Kaffir Boy

Kaffir Boy: The True Story Of A Black Youth’s Coming Of Age In Apartheid South Africa is the autobiography of Mark Mathabane. This autobiography has become a best seller because of the intense and strong images of violence that it projects. This autobiography allowed people all over the world to view the life under apartheid through the lens of a true South African black. This autobiography is important to American literature and especially to this black lit class because it offers a world never seen before, that is what makes it so interesting. Americans, especially whites, are always fascinated with the struggles blacks go through to overcome violence and racism. This book has a similar tone to that of Frederick Douglass’ narrative in the way that it made Americans think about the violence that is witnessed and the cruel unjust life they led because unfortunately, they were born under that society. This is important, because this autobiography shows how the segregation in South Africa was justified and it also opened eyes to the true meaning behind the apartheid and the unspoken conditions of it. The title of this book is also important. Mathabane is smart in choosing “Kaffir Boy” as the description of how he takes the word ‘Kaffir’ and not of how much power that word holds over him. He explains that the word ‘Kaffir’ is equivalent to the word ‘nigger’ in America, but it is so interesting how he uses a derogatory word to give the name to his autobiography. It is clear that Mathabane is trying to own the word ‘Kaffir’ by using it and redefining it. This is interesting because this has also happened in the United Sates. Kaffir is a degrading term for blacks in South Africa, and in America the term nigger was also a degrading term for blacks. Although, today many blacks use the term ‘nigga’ to describe themselves, and often give it the meaning ‘brother’. This is similar to the way the gay community has used the word gay to describe themselves. It no longer has a