Decisions In Trevor Noah's Born A Crime

According to the Oxford Dictionary, a mother can be defined as “a woman in relation to her child or children” when used as a noun, but most people would argue that their mother was much more than that. During Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime, it is apparent that Patricia, Noah’s mother, is the most influential person in his life shaping him into who he is today. Throughout the novel, Patricia was the foundation of his accomplishments, allowing him to make his own decisions, and creating an attitude of success even when the government went against them.

Throughout the novel, Patricia was the foundation of Trevor Noah’s accomplishments. Teaching him English at a young age helped him for the rest of his life, “‘She gave me the tools to do it as well.

Throughout the Novel, he makes decisions that aren’t in his best interest of himself. Eventually, he lands himself in jail. Patricia, despite knowing his hustling “career” and the deep trouble he could get himself involved in, allowed him to discover it on his own, “She’d given my friend the money to pay the lawyer. She’d given my friend the money to pay the lawyer. She’d given my cousin the money to pay my bail. I’d spent the whole week in jail thinking I was slick. But she’d known everything the whole time. .” (Noah, page 243 ) Knowing what Noah was doing in his Hustling Career, she still stayed out of it. Up until he was wrongfully sent to jail, Noah had no idea she knew because she refused to get involved. He learned from this experience and decided right after leaving jail that he would never go back there again. Making his own choices sometimes affected other people. Toward the end of the novel, Patricia's decision to marry Abel backfired once he in a drunken rage shot her in the head. Even from somewhere beyond, Noah’s mother still influenced him. “My mind races through a dozen different scenarios. What if I spend that money and then die anyway? Do I get a refund? I imagined my mother, as frugal as she was, waking up from a coma and saying ‘You spent how much money? You idiot’ .” (Noah, page 279) Patricia influenced him until his final thoughts on his decision to save his mothers' life. She ended up being lucky

The novel is partly focused on growing up in South Africa during the time of Apartheid and notably an ode to Noah’s mother. Noah states, “‘In any society built on institutionalized racism, race-mixing doesn’t merely challenge the system as unjust, it reveals the system as unsustainable and incoherent.” (Noah, page 21) Patricia illegally had Noah, as he was a product of the rules that went against apartheid. Engaging in activities resulting from a child was illegal during this time, but she still raised him. She became a successful businesswoman in real-estate years later even after fighting the system that was still oppressing her not only as a Black person as well as the societal pressure in South Africa to become a woman that she so desperately wanted to escape. When Patricia had Noah, she had little to no money. She snuck into white neighborhoods and worked alongside the help of prostitutes to become a secretary, “She was caught and arrested many times, for not having her ID on the way home from work, for being in a white area after hours, The penalty for violating the pass laws was thirty days in jail or a fine of thirty rands, nearly half of her monthly salary..” (Noah, page 24 ) Risking deportation for breaking the law, despite the system physically stopping her from getting the right work to continue her career, she persevered paying half of her monthly salary just to be stuck in the