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Trevor’s reclusive father, a Swiss expatriate and restauranteur with a disdain for apartheid who opened (and closed) one of South Africa’s first integrated restaurants, then illegally lent Patricia a room in a white area of Johannesburg and agreed to give her the baby she wanted. For years, Trevor can only visit him in private, usually on Sundays, when they eat the same German meal and have occasional conversations (but mostly just share silence). When Trevor is 13, Robert moves to Cape Town and becomes incredibly difficult to track down—years later, well into his career, Trevor manages to get in touch with Robert and visit him. Robert is reluctant to share much about his life or past, but is incredibly proud of Trevor’s accomplishments, which he demonstrates by pulling out a scrapbook with clippings of every single show and media appearance Trevor has ever done.
Trevor’s Father / Robert Quotes in Born a Crime
The Born a Crime quotes below are all either spoken by Trevor’s Father / Robert or refer to Trevor’s Father / Robert. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2 Quotes
In any society built on institutionalized racism, race-mixing doesn't merely challenge the system as unjust, it reveals the system as unsustainable and incoherent. Race-mixing proves that races can mix—and in a lot of cases, want to mix. Because a mixed person embodies that rebuke to the logic of the system, race-mixing becomes a crime worse than treason.
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As he prepares to tell the story of his birth, Trevor Noah explains why being mixed-race in apartheid South Africa was so difficult—it was literally against the law, and he could be taken away from his mother because of his different skin tone—and then, more theoretically, why the apartheid regime had to outlaw race-mixing in order to keep its “divide and conquer” strategy working. In short, he shows that racism only works if racists can convince people that there are essential and unbridgeable differences among races, and that people want to be apart and do better when they don’t interact Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non
Chapter 4 Quotes
As a kid I understood that people were different colors, but in my head white and black and brown were like types of chocolate. Dad was the white chocolate, mom was the dark chocolate, and I was the milk chocolate. But we were all just chocolate. I didn't know any of it had anything to do with “race.” I didn't know what race was. My mother never referred to my dad as white or to me as mixed. So when the other kids in Soweto called me “white,” even though I was light brown, I just thought they had their colors mixed up, like they hadn't learned them properly. “Ah, yes, my friend. You've confused aqua with turquoise. I can see how you made that mistake. You're not the first.”
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Even though Trevor’s earliest years, when apartheid was still in full force, involved the most perilous racist threats to his livelihood, he ironically does not understand race at all until apartheid is long gone: he is too young to fully understand, seldom interacts with enough other people to feel different (beyond people pointing out his skin color), and even goes to a relatively integrated Catholic school. As he points out here, it is natural to understand color but completely unnatural to think in terms of race, which requires giving skin color a disproportionate weight in people’s identity and arbitrarily turning Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis.
Chapter 8 Quotes
While I was eating he got up and went and picked up this book, an oversized photo album, and brought it back to the table. “I've been following you,” he said, and he opened it up. It was a scrapbook of everything I had ever done, every time my name was mentioned in a newspaper, everything from magazine covers to the tiniest club listings, from the beginning of my career all the way through to that week. He was smiling so big as he took me through it, looking at the headlines. “Trevor Noah Appearing This Saturday at the Blues Room.” “Trevor Noah Hosting New TV Show.”
I felt a flood of emotions rushing through me. It was everything I could do not to start crying. It felt like this ten-year gap in my life closed right up in an instant, like only a day had passed since I'd last seen him. For years I'd had so many questions. Is he thinking about me? Does he know what I'm doing? Is he proud of me? But he'd been with me the whole time. He'd always been proud of me. Circumstance had pulled us apart, but he was never not my father.
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In his mid-20s, as his comedy career begins to take off, Trevor Noah heeds his mother’s advice and reaches out to his father, Robert, for the first time in more than a decade. All that he knows is that Robert has moved to Cape Town, but he manages to get in touch with him through the Swiss embassy and visit a few months later. He is full of doubt and apprehension, unsure if he will even recognize his father or if Robert will care at all about his life. When he arrives, Robert is as reserved as ever, but then Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum
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Trevor’s Father / Robert Character Timeline in Born a Crime
The timeline below shows where the character Trevor’s Father / Robert appears in Born a Crime. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
The chapter begins. Noah’s family is mixed: his mother is a black Xhosa woman, and his father is a Swiss/German man. Race-mixing is “one of the worst crimes you could commit” during...
(full context)
...pass for a maid and advise her to rent a room from a “German fellow” (Robert) who does not much care about the laws. Still, Patricia is arrested over and over...
(full context)
...who is a police informant. Patricia starts spending more time with the trustworthy Swiss man (Robert) who leased her the apartment and eventually asks him to give her a child—not to...
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The doctors are confused, but Patricia just says Trevor’s father is from Swaziland—this is enough to fill out the birth certificate, even though she is...
(full context)
Chapter 3
This woman-centric household is the norm in Soweto: whereas Trevor is merely estranged from his father because of race, other children’s fathers are either imprisoned, fighting apartheid from abroad, or working...
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Chapter 4
...mom teaches him Zulu (which is closely related to Xhosa), German (which she speaks with his father ), Afrikaans (which she learned “because it is useful to know the language of your...
(full context)
Chapter 8
...following story: one day, at the age of 24, Trevor’s mother tells him to find his father . It has been more than ten years; Trevor assumes he will never see his...
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...and works as a chef. When they knew each other before, Trevor always called him “Robert,” not “dad,” because of the risk of their being found out.
(full context)
Trevor does know that Robert is “very Swiss, clean and particular and precise,” living “in his own world” and uninterested...
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Robert then moves to the integrated neighborhood of Yeoville, where he lives an “extremely frugal” life...
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...be a controlling alcoholic and does not want Trevor and Patricia having any contact with Robert. Trevor stays busy and starts his comedy career, but always wonders about his father. It...
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Robert is not in the phone book, so Trevor checks with acquaintances and then the Swiss...
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...the door, and they have the same Sunday lunch they used to share years before. Robert pulls out a photo album: it is “a scrapbook of everything [Trevor] had ever done,”...
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...facts, and “relationships are built in the silences.” When he tries to interview his father, Robert gets defensive and accuses Trevor of “interrogating” him; they decide to spend time together instead,...
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Chapter 18
...a few hearts in her day,” but Trevor only ever knew of her being with his father and Abel. They meet Abel when bringing their Volkswagen to the repair shop. “Handsome, but...
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...all Sunday at church (but she goes by minibus, anyway). Trevor can no longer see his father , either.
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...who increasingly hates him and sees him as a reminder of Patricia’s old relationship with Robert. Soon, Patricia and Abel move to separate bedrooms, and Trevor is counting the years until...
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