Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
Kaffir Boy
Carlos Estrada
A01566138
Living in South Africa from 1948 to 1991 was a very tough situation, in those years apartheid was in lieu and living conditions were regrettable, apartheid is an Afrikaan word that means separateness and it consisted in the segregation of black people, often referred to as kaffir, it was aimed to protect the domination of the white South Africans over non-whites. White people (originally from Europe) living in south Africa and white South Africans believed that South Africa was their God-given home land and they believed themselves superior to the black race. Non-white people living in South Africa had to follow almost 150 apartheid laws, some of them included that they should carry an id always, they had separate public facilities and marriage between white and other races was prohibited.
Black people weren't the only ones affected by the apartheid since South Africa's population was classified in 4 racial categories: White, Black, Colored and Indian. Each of the 4 categories was separated into different residential areas and if they left their assigned area they had no political rights, another factor of injustice in the times of the apartheid was that non-white people had very low salaries and they could only work as laborers.
In the book "Kaffir Boy" the author Mark Mathabane tells us his experience living in South Africa while the apartheid was active and his dream to escape South Africa and travel to the USA "a land of freedom". Since Mark Mathabane was a kid, he lived in a black ghetto called Alexandra and he mentions that there was a sign at the entrance of the ghetto saying that any person passing that area without a permit would be prosecuted, making it clear that people couldn't visit areas of other races. Mathabane describes that the ghetto was divided into 3 sections, the most privileged race was Indian living in the first avenue, while the colored people (mixed race) were in second place and the black ones in third, living in the poorest avenues. Injustice in South Africa is described quite clearly by Mark, since he tells how unfair South African police treated blacks, giving as an example the Sharpeville massacre, when 69 unarmed negroes were murdered while protesting peacefully against the passed laws.
Those days were tough, in his book Mark states that their parents were constantly evading the law and he tells us that one night he was woken by a siren and whispers, his mother was hidden in the house and the sirens were from a vehicle of the Peri-Urban (the police that enforced apartheid laws), this police force punished and captured the people with no job or with missing payments in their pass, this was the case of Mark's parents, since his mother didn't have a job and his father had missing tax payments; that night Mark and his brothers were very scared by the police and most of them began crying and moaning, this prevented his house from being revised because policemen thought that there were only children living there.
The next day Peri-Urban police visited their house and found that Mark's father was hidden, this made the police suspicious about his pass so they began to review it and they found that he had some missing payments, seeing this, the police attempted to negotiate with him, but Mark's father had no money and was taken away by the police. Many more people were taken away that day, from whole families to naked people that weren't allowed to dress. Mark's father had to work for 2 months in a white man's farm as a punishment for not having his pass in order.
Mathabane's residential area was considered a hot spot (police would frequently visit to check passes and to ensure no one lived there illegally), for that reason, most of the children living there had acquired different skills (one of them was lying convincingly) to prevent punishments from the police, this wasn't Mark's case, since he was very afraid of the police and wasn't able to warn his family when the police was close. Most of the women living in Alexandra would notice easily when police were close and would hide quickly, while men wouldn't run when the police approached, they would rather bribe the policemen with money, since they thought that running and hiding was for cowards.
Mark explains that life in Alexandra was a monotonous cycle, every Monday men would recover from their weekend hangovers, Tuesdays women would sell their roasted maize, Wednesdays a Chinese man would visit Alexandra to collect bets and announce winners for a game, Thursdays men and women that worked in the kitchen would visit Alexandra in their day of and finally, on Fridays men and women would come home from their jobs with their wages and most of the time they were robbed or murdered for their cash.
Life in South Africa was very hardcore, I think I would have suffered a lot if I had lived there at that time, I am very grateful for the life I'm living.
Carlos Estrada
A01566138
Living in South Africa from 1948 to 1991 was a very tough situation, in those years apartheid was in lieu and living conditions were regrettable, apartheid is an Afrikaan word that means separateness and it consisted in the segregation of black people, often referred to as kaffir, it was aimed to protect the domination of the white South Africans over non-whites. White people (originally from Europe) living in south Africa and white South Africans believed that South Africa was their God-given home land and they believed themselves superior to the black race. Non-white people living in South Africa had to follow almost 150 apartheid laws, some of them included that they should carry an id always, they had separate public facilities and marriage between white and other races was prohibited.
Black people weren't the only ones affected by the apartheid since South Africa's population was classified in 4 racial categories: White, Black, Colored and Indian. Each of the 4 categories was separated into different residential areas and if they left their assigned area they had no political rights, another factor of injustice in the times of the apartheid was that non-white people had very low salaries and they could only work as laborers.
In the book "Kaffir Boy" the author Mark Mathabane tells us his experience living in South Africa while the apartheid was active and his dream to escape South Africa and travel to the USA "a land of freedom". Since Mark Mathabane was a kid, he lived in a black ghetto called Alexandra and he mentions that there was a sign at the entrance of the ghetto saying that any person passing that area without a permit would be prosecuted, making it clear that people couldn't visit areas of other races. Mathabane describes that the ghetto was divided into 3 sections, the most privileged race was Indian living in the first avenue, while the colored people (mixed race) were in second place and the black ones in third, living in the poorest avenues. Injustice in South Africa is described quite clearly by Mark, since he tells how unfair South African police treated blacks, giving as an example the Sharpeville massacre, when 69 unarmed negroes were murdered while protesting peacefully against the passed laws.
Those days were tough, in his book Mark states that their parents were constantly evading the law and he tells us that one night he was woken by a siren and whispers, his mother was hidden in the house and the sirens were from a vehicle of the Peri-Urban (the police that enforced apartheid laws), this police force punished and captured the people with no job or with missing payments in their pass, this was the case of Mark's parents, since his mother didn't have a job and his father had missing tax payments; that night Mark and his brothers were very scared by the police and most of them began crying and moaning, this prevented his house from being revised because policemen thought that there were only children living there.
The next day Peri-Urban police visited their house and found that Mark's father was hidden, this made the police suspicious about his pass so they began to review it and they found that he had some missing payments, seeing this, the police attempted to negotiate with him, but Mark's father had no money and was taken away by the police. Many more people were taken away that day, from whole families to naked people that weren't allowed to dress. Mark's father had to work for 2 months in a white man's farm as a punishment for not having his pass in order.
Mathabane's residential area was considered a hot spot (police would frequently visit to check passes and to ensure no one lived there illegally), for that reason, most of the children living there had acquired different skills (one of them was lying convincingly) to prevent punishments from the police, this wasn't Mark's case, since he was very afraid of the police and wasn't able to warn his family when the police was close. Most of the women living in Alexandra would notice easily when police were close and would hide quickly, while men wouldn't run when the police approached, they would rather bribe the policemen with money, since they thought that running and hiding was for cowards.
Mark explains that life in Alexandra was a monotonous cycle, every Monday men would recover from their weekend hangovers, Tuesdays women would sell their roasted maize, Wednesdays a Chinese man would visit Alexandra to collect bets and announce winners for a game, Thursdays men and women that worked in the kitchen would visit Alexandra in their day of and finally, on Fridays men and women would come home from their jobs with their wages and most of the time they were robbed or murdered for their cash.
Life in South Africa was very hardcore, I think I would have suffered a lot if I had lived there at that time, I am very grateful for the life I'm living.
Books I would like to read:
- A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
Based on the presentations of my classmates I would love to read the book “A Brief History of Time” by Stephen Hawking, I liked Guillermo’s presentation and I love everything related with science, space and theories.
I think that reading this book would help me comprehend a little bit more about the universe and of all the possibilities for humans traveling through time and space in the future. Also, I think it’s very interesting that Stephen, with all its disabilities, is capable of doing and thinking amazing things. - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald
- Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
and create a shelter for their families. This book sounds pretty interesting and I will read it in the future.
My Book Report "The Calcutta Chromosome"
I read the book "The Calcutta Chromosome" by Amitav Ghosh, in this segment of my blog I'll share with you a brief summary/review and a presentation.
Book Report
The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh
Carlos Estrada A01566138
11/10/2017
About the author:
Amitav Ghosh is an Indian author born on 11 July 1956 in Calcutta, he studied in Oxford, Delhi and Alexandria and he’s known for many of his prized books and writings such as The Circle of Reasons, The Shadow Lines, The Calcutta Chromosome and many others. Amitav has also taught in many universities in India and USA e.g. Delhi, Columbia and Harvard universities and has written circa 50 books.
Historical Context:
The story in “The Calcutta Chromosome” is developed in New York and Calcutta at some unspecified time in the future, since there’s very advanced technology, although it is based on events that happened at the end of the 19th century.
Synopsis:
“The Calcutta Chromosome” is a very interesting book, at first, I thought it would be a boring lecture since many reviews on internet said so, but once I started reading it I couldn’t stop. Although it doesn’t seem to me that this book was from the sci-fi genre as the author claims, considering that the text is mostly related with historical fiction.
The book starts by telling us about the life of the main character, his name is Antar and he works as a programmer and systems analyst for a company named LifeWatch and then for the International Water Council. One day Antar finds an ID card and with the help of his smart computer named Ava, finds out that the owner of the ID was a man called Murugan, who had been missing for a couple of years and was also an employee in LifeWatch.
In the book, three different timelines are used to tell the story; the present timeline, in which Antar is finding info about the disappearance of Murugan, the time line of Murugan’s adventures in Calcutta leading to his disappearance and the oldest timeline develops at the end of the 19th century as the malaria discoveries are being made.
The book is very interesting since it poses an incredible story that is related in a credible way to reality. Most of the history is focused on real events but gives them a sci-fi turn, a clear example is one character of the book, Ronald Ross (Nobel Prize winner), who tries to find out how malaria is spread by mosquitoes but doesn’t realize that his investigation is being used by a secret organization with the objective of obtaining eternal life by transporting chromosomes from a body to another instead of the virus of malaria.
The ending of this book is confusing, since the author leaves some strong topics without explanation. I think the author did a decent job by writing this book, but he lacked experience that would have made this book a masterpiece.
Passages and Quotes:
1.- “Instantly Ava bellowed confirmation, calling out the hour in the style of a village watchman in Egypt, perfect in every detail, down to the tapping of a wooden staff.” -This passage describes the accuracy of Antar’s smart CPU.
2.- “Climate change is like death, no one wants to talk about it”
3.- “Nobody knows, nobody can ever know, not even in memory, because there are moments in time that are not knowable”
Vocabulary:
Bleak: adj. lacking vegetation and exposed to the elements.
Scaffolding: n. a temporary structure on the outside of a building, made of wooden planks and metal poles, used by workmen while building, repairing or cleaning a building.
Busk: v. play music in the street or other public place for voluntary donations.
Enamel: n. an opaque or semitransparent glossy substance that is a type of glass, applied to surfaces as ornament or as a protective coating.
Clammy: adj. Unpleasantly damp and sticky or slimy to touch.
Souk: n. an Arab market or marketplace; a bazaar.
Skillet: n. a small metal cooking pot.
Shrug: v. raise (one´s shoulders) slightly and momentarily to express doubt, ignorance or indifference.
Stoop: v. bend one’s head or body forwards and downwards.
Tarpaulin: n. heavy-duty waterproof cloth, originally of tarred canvas.
Pilgrimage: n. a journey to a place of interest or significance.
Puddle: n. a small pool of liquid, especially of rainwater on the ground.
Humdrum: adj. lacking excitement or variety; boringly monotonous.
Tenement: n. a room or a set of rooms forming a separate residence within a house or block of flats.
Twinge: n. a sudden, sharp localized pain.
References:
English Dictionary, Thesaurus, & grammar help | Oxford Dictionaries. (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2017, from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/
Ghosh, A. (2011). The Calcutta chromosome: a novel of fevers, delirium and discovery. London: John Murray.
Book Report
The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh
Carlos Estrada A01566138
11/10/2017
About the author:
Amitav Ghosh is an Indian author born on 11 July 1956 in Calcutta, he studied in Oxford, Delhi and Alexandria and he’s known for many of his prized books and writings such as The Circle of Reasons, The Shadow Lines, The Calcutta Chromosome and many others. Amitav has also taught in many universities in India and USA e.g. Delhi, Columbia and Harvard universities and has written circa 50 books.
Historical Context:
The story in “The Calcutta Chromosome” is developed in New York and Calcutta at some unspecified time in the future, since there’s very advanced technology, although it is based on events that happened at the end of the 19th century.
Synopsis:
“The Calcutta Chromosome” is a very interesting book, at first, I thought it would be a boring lecture since many reviews on internet said so, but once I started reading it I couldn’t stop. Although it doesn’t seem to me that this book was from the sci-fi genre as the author claims, considering that the text is mostly related with historical fiction.
The book starts by telling us about the life of the main character, his name is Antar and he works as a programmer and systems analyst for a company named LifeWatch and then for the International Water Council. One day Antar finds an ID card and with the help of his smart computer named Ava, finds out that the owner of the ID was a man called Murugan, who had been missing for a couple of years and was also an employee in LifeWatch.
In the book, three different timelines are used to tell the story; the present timeline, in which Antar is finding info about the disappearance of Murugan, the time line of Murugan’s adventures in Calcutta leading to his disappearance and the oldest timeline develops at the end of the 19th century as the malaria discoveries are being made.
The book is very interesting since it poses an incredible story that is related in a credible way to reality. Most of the history is focused on real events but gives them a sci-fi turn, a clear example is one character of the book, Ronald Ross (Nobel Prize winner), who tries to find out how malaria is spread by mosquitoes but doesn’t realize that his investigation is being used by a secret organization with the objective of obtaining eternal life by transporting chromosomes from a body to another instead of the virus of malaria.
The ending of this book is confusing, since the author leaves some strong topics without explanation. I think the author did a decent job by writing this book, but he lacked experience that would have made this book a masterpiece.
Passages and Quotes:
1.- “Instantly Ava bellowed confirmation, calling out the hour in the style of a village watchman in Egypt, perfect in every detail, down to the tapping of a wooden staff.” -This passage describes the accuracy of Antar’s smart CPU.
2.- “Climate change is like death, no one wants to talk about it”
3.- “Nobody knows, nobody can ever know, not even in memory, because there are moments in time that are not knowable”
Vocabulary:
Bleak: adj. lacking vegetation and exposed to the elements.
Scaffolding: n. a temporary structure on the outside of a building, made of wooden planks and metal poles, used by workmen while building, repairing or cleaning a building.
Busk: v. play music in the street or other public place for voluntary donations.
Enamel: n. an opaque or semitransparent glossy substance that is a type of glass, applied to surfaces as ornament or as a protective coating.
Clammy: adj. Unpleasantly damp and sticky or slimy to touch.
Souk: n. an Arab market or marketplace; a bazaar.
Skillet: n. a small metal cooking pot.
Shrug: v. raise (one´s shoulders) slightly and momentarily to express doubt, ignorance or indifference.
Stoop: v. bend one’s head or body forwards and downwards.
Tarpaulin: n. heavy-duty waterproof cloth, originally of tarred canvas.
Pilgrimage: n. a journey to a place of interest or significance.
Puddle: n. a small pool of liquid, especially of rainwater on the ground.
Humdrum: adj. lacking excitement or variety; boringly monotonous.
Tenement: n. a room or a set of rooms forming a separate residence within a house or block of flats.
Twinge: n. a sudden, sharp localized pain.
References:
English Dictionary, Thesaurus, & grammar help | Oxford Dictionaries. (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2017, from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/
Ghosh, A. (2011). The Calcutta chromosome: a novel of fevers, delirium and discovery. London: John Murray.
Calcutta Chromosome Presentation
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