Trevor looks colored, in apartheid’s system of classification based on skin color, but is not part of the distinctive colored ethnicity and only speaks broken Afrikaans, so he faces significant bullying and abuse from colored kids.

Trevor’s grandmother cannot beat him because she sees him as white, and the authorities and school officials have a hard time seeing someone of Trevor’s skin color as an accomplice to a shoplifting crime because the accomplice appears fully white in the camera footage.

Trevor is not only “born a crime,” as the title suggests, but he is also born an anomaly. Even once apartheid ends and he can move freely about society, he is ever the outsider. This ostracism is due to the fact that his skin color makes it difficult for Trevor to find acceptance within the racially divided groups that comprise his world.

Oct 30, 2020 · In the quote from Trevor Noah, "I was mixed but not colored—colored by complexion but not by culture. Because of that, I was seen as a colored person who didn't want to be colored," he is expressing the complexities of his racial identity and cultural experiences.

Feb 10, 2024 · Noah always felt divided and like he never fit in anywhere because of his skin color. Noah’s mom is black, while his dad is white; under apartheid in South Africa, this meant that he would be legally classified as non-white.

Apr 25, 2022 · To be born a crime based on the color of one’s skin is to be sentenced to a life of unwarranted social ostracization. Skin color can lead to more than social outcasting.

Oct 30, 2024 · (Noah 52). Trevor was able to cope with racial inequality by blending in and using his "mixed" skin color to his advantage. Trevor Noah uses humor here when he said "I had a choice. I could champion racial justice in our home, or I could enjoy granny's cookies. I …

According to Trevor Noah, what can unify or divide? The color of your skin and the language you speak. Trevor accidentally breaks his cousin's eardrum while playing surgeon.

Describe Noah’s relationships with his mother, grandmother, father, and stepfather and their importance to him, the influence they had on his life, and how they helped shape his identity and concepts of love; Note how others perceived Noah’s skin color and how their perceptions affected how they treated him; Literary Elements in Born a Crime

In this section we see how Trevor's skin color affected how he was treated at home and at school. At home, he was not disciplined the same way his cousins were. At school, they wanted to place him in special classes to give him an advantage.