Themes Of Poem In Born A Crime By Trevor Noah

During the twentieth century, many African American writers wrote several texts that tell the story of their lives and experiences in the society that they had lived. This includes the author, Richard Wright who often wrote gruesome poems, criticisms of other African American writers, and short stories. Many of Wright’s text, like “Between Laughter and Tears,” “Between the World and Me,” and “The Library Card,” has challenged and reflected the brutal discrimination of African-American, socially, politically, and philosophically.

The struggles of being an African American is not very well understood by the majority of the population. For hundreds of years, there every day challenges – that privilege people would not bad – have become their own normal. Many authors have taken it upon themselves to write about their experiences and to educate the public. They use different types of literary devices to reflect their true intentions. In James Baldwin‘s “Notes of a Native Son” and Brent Staples’ “Just Walk On By: Black Men and Public Spaces,” the authors use language and punctuation to show their true emotion behind their words. The combination of syntax and diction allows Baldwin to develop his angry and bitter tone, in addition to Staples’ contrasting light-hearted tone.

Many individuals are often alienated from society. One of many causes can be the racism of African Americans. The alienation caused by racism can affect individuals and society. Due to their race, they were discriminated and led to racial inequality. This can all be depicted in “Incident” by Countee Cullen, “ A Black Man Talks of Reaping” by Arna Bontemps, and “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar. In “Incident”, a young African American is called a racial slur because of her physical appearance. Also, “A Black Man Talks of Reaping”, describes how a black man is discriminated and face racial inequality. Lastly, in “We Wear the Mask” shows how blacks had to hide their true identity because they were colored and did not fit in society. In all three text of Cullen, Bontemps, and Dunbar all show how racism can make an individual feel alienated.

The novel Native Son by Richard Wright tells the story of Bigger Thomas, a young black man living on the South Side of Chicago. Due to the severe oppression and racism he has faced throughout his entire life, the reader is shown how Bigger has no control over his life and is driven to extreme actions as a result of his fear and anger. Wright displays how media and popular culture in the novel serve as powerful driving forces in emphasizing the destructive racial prejudices that are present in society as a way to solidify these ideas in the minds of its members. Through presenting the media in such a light, Wright criticizes how the media inaccurately presents information to the public

Trevor Noah wrote his memoir, Born a Crime, to tell his life story and the prevailing force in his life, his mother. As a half white, half black child living during and directly after Apartheid in South Africa, there were a lot of racial expectations put on him. With his father out of the picture, it was his mother that raised him and taught him how to navigate the often murky waters of society’s view of his racial identity vs his true identity. Noah and his mother became incredibly close and he described their relationship as them against the world. As a result of how close they were, she became his main influence and so her sense of independence became mirrored in Noah, such that he gained the confidence to be his own person and make his own decisions, separate from what others told him he should be and should do.

In Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime, we see Trevor’s life living in the Apartheid. The memoir’s focal was of Trevor living through the Apartheid as a coloured individual, which was classified as “white” to Europeans. This causes Trevor great strife as a youth, as it forced him to “identify” (ethnic wise) selectively under certain circumstances rather than to one ethnic group. Trevor’s education, lifestyle, and the laws enforced as a youth were very straining to abide under. Trevor was intentionally conceived by a Xhosa woman by a white Swiss man who was her secret significant other. This was a

Primarily, Ellison’s appeal to the audience's emotions greatly sways how the view of the reader views it in his perspective. Originating with his father dying at an early age and his mother having to work diligently to take care of her two children, began to paint a picture of how difficult his life was. The author is able to convey his point across through the repetition of the word “you” which intentionally puts the reader into the perspective of the main character, making it seem like the course of the events were happening to them. Throughout the course of the story the reader will feel as if they are the one who is personally being discriminated against. When the boy tries to go play with the band and is singled out with “Then you heard a man’s voice exclaim, ‘I’ll be damn, it’s a little nigger!’” (Ellison, pg. 7) the author conveys an atmosphere of alienation of how the child is unable to express his talents. Additionally, the author provides first hand experiences throughout the work in order to envelop people’s emotions into the individual’s life. The author emphasizes the harsh tone used by a police officer enforcing racial discrimination at the zoo by mentioning the actual conversation, “‘Girl,’ he shouted, ‘where are your white folks!’” (Ellison, pg. 4) the explicit words allow the readers to sympathize for the main character. His story regarding his experience at the zoo was heartbreaking due to how the cops were dehumanizing the family and making them feel like criminals and trespassers. The reader is able to come to the conclusion that humans should be treated in a more respected manner.

He displays them in such a way, attempting to draw attention and outrage by discussing real-world problems. In this novel, the injustice of the economic system is exploited, and the poor treatment of migrant workers is addressed constantly. The faulty treatment of the mentally unstable is also a common theme, present via Lennie’s continuous abuse, and lack of understanding towards his illness from others. Racism is also apparent when the sole African American character, Crooks, is visited or discussed by any of the other characters. He is isolated based only on his race, and referred to using profanities, and never by his name. These themes help make the book a powerful novel, and illustrate how an author can harness the power of his writing to help draw attention to controversial issues present in

“Whenever my environment had failed to support or nourish me, I had clutched at books.” –Richard Wright, Black Boy. The author suffered and lived through an isolated society, where books were the only option for him to escape the reality of the world. Wright wrote this fictionalized book about his childhood and adulthood to portray the dark and cruel civilization and to illustrate the difficulties that blacks had, living in a world run by whites.

From the beginning of the story, we are shown racial inequalities. Ellison introduces us to our character who is a broke and hungry African American economically struggling to save his lady friend’s, Laura’s, life. The protagonist “got no birth certificate to

The misinterpretation of African Americans is very prominent in society. Claudia Rankine’s Citizen sheds light on the hyper-visibility of the African-Americans through stereotypes and invisibility of the Black body itself in an attempt to get readers to understand the inner conflicts of Black citizens. Citizen is composed of seven sections, which vary in length and content. The book is interspersed with photographs, sculpture, paintings, and other types of media. Rankine also draws from film and video, and various news media. Her descriptions of encounters between people of different races show how disconcerting words are and how they affect people. Though we often hear about deep-rooted institutional and cultural forces that contribute to racism, it appears that we less often hear about the psychological processes involved. Many would like to believe that racism is over, but society actions are a constant reminder of their true feeling about Blacks. Racial bias is prominent at all levels of the institution and it paralyzes the race as a whole. Rankine uses pronouns, anecdotes, and visual art to uncover the unconscious nature of racism and extend the conversation. The audience is both the eyewitness and the victim in this “post-racial” society that fails to teach us how to be a citizen. In allowing us, the readers and audience, to subject ourselves to this hurt, we experience, an understanding of true citizenship by identifying the wrongs and understanding the difference.

Inspired by James Baldwin’s 1963 classic The Fire Next Time, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me powerfully educates readers on what it means to be African American in the United States today. It is formatted as a letter to his son, Samori, at the age of fifteen. It’s intention being to help him through navigate the world as a young African American male. He does this through sharing personal experiences and analyzing current events, with regards to historical context. By communicating his ideas in this format, he is uniquely able to more broadly depict the concept of racism in America. Where both memoirs and textbooks fall short, Between the World and Me does not.

In James’s professional life as a writer, he attempts to stay away from people because of the racial comments that get thrown around (p. 261). This exposes how in a professional environment people are judged by the color of their skin more than their ability. James’ attempts to show the racial tensions hints at why he believes that the world needs to change and tries to help and change it.

Born A Crime by Trevor Noah, is a compelling memoir allowing its readers insight into Noah’s daily life, under apartheid. Just like the title, Trevor Noah was born a crime. To explain, “During apartheid, one of the worst crimes you could commit was having relations with a person of another race…my parents committed that crime” (Noah 21). Trevor Noah was a mixed child. As a child, he had difficulties fitting in, but that didn’t stop him from identifying with both races. Trevor Noah became a chameleon. Although, some may say it’s impossible to identify and relate to various cultures- Trevor Noah proved them wrong. He says, “My color didn’t change, but I could change your perception of my color” (Noah 56). Trevor Noah used language and behavior tactics to become a cultural chameleon.

Richard Wright’s novel, Native Son, depicts the life of the general black community in Chicago during the 1930’s. Though African Americans had been freed from slavery, they were still burdened with financial and social oppression. Forced to live in small, unclean quarters, eat foods on the verge of going bad, and pay entirely too much for both, these people struggled not to be pressured into a dangerous state of mind (Bryant). All the while, they are expected to act subserviently before their oppressors. These conditions rub many the wrong way, especially Bigger Thomas, the protagonist of the story. Though everyone he is surrounded by is going through all the same things that he is, growing up poor and uneducated has made Bigger angry at the whole world. You can see this anger in everything he does, from his initial thoughts to his final actions. Because of this, Bigger Thomas almost seems destined to find trouble and meet a horrible fate. Wright uses these conventions of naturalism to develop Bigger’s view of the white community(). With all of these complications, Bigger begins to view all white people as an overwhelming force that drags him to his end. Wright pushes the readers into Bigger’s mind, thoroughly explaining Bigger’s personal decay. Even Wright himself says that Bigger is in fact a native son, just a “product of American culture and the violence and racism that suffuse it” (Wright).