Assignment:
Read Part I of Born A Crime and use the book to answer the following short answer questions. Each answer should be written in paragraph form. Be sure to cite evidence from the text, either quoted or paraphrased, to support your responses. Now that you are responding to a book, your evidence should be cited in proper MLA format with the author's last name and page number (Noah #).
Reading Comprehension Questions for Part I
1. Why was Trevor thrown from a moving car? How is this event tied to apartheid laws and rules?
2. Trevor compared apartheid to American history writing "In America you had the forced removal of the native onto reservations coupled with slavery followed by segregation. Imagine all three of those things happening to the same group of people at the same time. That was apartheid" (19). Describe three specific ways apartheid laws impacted Trevor's early childhood. Cite evidence from the text for each.
3. Trevor's extended family lived in a township called Soweto. What was life like for the people who lived there? How did being light skinned change how people in Soweto treated Trevor?
4. Trevor writes that language can "short circuit" the racism code (49). How did Trevor's multilingualism work to his advantage?
5. Trevor's mom taught him a variety of life lessons. He describes some of these, "The Second Girl." Name two things she taught Trevor and why each was important. While Trevor learned a lot from his mom, they had a complicated relationship. What made it so complicated?
6. Likewise, Trevor had a unique relationship with his father, Robert. What was Robert like? What helped Trevor to finally understand his dad and how he felt about him?
Note: Be sure to format your assignment in proper MLA format with a heading in the upper left hand corner, double space your assignment, and write in 12 point font.
Recommended Readings for Born A Crime:
• About Trevor Noah
• The History of Apartheid in South Africa
• The Current Situation
• Images from Apartheid in the 1960s