View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did the author discover in a stolen object, causing him to rethink his life of crime as described in the story "The Cheese Boys"?

2. Why did the author choose not to tell his parents that he had been arrested?

3. What did the author find inappropriate about the relationship advice Patricia gave him when he was a child?

4. What advice did Patricia give the author for how he should act if his wife made more money than him?

5. What happened before the author could ask Zaheera out?

Short Essay Questions

1. What difference does the author see between German education around the Holocaust and South African education around apartheid?

2. How was the author eventually able to make friends at Highlands North?

3. Why does the author claim that the "colored people" of modern South Africa are in some ways worse off than the black people of South Africa?

4. What conclusion did the author draw after his encounter with the police at the end of the story "The Cheese Boys"?

5. How was the author able to pose as an American rapper for the talent show in Hammanskraal?

6. Why did the author feel regret regarding his friend Zaheera?

7. How does the author explain the abundance of South Africans with names for controversial historical figures like "Napoleon," "Mussolini," and "Hitler"?

8. What geographical explanation does the author give when he states that "it's physically impossible for [Alexandra] to change" (201)?

9. Why could none of the police recognize the author in the security footage?

10. Why was the author late to the dance?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The South African government oppressed its people racially, and the collection "Born a Crime" goes into great detail about how this manifested economically. Write an essay analyzing the relationship between race and economic class as depicted by the author.

Essay Topic 2

According to the collection "Born a Crime," many languages are spoken in South Africa and Trevor Noah benefitted from knowing several of them growing up. Write an essay explaining the role that language plays in both creating and resolving conflicts through one or more stories in the collection.

Essay Topic 3

In several passages within the collection "Born a Crime," Trevor Noah describes the colonial history of South Africa. Write an essay analyzing the role that South Africa's colonial history played in creating the social and economic conditions of the author's childhood, and how these conditions ultimately shaped his identity.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 924 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample