Chapter summaries part II

Chapter 9: The Mulberry Tree

In the second part of Born a Crime, Trevor Noah reflects on the difficult history of colored people in South Africa, who, because of their mixed heritage, have trouble fitting in. He claims that growing up, he felt the most animosity coming from the colored community, who treated him like an outsider. 
Trevor recalls that, during apartheid, colored people were considered inferior to whites but superior to blacks. In his case, he was ridiculed by the colored community because he had a colored appearance but did not belong to the colored culture. One day, as Trevor played next to a mulberry tree, a group of colored boys bullied him and hit him with mulberries. When Trevor went home crying, Abel, his mother’s boyfriend, got angry and took revenge on the boys’ leader, beating him with a mulberry branch. Trevor recalls fearing Abel, who was so violent that he even scared the boy’s father by threatening to kill him.

Chapter 10: A Young Man’s Long, Awkward, Occasionally Tragic, and Frequently Humiliating Education in Affairs of the Heart, Part I: Valentine’s Day

Trevor recalls that his mother taught him how to treat women since he was little, being more concerned with him learning about adult relationships than teenage relationships. In primary school, Trevor’s friends encouraged him to ask out Maylene, the only colored girl in school, to be his Valentine. After getting the approval of Maylene’s friends, Trevor asked her to be his Valentine and the two kissed. Trevor was happy and used all his pocket money to buy Maylene flowers, a teddy bear, and a card. On Valentine’s Day, Maylene told Trevor that she could not be his girlfriend anymore, because she accepted another boy instead. Trevor recalls giving Maylene her gifts anyway and accepting that he would ...