Essay | Kaffir Boy

"WARNING: THIS ROAD PASSES THROUGH PROCLAIMED BANTU LOCATIONS, ANY PERSON WHO ENTERS THE LOCATIONS WITHOUT A PERMIT RENDERS HIMSELF FOR PROSECUTION FOR CONTRAVENING THE BANTU (URBAN AREAS) CONSOLIDATION ACT 1945, AND THE LOCATION REGULATION ACT OF THE CITY OF JOHANNESBURG, The above message can be found written on larger-than-life signs staked on every road leading to Alexandra"(Mathabane, 3). The above quote is the first statement of the book just to give a taste of what is to come. Throughout Mark Mathabane's life he lived in what we in the United States would call poverty, but in Africa they call it the underclass. After starting to play tennis he became good enough to be able to move to the United States and escape his underclass and Apartheid.

"Kaffir Boy," written by Mark Mathabane, is about his struggle growing up in South Africa during apartheid. When the book...
(read more)