Kaffir Boy

"Kaffir Boy" by Mark Mathabane depicts African Americans not being in the same social class as whites. This is also a single story which can relate to what we discuss in class. The rich family has a boy named Clyde, he is a white young boy and goes to school with other white children. "I dont play with Kaffirs, at school they say we shouldn't," when he says this about his school it creates a single story because not all black boys are Kaffirs. Clyde also is exposed to a single story when he says his teachers tell him again, "Kaffir's can't read, speak or write English like white people because they have smaller brains, which are already full of tribal things. My teachers say you're not people like us, because you belong to a jungle civilization. That's why you can't live or go to school with us, but can only be our servants." This shows how put down the blacks were by the white people.


We see micro-aggressions throughout the story as well. We see this multiple times towards the grandson. For example, Mrs. Smith says, "What a clever, clever pickaninny!" This is a micro-aggression because she is basically saying he is supposed to be stupid or not clever. Another one is shown in line 157 when Clyde asks if he can read. This is a micro-aggression because since the grandson is black, Clyde doesn't expect him to know how to read and for him to be stupid. The last one about the grandson is the last line of when the family gives him a copy of Treasure Island which is a little kid book that is for kids around the age of 5. This is an insult to him because once again, they are assuming he is stupid.