Born a Crime is set in South Africa during the apartheid at the end of the twentieth century. Trevor Noah’s mother faced adversity for being a strong-willed black woman and for having a mixed race child in a racist state; she taught her son how to overcome adversity just like she did. Trevor shares stories of his childhood and how he, his family, and friends lived through the burden that the apartheid put on them due to their races. He must battle between being white or being black. The apartheid tries to split Trevor Noah, but he learns to love both sides of himself. Trevor reminds the reader that everyone needs to learn to embrace their true selves.
Trevor Noah had an eventful childhood filled with adventure as well as hardship; he conveys this childhood in an entertaining and intriguing way using comedy and great storytelling. In the beginning of the first chapter, he compares an event in his life to action sequences in Hollywood movies; he grabs the reader's attention by using the juxtaposition of actor’s nonchalant reactions after jumping out of a moving vehicle to his terrifying and painful experience of getting thrown out of a moving car. After an actor jumps out of a moving car “The person hits the ground and rolls for a bit. Then they come to a stop and pop up and dust themselves off, like it was no big deal.”(Noah 5) compared to Trevor “Whenever I see that I think, That’s rubbish. Getting thrown out of a moving car hurts way worse than that” (Noah 5). After grabbing the reader’s attention, he transitions into why he was in the car in the first place by explaining that they were coming home from church because his mom is very religious. Throughout the first chapter, he keeps the reader reading because they are waiting to hear about the time he got thrown out of a car, while he gives exposition about his life and the series of events that led up to the exciting story; he finally tells his story at the end of the chapter to satisfy the reader’s desire for a conclusion to the story. He tells his life threatening experience with comedy, which lightens the mood from being terrifying to being a funny story about his life.
Throughout the book, Trevor gives exposition and social commentary about the history of South Africa and the apartheid. In the very beginning of the book, he has a picture of the Immorality Act, 1927: the Immorality Act states that no native South African female can reproduce with a European male and vice versa. This gives the reader the information that it was illegal for his mother and father to have him because she was a native female, and he was a European male. Before the first chapter, he gives information about how the apartheid came to be and what it was like; this helps the reader understand what the state of South Africa was before the story of Trevor’s life even begins. “Apartheid was a police state, a system of surveillance and laws designed to keep black people under control.”(Noah 3) this is important information to know before reading the book because his entire life is ruled by this racist government system. Before chapter six, he shares his view that “Racism is not logical”(Noah 75): during the apartheid, Chinese people were classified and treated as black people; Japanese, white. Trevor’s social commentary is that the apartheid had many fatal flaws because racism does not make sense. Trevor’s exposition helps the reader understand his story and helps Trevor get his social commentary across to the reader.
In the book, Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, the use of comedy while telling a serious story with serious consequences is phenomenal; his comedy keeps the book light-hearted, though it can still get serious at some points. The reader can feel sad while reading this book, and then they will read a quick joke that lightens up their mood. Trevor’s storytelling keeps the reader wanting more, and they even learn about South Africa and Trevor’s viewpoints at the same time.