The Other and Adapting
Examples
Trevor himself as a mixed child
from a black Xhosa mother and a white Swiss-German father during apartheid was considered illegal under the Immorality act of 1927 and faced legal consequences due to the laws against interracial relations. His existence itself was a direct challenge to the racial laws at the time making himself even more of an other in a society rigidily divided along racial lines.
"Where most children were proof of
their families love, I was proof of their criminality" (Noah 27)
Unlike in America where anyone
with a drop of black is considered black, in SA mixed people were classified as their own group called "colored"
Going to 3 different churches a
night. 1 church was white church, 1
black church, and the last was mixed church
"if you were a black woman, you worked
in a factory or as a maid. Those were pretty much your only options. My mother didn't want to work in a factory. -- So, true to her nature she found an option that was not among the ones presented to her: She took a secretarial course" This is an example Patricia adapting in a way to survive (better) to the ostrachization she faces as a black woman and the opportunities she is presented with because of it.
She also could not live in Johannesburg at 22 since it was illegal for black people
"So she stayed in town, hiding and sleeping
in public restrooms until she learned the rules of navigating the city from the other black women who had contrived there: Prositutes" (Noah, 24) Another example of her adapting to the strict rules and curfews placed by the government in the townships by learning how to navigate and survive through prostitutes. "Showed her how to survive. They taught her how to dress in a pair of maid overalls to move around the city without being questioned" (Noah, 24)
Patricia has an absent husband and raised trevor without a man in his life (besides every once in a while with robert and his abusive uncle and crazy grandpa) Patrica adapted to having minimal men influence in her and trevors life and villed the void with religon "Religon filled the void left by absent men.
"They would all play under the tree together. I had to play under the tree by myself. I didn't have any friends in Eden Park" (Noah 117)
"I was the anomaly wherever we lived. In
Hillbrow, we lived in a white area, and nobody looked like me. In Soweto, we lived in a black area, and nobody looked like me. Eden Park was a coloured area. In Eden Park, everyone looked like me, but we couldn't have been more different" (Noah 117)
"The animosity I felt from colored people
I encountered growing up was one of the hardest things I've ever had to deal with. It taught me that it is easier to be an insider as an outsider than to be an outsider as an insider" (Noah 118)
"Try being a black person who immerses himself in white culture while still living in a black community. Try being a white person who adopts the trappings of black culture while still trying to live in the white community. You will face more hate and ridicule and ostracism than you can even begind to fathom" (Noah 118)
"People are wlling to accept you
if they see you as an outsider trying
to assimilate into their world.
But when they see you as
a fellow tribe member
attempting to disavow the tribe,
that is something they will never
forgive. That is what happened to
me in Eden Park" (Noah 118)
Had to sneak around with his mom to be
able to see his dad and that was only indoors. if they wanted to go outside, his dad would have to walk across the street and he could not walk to close to his mom either since it would raise too many questions.
"she found a creche in a colored area
where she could leave me while she was at work. there was a colored woman named Queen who lived in our block of flats. When we wanted to go out to the park, my mom would invite her to go with us" Queen would act as his mom and walk beside him while Trevors mom was a few steps behind. Another example of them finding a way to adapt to the strict rules just to be able to go out together.
"My grandmother refused to let me outside. If she was watching it was 'No, no, no. He doesn't leave the house'. Behind the wall, in the yard, I could play, but not in the street. And that's where the rest of the boys and girls were playing" (Noah 29) another example of him being further othered.
Due to this he was kept inside most of his childhood and alot of his memories are from being inside alone with no friends or just his mom. This caused him to like being alone "To this day you can leave me alone for hours and i'm perfectly happy entertaining myself. I have to remember to be with people" The apartheid and being othered led to him becoming much more to himself and preffering to be alone