Book Club Questions

Table of Contents Book club questions & answers link audiobook: https:/Copy of AP Lit Book Club : Club Contract/youtube.com/playlist?list=PLo9HzvicRK82cM58nQoM9eZulF2-CW8-v Chapter 1 - “Run” - South Africa’s demographics and history is quite complex - Focuses on the difference between Zulu and Xhosa - I think Trevor is proud of his heritage as Xhosa because of how he described who was Xhosa - “My mother is Xhosa. Nelson Mandela is Xhosa.” (Noah 5) - The introduction is almost grieving the past of South Africa - “Black South Africa went to war with itself.” (Noah 6) - Mourning the failures and the bitterness caused by the system of apartheid - Christianity a way to cope with the struggles of life - Catharsis to be believing the same thing as your oppressors - I think it's the start of him adapting to the different cultures - Resolve/Devil - Mother uses religion as an excuse for herself to not get out of things - “It’s the Devil[…] the Devil doesn't want us to go to church.” (Noah 9) - Adaptability - His mother’s adaptability taught him to be witty (and even maybe funny) - Standup comedy requires someone to make up jokes on the fly, even when some are planned - “So she’d yell ‘Thief!’ knowing it would bring the whole neighborhood out against me” (Noah 11) “I’m going to open the door and we’re going to jump” (Noah 15) - Stand up Socratic Seminar Questions: - Is the struggle for economic success more attributed to the discrimination from white people, or the infighting and conformoties of the different tribes? How about religion? Chapter 2 - “Born a Crime” - Apartheid was a special type of institutionalized racism - The Afrikaans, who lost their power and control once to the British, wanted to make sure that blacks would never rise again - Foreigners don’t care - “German and Portuguese who didn’t care about the laws and were happy to sign a lease” (Noah 24) - “Forced removal of the natives onto preservations coupled with slavery folllwed by segregation” (Noah 20) - Desperate to keep it - “Indian areas were separated from from colored areas, which were segregated from black areas—all of them segregated from wite areas” (Noah 22) - “There were whole police squads whose only job was to go around peeking through windows” (Noah 22) - “Soweto was designed to be bombed—that’s how forward-thinking the architects of apartheid were” (Noah 28). - Mother was headstrong, forging her own path - Reflected in Trevor’s bravery, ability to fight society through comedy - Also developed through being alone by himself - “I lived inside my head. I still live inside my head” (Noah 30). - “She took a secretarial course, a typing class[...] was like a blind person learning how to drive” (Noah 23) - She didn’t care about the race of her baby, even if they were in apartheid - She even enjoyed the risk, to fight the system in her own way - “The fact that this man didn’t particularly want a family with her, was prevented by law from having a family with her, was part of the attraction” (Noah 26) - She didn’t leave South Africa, wanted to stay in her country - “‘This is my country. Why should I leave?’” (Noah 31) - She was very crafty, able to go around the different rules via crafty means - “My mom would invite her [Queen, a colored person] to go with us. (Noah 26) - Some people didn’t (for very clear reasons) want to take the risk - “Behind the wall, in the yard, I could play, but not in the street” (Noah 29). - Afraid that the police would take him Socratic Seminar Questions: - Why do you think Apartheid was so effective? - Do you think apartheid played a part in Trevor’s mental perspective of life? How about others in general? In what ways? Chapter 3 - “Trevor, Pray” - Trevor talks about the contradictory nature of South African culture and how it’s rooted in its history and social systems - Justice system is both modernized yet held back by superstitions and old beliefs - Christian Religion + traditional tribal African American beliefs like witchcraft - Only main male figure in Trevor’s life was Temperance Noah, his grandfather from his mom’s side. - Shows the prominence of females in the social hierarchy in African families, contrasting the traditionally patriarchal power systems in white families. - “I grew up in a world run by women. My father was loving and devoted, but I could only see him when and where apartheid allowed.” (Noah 30) - Again this idea of infighting within the poor -> desperate for heirs and having the property and money from the elders when they passed on, as Trevor Noah put it: “Game of Thrones with poor people” (Noah 32) - Bipolar - Irresponsibility force the women to take charge as the male figures do not raise the kids well and thus the women usually keep to community together, and ultimately shape his view on community and leading him to grow with compassion - “So I only saw my grandfather now and then, and when he was gone the house was in the hands of women.” (Noah 34) - Men ironically tried insisting on control, yet women usually ruled to home and even threatened to douse the men in boiling water or oil if they kept annoying them - In general, apartheid fractured South African family, and often religion became the only thing keeping them going - Religion - Trevor tried to be a part of this, knowing language and speaking English and his family pouring their hopes and dreams into him gave him the opportunity to break free from their circumstances and change his community for the better (as leaving it was unlikely) - Poor housing, no indoor plumbing - When he was five, he didn’t want to go outside in the rain, so he relieved himself and placed it in a newspaper in the dust bin. He lied about not being home when it was discovered so they thought it was a demon, and the women were super invested into religion, Trevor also shows how much he believed in faith and trying to be a good person, even if he made errors - Shows that despite trying to improve conditions, things like sanitation and running water was simply impossible unless the government helped. - Also shows his ability to turn humiliating events into humor - Also shows that Trevor realizes how important religion is, maybe not because his “mistake” was the work of the devil, but because it gives his family a sense of unity and drive to keep going, so his prayer becomes a genuine begging for forgiveness and he genuinely believes in religion Socratic Seminar Questions: - Does segregation make it harder for societies to modernize? Why? - Does segregation create different family structures? Is this pattern seen in other forms of discrimination? - Does religion enable people to keep going, or trap them in poverty? Chapter 4 - “Chameleon” - Trevor introduces the idea of language. ● Language is very important as it provides not only as a means of communication between people but also to break the racist ideologies that are growing. ● Despite language being the biggest weapon against racism, language can also be a good tool to perpetuate racist ideals as well. ● Language is somewhat of a double edged sword. ● The main thing in terms of history stated about language is that the South African government used language to divide the different South African tribes. - Trevor’s grandmother used to beat his cousins with a belt for many mistakes that they made, however Trevor would not get beat the same way as the others. - Frances states that Trevor is not getting beat the same way because she is scared to beat a white child. - Trevor was very smart and would learn that utilizing language to best potential could get him to the places he wanted. - He learned it from his mom, where he realized that “language, even more than color, defines who you are to people” (Noah 44). - Eventually, due to his high intelligence, Trevor would get placed in high level classes in which he would have no black contemporaries. - This would make it so he was not accepted by the Black children until he proved that he can speak the same African languages as them. After this, Trevor would ask to move to lower level classes to be able to socialize with his Black friends more. Socratic Seminar Questions: - Is diverse language ultimately a good thing or a potential weapon that cripples societies? Would it be best to standardize languages for the world to avoid another situation like in the Apartheid? - How does standing out and having the intelligence to break boundaries ultimately restrict you instead?