Key Terms
What is apartheid?
South African set of laws / government that segregated people by races and gave different rights/privileges to different races.
What did Trevor do that his family interpreted as the sign of a demon.
He pooped in the living room.
BONUS 100: Why did he do this?
Name a time from Chapter 6 that Trevor got in trouble for being naughty.
foam exploding from piano, bringing a knife to school, blowing up the gunpowder pile, burning down the house...
What did Trevor call his father, and why?
Robert, his first name, because he could get everyone in trouble with the law by calling him "dad" or "father."
What happened at the mulberry tree?
Trevor was picked on, boys threw berries at him, they called him derogatory names.
Name one of the South African ethnic groups that Noah discusses.
Zulu, Xhosa
What job allows Patricia Noah to provide for her family and make a life for herself?
Typist, like a secretary.
What does Trevor's mother's Xhosa name (Nombuyiselo) mean, and how does it match her behavior?
"She Who Gives Back," which is what she does.
FIND IT BONUS
What did the veterinarian discover about Fufi? How did that change Trevor's idea about Fufi?
How did "colored" people treat Trevor in Eden Park?
They bullied him. According to them, he was either "too white" or "too black."
What did they call the time after apartheid ended and democracy took over, when "black blood ran in the streets" but barely any whites were hurt?
The Bloodless Revolution
What role did religion play in Trevor's early life? Give a specific example.
What is Patricia's definition of "the black tax?"
The burden of a black person to bring up older generations back to zero.
What did Trevor's father keep, and how did it make Trevor feel?
A photobook of all Trevor's accomplishments from newspapers.
It reassured Trevor that his father cared, was proud, and thought about him.
FIND IT BONUS
What could've gotten a person "reclassified" as white? Identify at least 3 things.
1. Hair "might become straight enough"
2. Skin "might become light enough"
3. Accent "might become polished enough"
BONUS: What is the "pencil test?"
What did "sun'qhela" mean when Trevor's mom would say it to him?
"Don't undermine me" or "don't underestimate me" or "just try me."
She was a Xhosa woman on her own with two children, Xhosa women were thought to be promiscuous or "whores," and she had a light-skinned child with her so that meant that she slept with a white man.
"I never felt poor because our lives were so rich with experience."
Give a specific example of each.
Answers may vary...
Name 3 reasons why Trevor lost touch with his father.
1. He moved to Cape Town.
2. Abel didn't want Trevor to visit him.
3. Trevor became a teenager and started caring more about movies and video games.
Why did Trevor decide he'd done something wrong by telling Abel about the mulberry tree incident?
He saw the fear in the boy's eyes.
Abel went too far and beat the boy.
Define Soweto in two ways.
It's a township or planned ghetto in South Africa
It's where Trevor's grandmother lives.
It was essentially a prison for black people--the one road in and out could be blocked off, keeping everybody in the town, and the gov't could shut down any protests.
Why does Trevor consider himself a "chameleon?" Give an example.
He could "blend in" with anybody, no matter what color or race they were, because he could speak their language.
Like the time the group of Zulu boys were going to mug him but he talked his way out of it.
Finish this statement from Chapter 5:
"If my mother had one goal, it was to ____ ___ ____."
If my mother had one goal, it was to FREE MY MIND.
How did she do this?
What lesson did Fufi teach Trevor?
You don't own what you love, therefore, you cannot control them either.
FIND IT BONUS
In apartheid South Africa, what language were colored people expected to speak, and why?
Afrikaans, because colored people aspired to be "white."