felt like to grow up under South Africa's system of legalized racism . . . and how I escaped from it and ended up in America" (ix). He recognizes that his is an unusual story, but he wants to tell it in order to give hope to those who seek to flee and/or change the system of apartheid. He was not content to merely escape himself, but instead seeks through his book to influence the process of change. It is not unreasonable to say that his book played some role, however small or indirect, in bringing about the end of apartheid in S
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was alert enough to note: "Hers was a Christianity of expediency" (77). Son Mark learned from his mother that there were certain things one had to do and to be in order to get ahead socially and economically: "I need a job . . . and haven't you noticed that all the Christians have jobs?" (77).
Mathabane might be criticized for letting go of some or most of the traditional ties to his ethnic roots, but he was willing to do so in order to advance socially and economically and eventually escape from the South African system of apartheid which in part depended on blacks adhering to those traditional ways. of life.
Page after page of the bulk of the book is marked by the horrors of oppression and abject poverty suffered by blacks in South Africa:
The alleyways became a stinking cesspool, swarming with flies . . . and rats. . . . The ceiling of our shack began to crumble . . . and in the winter icy winds would whip through. . . . The slushed walls gradually peeled, inviting bats, rats and other nightly creatures to come live with us (96).
Mathabane experiments with boxing as a way out of the nightmare, but is beaten badly and gives up that hope. His mother tells him the story of a riot in the past when many blacks were killed in p
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Approximate Word count = 2176
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)
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