Life Lessons in 'Born A Crime' Anonymous 11th Grade

In the world of nonfiction, viewing another person’s life experiences can be insightful and emotional. Memoirs capture the reader’s heart and teach important valuable life lessons. One great memoir that does this is Trevor Noah’s Born A Crime. The memoir captures Noah’s life as he faces hardships under apartheid in South Africa. The memoir validates itself as great with valuable life lessons taught through humour during a dark period. In short, Trevor Noah’s memoir Born A Crime teaches lessons about optimism, education, and relationships which are important to a successful fulfilling life.

To begin, Trevor Noah shows the value of optimism in everyday life. Firstly, people with hope make more progress than those that do not. For instance, during Trevor’s time in Soweto he notices all his neighbours have driveways despite them not knowing how to drive. He connects this realisation with optimism by mentioning how “the story of Soweto is the story of the driveways. It’s a hopeful place” (Noah 42). Clearly, optimistic people live more fulfilling lives as they push through the hardships and believe in a better future. Furthermore, people that are not optimistic stop exploring outside their comfort zone. For example, when Trevor...