Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa | Themes

Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa Themes

Abuse of Power

Kaffir Boy is a searing indictment against South Africa's National Party's bigoted and unethical abuse of power. When the party won the 1948 election based on their promise to legalize apartheid (racial separation of blacks and whites), the minority white population thus became the lawgivers, restricting living areas, schools, medical resources, and movement of the majority black population to specifically designated ghettos outside the city of Johannesburg. Blacks could not leave their homes without passes containing a photograph, address, marital information, and employment status. Mathabane and his family, like all other blacks in South Africa, became victims of a racially abusive system that continued in power until the early nineties.

Equal Opportunity

The lack of equal opportunity is graphically portrayed in Kaffir Boy. Jackson Mathabane is arrested and imprisoned for being temporarily un employed. While he is in prison, his wife and children, unable to afford food, go every morning to...
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