Kafir Boy

Kaffir Boy Revised Essay

Kaffir Boy is an autobiographical book written by Mark Mathabane.   It is a very detailed descriptive story of a young African boy who grew up in South Africa during apartheid and managed to become a successful tennis player and leave his country for the United States.   In the book the author describes the important changes in his self-esteem, his understanding of the world around him, his religious beliefs and his attitude toward his family.
Mark’s self-esteem grew tremendously during the course of the book. Being born into immense poverty, growing up with lack of food, harsh climate and surrounded by gang violence, black children of South Africa had no or very low self esteem.   For example, Mark showed that even if he was starving and had mal-nutrition, he would not lower his inhibitions to prostitution for food. This shows that Mark had a powerful willpower and that he is optimistic that one day he will get some food on the table instead of offering himself to strangers for food. “I was not prepared to prostitute myself for food or money. I would rather have died than do that” (p.74). Mark slowly built his character in these tough days of starvation and beatings, by not falling for the temptations, no matter how luxurious they may seem.   Moreover, he was becoming wise by watching other young black men’s fate and witnessing them “turn into tsotsis and end up in penitentiaries and in the grave” (p. 74).
World around Mark was first hostile and unfair.   When one of the boys from the neighborhood died, his mother said that he “grew up to live by the knife….and the same knife he lived by ended his life.” (p.127)   However, with time, Mark not only learns how to survive that hostility, but realizes that through education and tennis he could find the way out of that world.   He concentrates himself on tennis practices, gets closer with white people, regardless of the rejection from black community.   By doing that he follows his dream and...