Kaffir Boy

http://thedaydreamerdiary.blogspot.ca/2012/05/kaffir-boy-autobiography.html

Kaffir Boy is a true story of a young black man, who lives in South Africa under the apartheid regime, it was written by Mark Mathaban himself. This story not only describes the miserable life of the author under apartheid regime, it also gives us a detailed portrayal about millions of people who live in devastating poverty.

This black young man grows up in city of Alexandra, where he witnesses torture, violence, bitterness, terror, and dashed hopes and dreams.  In the interim, he experiences hunger, pain, and fear. At a very young age he hates living under the South African system of legalized racism known as apartheid, and he finds the burden of living in a poverty stricken ghetto, without hope, too heavy to shoulder, so he contemplates suicide. The author tries very hard to illuminate how it feels to live under the apartheid regime, and gives us as many details as possible to make the world apprehend why apartheid cannot be reformed; it has to be abolished. The author writes clearly about the politics of apartheid toward black people, for instance, the forced removals of black communities from their ancestral lands, the Influx Control and Pass Laws that mandate where blacks can live, work, raise families and be buried and the migrant labor system that forces black men to live away from their families eleven months out of a year. The author, who is the main character of this story himself, recollects the brutal suppression of black majority as they agitate for equal rights over and over again, and he articulates hoe the white authorities with their black retainers are responsible.

 The turning point comes when one day in his eleventh year; he accompanies his grandmother to her gardening job and meets a white family that doesn’t fit the stereotypes which he has grown up with, The Smith family. They are the kindest people he has ever met, and this changes every aspect of his life. He even doesn’t believe such people could exist because he has totally a different definition of white people in his mind .As they start to get know each other he receives some books from this family. Reading of these books becomes a great source of inspiration for him. Through reading these books, he starts to cultivate big wishes and great dreams; also, he gradually looks at the entire wretched country from a completely different prospective. Eventually, he becomes convinced that not all white people are racist, but most of them are victims just like black people with small differences which put them on the wrong side.

  At age of thirteen he discovers tennis; he enjoys playing tennis althugh courts are mostly for white people only. He focuses on work in order to succeed in what he has got. His positive attitude helps him survive from his nightmares and the scary pictures that he has in his mind. His great efforts studying and playing tennis result in his getting a scholarship to an American college arranged by the professional tennis player Stan Smith, and it becomes two wings for him to fly, get out of all the troubles and get into his land of dreams. In the reality of life it happens many times that circumstances change the way we think and the way we judge, so we get a new attitude, either positive or negative.

Dreaming is known as a very powerful part of our struggles to reach our goals, also as an easy and primary step. These two points the attitude and dreaming: are the main parts of every story and every life.

I was not familiar with the book or the story, but I always prefer to read a true story, so that the title of the book, which includes the words “True Story”, caught my attention, and I immediately started to read this book. I really enjoyed reading this book because I was with the hero every step of the way.

 Indeed, the hero of this story who is the author shares his disappointment, fear, sadness, hard work, and finally at the end his success with every reader including me. The most important point that I like in this book, the changing scene of everyday life is very natural. As the author describes his feelings the reader trusts every word of it. Although all kinds of stories express human imagination to reach happiness and success, true stories are more acceptable without any doubt. The second point that I like in this book is that you never get lost in the story; every occasion is very clear. This book is also a remarkable source of vocabulary. This story is an excellent example of humanity; showing that people can help each other regardless different social levels, color and politics. It shows once again the humanity doesn’t know any boundaries. I recommend reading this inspiring book for those who are eager to read.