Trevor Noah Belonging

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The Journey to Belonging. Belonging is more than just fitting in, it’s a feeling of being seen and valued in the world. The memoir Born a Crime by Trevor Noah is about a man named Trevor who talks about his life experiences growing up biracial in South Africa during apartheid. Throughout the book you see how he struggled growing up during apartheid and not feeling like he belonged anywhere, but also how he overcame those struggles. In the book Noah uses a variety of motifs, which are elements like symbols, themes and images that are used repeatedly throughout a book to deeply deliver messages. These motifs help reinforce the theme or message the author is trying to get across. Noah uses the motifs of belonging to send a message about how social …show more content…

A great example of this is Noah’s mother. She showed Noah that no matter what happens, he will always belong to her. “My mother used to tell me, “I chose to have you because I wanted something to love and something that would love me unconditionally in return.” I was a product of her search for belonging.” (Noah 63) His use of the motif here shows how people can build their own community where they belong because it shows how Noah’s mother took it into her own hands to create a family where she can truly belong. Noah and his mother had an incredible bond and they both knew they would always have each other. Noah also fell in love with comedy and ended up becoming a comedian. Noah ended up building his own community by making people laugh. “I learned that even though I didn’t belong to one group, I could be a part of any groups that was laughing.” (Noah 141) His use of the motif here shows how people can build their own community because it shows how Noah used his humor to build his own community with laughter and making jokes with

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