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Born A Crime Figurative Language Essay

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Figurative language in Born a Crime. A mixed south african having to live with the struggle of apartheid dividing the world into different categories of race while he's still trying to find his belonging and identity. Trevor Noah, a kid who grew up during apartheid, was always an outsider for being too white or not fitting in. Furthermore, he has always been different because of his skin which led him to learn how to deal with those things throughout his rough life. Trevor Noah advises satire, symbols, irony, and simile to illustrate the theme of belonging and identity. Firstly, the pencil test is a government-issued test that determines whether racial identity decides you're more black or white based on whether a pencil stays in your hair …show more content…

Trevor Noah uses the mulberry tree as a symbol to support the theme of belonging. They would all play together under the mulberry tree. But I would have to play by myself. I didn't have friends at Eden Park (Noah 101). connects to the mulberry tree that symbolizes Trevor's loneliness. In addition, the mulberry tree can reflect how Trevor was made an anomaly, due to his differences. Furthermore, the connection to belonging could be illustrated because he doesn’t belong, and doesn't feel he belongs because he’s been ostracized for being …show more content…

Trevor Noah uses a simile to support the theme of belonging. She would hold my hand and hold me until the cops came, then she would act like I wasn't there tossing me aside like a bag of weed. (pg 29). This can connect to simile cause he's comparing himself to a bag of weed when they have nothing in common whilst using like or as. This connects to belonging due to being dropped at the sign of a hat which could have made him feel a sense of estrangement from where he came from. Furthermore, it could have made him feel as though he shouldn’t have been there, as though he shouldn't have been with his mom because he was born lighter. Trevor and Teddy got caught shoplifting but only Teddy got caught soon, Trevor gets called to the office where he’s questioned on who that white person on camera is but it was him. Trevor Noah uses irony to support the theme of identity. I kept waiting for it to be a trick and for them to jump out and yell it’s you. They didn’t. At a point, I felt invisible. I almost wanted to take credit for jumping and pointing at the tv yelling that you’re blind that was me. But of course, I couldn’t. These people had been so fucked up with their construction of race that they didn’t see that the white person they were looking for this whole time was me. This can connect to irony

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Trevor Noah is a comedian who was born in South Africa under a system of racial segregation known as apartheid. He wrote the book "Born a Crime" to educate the readers on the struggles that South Africans faced while apartheid governed them. More importantly, he shows how strong, and determined his mother was and all the lessons he learned growing up under her care. Trevor also focuses on the troubles he experienced being born a mixed child, which at the time of apartheid was a crime and illegal. He explains how he had to secretly see his dad (who initially wanted nothing to do with him due to it being a crime) and had to pretend that he had a different mother in public so his parents wouldn't get caught.

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