Intro to Epigraphs
Nicole Francis and Annmarie Vincenzo
Epigraph
Albert Luthuli, 1960 Nobel Peace Prize winner
Once the South Africans escape apartheid, they are still not treated fairly. Racism will always exist, whether it's prominent or subdued. Though segregation is gone, racism still prevails worldwide. People who aspire to escape poverty will always face judgement in their new role.
Mathabane still faces racism like other Africans in prominently white countries. Though he has escaped South Africa, his family still continues to live through the hardships Africans face. Apartheid has "ended", but the memory and habits still remain.
Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Mask of Anarchy
"Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number-
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you-
Ye are many — they are few"
Mark had to have courage to escape the apartheid in South Africa. He overcame the "mean whites" holding him back, and followed the one path out: an education.
Frederick Douglass
Reminds us of Eleanor Roosevelt's quote, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."
Oppression only exists with submission. If the people rebel, the tyrant has no control over anything. Another call to action, encouraging the people to stand up for their rights.
The people of South Africa submitted to the African government, allowing them to control their homelands. They tried to rebel, but did not have the knowledge or power to succeed.
John Milton
You can take away all my liberties and freedoms, just don't take away my freedom of speech.
Mathabane's "weapon of choice" was to fight with words and not guns. He saw the danger of gangs and how ineffective riots were against police, so Mathabane chose to get an education and fight apartheid with his words.
Mark's Freedom
Throughout all the years that I lived in South Africa, people were to call me a fool for refusing to live life the way they did and by doing the things they did. Little did they realize that in our world, the black world, one could only survive if one played the fool, and bided his time. (Mathabane 126)"
Discussion Questions
1. What are some themes of Kaffir Boy?
2. How are these quotes similar or different?
3. Why did Mathabane choose these quotes to start his book? What difference do they make?
5. What are some other books that use epigraphs?
Works Cited
Mathabane, Mark. Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa. New York: Macmillan, 1986. Print.
"Epigraph." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.
"The Wire - Characters Saying the Opening Quotes." YouTube. YouTube, 11 Oct. 2010. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.