Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime: Audience Connection Through Simile

Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime covers a wide array of difficult topics such as racism and black suffering, apartheid, and violence. Noah utilizes the literary device simile. In Born a Crime, similes connect the reader to the difficult topics that Noah unveils which connects the reader to the life that Noah exposes to his audience.

Noah uses simile to make modern American references. For example, Noah discusses the suffering that black people went through. Black people “suffered more” than white people (8). Noah explains that the reason for the thorough practice of religion was to help the black people who suffered so severely. “The more time we spent in church, she reckoned, the more blessings we accrued, like a Starbucks Rewards Card” (8). This compares the time spent in church to a rewards card at Starbucks, which is a great literary technique on Noah’s part because, I’d argue, that almost every reader, if not all readers, can relate to a Starbucks Rewards Card. The reference helps get Noah’s point across and connects the audience to the situation. In imploring a Starbucks reference, Noah also adds a touch of humor to a heavy topic.

Noah uses simile again later in his memoir. Noah discusses the law and the rules of the apartheid. Noah says: “[my mother] would hold my hand or carry me, but if the police showed up she would have to drop me and pretend I wasn’t hers, like I was a bag of weed” (28). The comparison to an illegal substance (in our location of New York state) deepens the audience’s understanding of the severity of the apartheid and the law. If Noah’s mother were to get caught with a colored child, she would be arrested.