Kaffir Boy Analysis

Sometimes, people wish they had made a different decision than the one they actually made. Humans are tasked with making decisions every day—what to eat for lunch, what to wear, and many more. The decisions made daily could be simple or could be life-changing. However, making a decision may not be easy for some, depending on the situation they are in, such as in Kaffir Boy. In the story, Johannes (Mark) Mathabane made decisions that would change his life forever, such as going to school instead of roaming the streets and getting into fights. Although Mark made life-changing decisions everyday, did the situation he was in actually affect his decisions? It is to say that Mark’s situation affected his decisions. In Kaffir Boy, Mark was intrinsically in a life-and-death situation, where he had to face the daily struggles of being poor. An example of Mark’s decision that was influenced by his situation would be in Chapter 10. One of the boys in the neighborhood, Mpandhlani, encouraged Mark to make some money and to get some food. During that time, the Mathabane family had little to no food, so Johannes figured that it was the perfect opportunity for him to get something to eat. He sneaked out to join the boys in the neighborhood, but he did not eat the food that the men prepared. Mark did not eat the food because he was ostensively distressed
For example, in the end of the story, Mark leaves his family and eventually goes to America. His future would have been different if he chose to stay with his family. Mathabane’s purpose for writing this book is to tell readers how terrible the conditions were during the apartheid, as well as in Alexandra. This book could be interpreted as his journey to his current state (the year that the book was written). If Mathabane’s situation was different, he most likely would have ended up somewhere else in different