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Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Key Examples in Born a Crime
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—My Action Movie:
Growing up, Noah's mother Patricia did not allow Noah to consume forms of popular culture such as movies, music, or comic books. With a metaphor, Noah explains how church and the Bible became his outlets:
The only music I knew was from church: soaring, uplifting songs praising Jesus. It was the same with movies. My mom didn’t want my mind polluted by movies with sex and violence. So the Bible was my action movie. Samson was my superhero. He was my He-Man. A guy beating a thousand people to death with the jawbone of a donkey? That’s pretty badass.
Related Themes:
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Born a Crime:
Reflecting on the time of his birth, Noah uses a metaphor (the same metaphor in that serves at the title of his memoir) to depict the true impossibility of his existence:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Nine months after that yes, on February 20, 1984, my mother checked into Hillbrow Hospital for a scheduled C-section delivery. Estranged from her family, pregnant by a man she could not be seen with in public, she was alone. The doctors took her up to the delivery room, cut open her belly, and reached in and pulled out a half-white, half-black child who violated any number of laws, statutes, and regulations—I was born a crime.
Related Themes:
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—A Chameleon:
As Noah grows up, he begins to understand the complexities of race in South Africa. With a metaphor, Noah describes his attempt to "bridge the race gap":
Unlock with LitCharts A+They were ready to do me violent harm, until they felt we were part of the same tribe, and then we were cool. That, and so many other smaller incidents in my life, made me realize that language, even more than color, defines who you are to people. I became a chameleon. My color didn’t change, but I could change your perception of my color. If you spoke to me in Zulu, I replied to you in Zulu. If you spoke to me in Tswana, I replied to you in Tswana. Maybe I didn’t look like you, but if I spoke like you, I was you.
Related Themes:
Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Hands Off the Chocolate :
Noah uses a crass metaphor to illustrate the absurdity and crudity of South African apartheid:
Unlock with LitCharts A+They were second-class citizens, denied the rights of white people but given special privileges that black people didn’t have, just to keep them holding out for more. […] “You’re almost there. You’re so close. You’re this close to being white. Pity your grandfather couldn’t keep his hands off the chocolate, eh? But it’s not your fault you’re colored, so keep trying. Because if you work hard enough you can erase this taint from your bloodline. Keep on marrying lighter and whiter and don’t touch the chocolate and maybe, maybe, someday, if you’re lucky, you can become white.”
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Planet of the Apes:
As an introduction to a more detailed account of his time in Eden Park, a suburban colored neighborhood in Johannesburg, Noah teaches the reader about the origins of South Africa's "colored" (mixed-race) population. With metaphorical language and a humorous allusion, Noah details this population's struggles:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Colored people had it rough. Imagine: You’ve been brainwashed into believing that your blood is tainted. You’ve spent all your time assimilating and aspiring to whiteness. Then, just as you think you’re closing in on the finish line, some fucking guy named Nelson Mandela comes along and flips the country on its head. Now the finish line is back where the starting line was, and the benchmark is black. Black is in charge. Black is beautiful. Black is powerful. For centuries colored people were told: Blacks are monkeys. Don’t swing from the trees like them. Learn to walk upright like the white man. Then all of a sudden it’s Planet of the Apes, and the monkeys have taken over.
Related Themes:
Chapter 13
Explanation and Analysis—The White Neighborhoods:
In the preface to Chapter 13, Noah depicts the incredible lengths that White neighborhoods went to protect themselves and ultimately separate themselves from Black and "colored" (mixed-race) people. With an ironic metaphor and a simile, Noah describes his personal struggle with these supposed safeguards:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The white neighborhoods of Johannesburg were built on white fear—fear of black crime, fear of black uprisings and reprisals—and as a result virtually every house sits behind a six-foot wall, and on top of that wall is electric wire. Everyone lives in a plush, fancy maximum-security prison.[…] I’d hear people laughing and playing and I’d get off my bike and creep up and peek over the wall and see a bunch of white kids splashing around in someone’s swimming pool. I was like a Peeping Tom, but for friendship.
Related Themes:
Chapter 18
Explanation and Analysis—The Dragon:
As Abel drinks and wastes away, Patricia becomes the family breadwinner and foots the bills. With a metaphor, Noah compares Abel, in his jealous anger, to a dragon coming out of hiding:
Unlock with LitCharts A+He was supposed to pay for Andrew’s school fees and groceries, but he started falling behind even on that, and soon my mom was paying for everything. She paid the electricity. She paid the mortgage. He literally contributed nothing. That was the turning point. When my mother started making more money and getting her independence back—that’s when we saw the dragon emerge. The drinking got worse. He grew more and more violent. It wasn’t long after coming for me in the pantry that Abel hit my mom for the second time.
