Born A Crime- A Feminist Perspective

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah tells of his childhood experiences while growing up in South Africa during the apartheid movement. The challenging part of it all was that he was of the mixed race. His very existence was that of a crime. Noah was born at a time that if mixed-race babies were conceived that was considered a criminal offense. Something that the colonizers went to great length to enforce and if persons did not abide by the law were punished to the full extent of the law Noah introduced his book by giving details of the Immorality act of 1972. It states that if any European male was to have intercourse with a native female will be found guilty and serve a prison sentence not exceeding five years. The same went for the native female if they were to be involved with a European male will also be convicted for no more than four years (1). Noah’s parents disregarded that law. Specifically, his mother, she saw it as a hurdle that needed crossing, it was her way of making a better life for her self, and so she went to great lengths to break that barrier. Noah was born to a native black woman and a white Swiss father. The decision to conceive a mixed race child during the apartheid was stemmed primarily from Noah’s mother, The fearless and determined Patrica Noah.

For the duration of Noahs younger years, he was surrounded by women. He observed their strengths and struggles and understood the great lengths and sacrifices they made in making life a better place for the family. In Trevor Noah’s book,” Born a Crime,” the strength and independence of women in society is reflected through his mother. Who despite the role women were supposed to play during the apartheid regime, decided to defy all societal norms to do things in a way that she thought was best for herself and her family, irrespective of what the consequences may have been. Patricia was the middle child of her family; she was unwanted, with no sense of belonging and identity from a very young age. Her parents distanced themselves; she was alone in the world. She worked on the family farm and often went without food for days. She experienced the struggle and knew what the outcome would be if she hadn’t at that moment ran away to Johannesburg; she had to leave that life behind or succumb to it. She decided to leave in pursuit to create a life on her own. She then decided to have a child. Patricia could have had a black child and confirm to apartheids standards, but she decided to commit a crime by conceiving a mix race child.
I’m sure we can all agree that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. For Patricia, she took this a little step further when she made a proposition to Noah’s father surrounding his very existence.

“I want to have a kid,” she told him. “I don’t want kids,” he said. “I didn’t ask you to have a kid. I asked you to help me to have my kid. I want the sperm from – You will be able to see it as much as you like, but you will have no obligations. You don’t have to talk to it. You don’t have to pay for it. Just make this child for me.” (Noah 26).
In the patriarchal society that existed at the time, this conversation would be seen as Patricia talking down to her partner at the time, but she understood the nature of the situation and knew there would be a possibility that Noah’s dad would not want to be in his life.

Here she illustrated the strength of a thousand men combined. She was prepared to carry the burden, suffer the consequences, and be alone with raising her child. Patricia saw the best out of every possible situation and inserted herself in the most chaotic of conditions. During the apartheid era, native blacks were not allowed to acquire certain jobs, they were the upper class occupied by whites and lower class jobs possessed the natives. Patricia was determined to always go a step further in acquiring what she wasn’t allowed to have, “she took a secretarial course, a typing class” (23). She worked as a secretary and lived illegally in a predominantly white neighborhood, and most of all, she found comfort in Christianity as a means of coping with her oppression. She continues to defy apartheid rules and regulations. Patricia constantly reminded her son not to fall victim to apartheids limitations; she pushed him to read numerous books and learn different languages. She always wanted him to be ten steps ahead and always at an advantage.

The strength that Patricia Noah exhibited was one that few women have had to show over the years to stand up for themselves and not succumb to societal norms. Women have not always been seen as pillars of strengths, and in many societies, their role was primarily to serve their men and take care of their families. However, throughout history, there have been women who had exhibited that strength that Patricia showed.
At the height of the civil rights movement, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Even though that’s what was expected of her, not only as a woman but as a black person. Nevertheless, she refused and that defiance and show of strength helped propel the civil rights movement forward. It even led to one of the largest bus strikes in Alabama.

Oprah Winfrey is also someone that had to stand up for herself and show the people and the world around her that women were powerful. We know Oprah as a media magnate today; however, during one of her first talk shows, her male co-host was earning more money than she was. When she asked the producers and others to be compensated in the same way, they told her he had more responsibilities than her; therefore he will be better compensated, even though they were doing the same work. She could have accepted this as the way things were, however, she refused. She then decided to do something about it and today we know Oprah as the media powerhouse she is. This strength that women like Oprah and Rosa exhibited was the same strength that Patricia showed. Though their situations were different, it was the same strength that made Patricia push her son out of a moving vehicle to save him. The same strength she had to show when they were in public to walk apart from him to avoid having him taken away.

In conclusion, Trevor Noah’s book born a crime did an incredible job highlighting the many challenges women are faced with today, especially mothers on their never-ending quest to go to great lengths to provide and protect their offspring. In countries such as Saudia Arabia women are prohibited from driving, this in itself proves that there are still limitations that exist in certain cultures, and the fight for gender equality will be a constant battle. Moreover, in light of Patricia’s bravery and tenacity in a time when these qualities would have been proven ineffective, she’s confirmation that the system and the cycle can be broken.

Noah, Trevor. Born a Crime Stories from a South African Childhood. Spiegel & Grau, 2016.