Kaffir Boy (Page 1-77)

Summary:

Mark Mathabane, the main character, lives in a place called Alexandra where apartheid exists. Mark actually grew up in Alexandra, and it is actually a very old place because black had been living ever since gold was discovered on the Witwatersrand. There were no white people there because of the Bantu Consolidation Act (1946), which means that no one can enter without a pass book. Only Coloreds, Indians, and black lived there; there was 100,000 of them by 1950s.

The Peri-Urban (police) busted into Mark’s home hearing rumors about Mark’s family not having their pass books. His mother wakes Mark up in all the commotion, telling Mark to take his little siblings while her and his father go hide. Mark locks the door and tries to quiet down his siblings as they cry loudly. Mark suddenly hears a loud sound thinking that the police have burst through the doors but it turns out that his little brother fell off the bed and started to bleed a lot from his head. Eventually the police did come in but was only to find the children there, they just left. They came back that night and the mother tried to warn the father but he did not listen, and in result of this they found the father and took him away. During this frenzy, Mark even got kicked into axe by the police and screams in horror. The mother on the other hand hid very well and they did not find her. Not only Mark but a lot of children in the town had some or all of their family members taken away as well.

Mark and his family is at a really poor condition right now and only eats about one meal each day. Mark often faints and his siblings are always sick as well, throwing up after eating food, they turned out to have malnutrition and chicken pox. They were even unable to celebrate Christmas due to their poverty. Mark’s grandmother eventually came and provided Mark’s family with rent money and food. Although her money eventually ran out, and no longer could support them. To continue supporting the family, Mark’s mom starts cleaning the place/clothes of the landlord’s place in exchange to stay. Mark’s family had to go to the dump in order to find food and ended up finding a lot more useful stuff. Although after finding a dead baby, they stopped going there and started going to a chicken factory dump to get rejected eggs. Mark’s dizziness and starving is leading to him to get hallucinations.

Quotation:

“It’s an important book that we black people must have in order always, and carry with us at all times… I was later to find out, the black man’s passport to existence.” (Mathabane 36)

Apartheid is a social policy or racial segregation involving political and economic and legal discrimination against people who are not white. Therefore anyone with a pass book was just an excuse for white people to degrade, beat, and bully people of any other race as if they are not a human being. That is why Mark says it’s a “passport to existence”, because it is one of the only things to keep you alive.

So far this book has given off a very depressed book mood to me. Reading about how unfair black people were treated in the past of South American can be really sad, especially when they even do it to children. So far I say this book is excellent though because it always keeps you on you’re the edge of your seat and I recommend for anyone who just loves suspense to read this story!