Kaffir Boy Book Report

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in apartheid or to struggle everyday just to bring food to the table? Well, in this autobiography told by Mark Mathabane details his troubled childhood in South Africa to his family trying to survive to racism being prevalent in his homeland. Kaffir Boy is an emotional book as it details most things that we as teens take for granted such as education, food, family time, transportation, etc. This autobiography will also shine light on the fact that through preservation and hope, anything can become a reality!

Throughout this memoir, Mark introduces his mom, dad, and his siblings in the first half of the book and then introduces Scaramouche and Stan Smith as being motivators for him to accomplish

For example, Mark explains how he lived in a two room shack with no electricity or heat with five other siblings. Other examples he gave throughout include sleeping on cardboard under a dining table, seeing his father physically abuse his mom, the hiding from police, having to find food from trash cans, and the list goes on. This quote from chapter 6 shows readers like myself what some of what Mark and his family went through: “Each day we spent without food drove us closer and closer to starvation. Then terror struck. I began having fainting spells. I would be out playing when suddenly my head would feel light, my knees would wobbles, my vision would dim and blur and down I would come like a log” Another feature that Mark vividly describes is his love for tennis. When Mark was a teen, he would practice his skills for hours at a time to eventually become one of the best players in his village. This would eventually become beneficial for Mark as he became friends with white people, to get to use his potential wisely, and he got a chance to get to America through a scholarship with his tennis skills. I felt his passion for the sport of tennis and how that motivation could help me with anything that I put my mind