“ stubborn woman ,” discuss H u m a n i t i e s

In the first pages of Trever Noah’s book Born a Crime, we get a very clear sense of who the narrator’s mother is, and why she played such an important role in his life. The writing assignment for this week is designed to help you reflect on Trever Noah’s story telling techniques.

Your reflection needs to include at least four paragraphs. You are welcome to write more if you feel called to do so.

• In the first paragraph, describe the sense you get about Trevor Noah’s mother. What kind of person is she? What adjectives would you use to describe her?
• In the second paragraph, pick one of the qualities of Trevor Noah’s mother you mentioned in the previous paragraph, and discuss how this quality emerged from a conversations Trevor had with her (or dialogue). For example, if you mentioned that Trevor’s mom was a “stubborn woman,” discuss a conversation between these two characters showing that she was stubborn. DO NOT COPY THIS CONVERSATION OR INCLUDE LONG QUOTATIONS. Instead, provide the necessary background information to this conversation (or context), and then, in your own words, explain what the two characters said to each other, and how this conversation shows his mom’s stubbornness. If you use a quotation, make sure it’s very, very short.
• In the third paragraph, pick another quality that you saw in Trever Noah’s mom, and discuss how this quality emerged from an incident or event Trever describes (plot). For example, if you mentioned that Trevor’s mom was “strict,” discuss an event that shows how strict she was. Again, DO NOT COPY SECTIONS OF THE BOOK OR INCLUDE LONG QUOTATIONS. Instead, provide the necessary background information to this event, explain it in your own words, and discuss how it shows that Trevor’s mom was strict.
• In the fourth paragraph, discuss how you are going use either a conversation or an event (please chose only one of the two) to illustrate a quality of your special person. For example, if you are going to show that your special person was kind, tell us about EITHER a either a conversation OR an event that shows their kindness. You don’t have to write out the full conversation or provide a detailed description of the event, but just give us an idea for now. Please make sure you provide the necessary context, or background information.

If you click on the two links below, you will find two videos with Trever Noah, author of Born a Crime, who is a well known comedian. The first video is an interview; the other video is a stand-up commedy gig. Please watch both before you do the reading. These videos will make you appreciate his writing more.

Interview