Mark Mathabane Focus assignment

Mark Mathabane

Mark Mathabane, October 18, 1960 tennis player, author, and lecturer.
He was born in Alexandra, Gauteng, South Africa.

Mark was inspired to start tennis by Arthur Ashe an African who played tennis professionally. Mark made several White friends by playing tennis with them; Mark would eventually use his connections with his white friends to get out of Alexandra. When Mark was a child his passion was tennis he loved the sport even if his friends and other Africans saw him as being a traitor to their kind by playing such a "white" sport. Mark now plays tennis leisurely on a regular basis

Mark Mathabane has written several novels multiple of his more known novel's are: Kaffir Boy in America which is a sequel to Kaffir Boy, Love in black and white, African women, Miriam’s Song.

Mark regularly lectures about the conditions in South Africa. He has been trying to make some sort of a difference back in his home country so no one else has to go the
Horrendous conditions his family struggled through.
Mark will often speak at High schools and college’s through-out the United States trying to raise awareness about the stupefying conditions that Africans live through in the "ghetto" of South Africa. Mark has even made appearances on Oprah, Today, CNN, NPR, the Charlie Rose show, Larry King and an uncountable number of other television shows and radio talk shows.

I put the most important aspects of Mark's childhood into the following sections. These were the events that I believe turned Mark into who he is.

The Peri-Urban(the local police) would continually launch surprise raids on Mark's neighborhood. These raids terrified Mark and were a constant through-out his life, at first every time Mark would see or hear the Peri-Urban alarms he would be so terrified that he wouldn't be able to speak properly and when he would it would be a stammering drivel not too useful to his parents who would constantly have to avoid the Peri-Urban due to the fact that their passes(a book that all Africans would have to carry to prove they could legally be in a certain area) weren't in order.
Because Marks parent’s passes were never in order they would be ever running for the police. But how long can one really evade the police? Marks Dad's luck ran out and he was arrested; he seemed to get caught continually so Mark's family had to live off little food a lot of the time. There had even been times when his family went without food for weeks. His mother was caught by the Peri-Urban a few times but she seemed to never be gone for long.

One of the most important things to Mark's development was his going to school; it got him out of the gang he had been hanging out with and it got him off the streets. He began to become absorbed in his schooling, he enjoyed reading the books that his Granny would constantly bring him.
I find that highly amusing because of Mark's original reluctance to going to school; as I recall Mark actually fought his Mum and Granny when they tried to take him to school. What made him decide he needed to go were two occurrences. The first being a women seeing Mark being brought to school and then starting to bawl stating she wish she had taken her son to school before the street claimed him. The second was the fact that his Mum and Dad got into a fight after his Dad found out that she had registered Mark at school.
I personally believe that Mark's going to school was the most vital event to the creation of the Mark Mathabane that we know today.

Next to going to school starting to play tennis was one of the great turning points in Mark's life. I know your probably thinking "Starting tennis! How could that be an important event?" just read on and you will learn just how important tennis had been to Mark. Mark hadn't originally wanted to play tennis he wanted to box after learning of a phenomenal boxer named Muhammad Ali who actually knocked out a Caucasian boxer! When Mark arrived at the ring though he tried to fight but he was beaten so badly that he no longer wanted to take part in such a violent sport. Then Mark heard of a man named Arthur Ashe an African who played tennis, Mark decided to play the sport. This would lead to Mark getting to know white people better and distance him from other Africans because they saw his playing tennis as a sort of treachery towards the other Africans. Mark actually was sent death threats and was nearly killed in an encounter with one of his old acquaintances from a gang he used to associate with. He used his connections with his Caucasian friends to eventually get out of the ghetto of South Africa and act as a spokesman to help with multiple problems in South Africa. None of what he had been doing could have happened if he did not start to play tennis and interact with white people.

Mark Mathabane; there is so much about him that it was tough for me to pick what parts of his psyche to include on the following section. I did my best to choose the most important parts of his personality

Mark had a growing hatred for his father when he was a kid. His hatred was fair, his father kept on getting arrested which caused money problems to the family so Mark starved on a regular basis. What made him even angrier was the fact that his friends Father's were always able to feed their children. Another way his hatred bred was how his Father would continually beat him for what seemed to be everything that he did. Mark even thought that his father hated him as well, this idea was dismissed when Mark left and his Father cried, his Father had never cried before, it showed Mark that no matter what his father did he still loved him. As far as I know Mark no longer holds the hatred of his Father in his heart.

Mark’s friends had taught Mark that school was a waste of time and that he really didn’t need it seeing as how impressionable Mark was when he was a child he listened to them. Because of what his friends had warned him about school Mark was originally hesitant to go; he actually fought his Mum and his Granny when they tried to get him ready to go register at his school. Mark’s opinion about school was suddenly changed when his family came across an old woman on their way to school. The old women immediately figured out where they were taking Mark and started to cry saying that she wished she had taken her son to school before he joined a gang and was killed. When this happened Mark started to change his view on school a little bit seeing it as an escape from a death out on the cold streets. This shows that although Mark had originally hated school his mind can be changed by an emotional or important event that shows him the good (or bad) side of something. It is a good thing Mark was so impressionable because it was how he eventually escaped from the horror that had been his life in Alexandra.

Mark would learn from every single event that would happen to him. It was because of Marks ability to learn from all his past experiences. Take for example when he was a child and he would make fun of the “shit-men” (these were men who had the burden of going around and taking the fecal matter bins from the houses and throwing them in a truck to be sent away) as they went by. One of these days the man carrying the waste was in a bad mood and chased of Mark and his friends when they made fun of him. He wound up catching Mark and made him take off all his clothes and stand in the waste. The experience made Mark decide to never make fun of people in such a manner ever again. Not all the lessons Mark learned came at such a price but one things remains the same he learned from all his encounters.

Mark’s psyche changed continually through-out the novel. He was able to become more mature about life and all things as he lived through the horror that is known as his life.

Mark used to hang out with gangs; they would roam the streets and make fun of the numerous people that they passed. They would continually get into fights and I believe that if Mark had not escaped from the streets grasp then he would surely be dead. It was actually one of the people Mark used to hang out with that would one day try to kill him.

Mark was a fighter in more way then one. Mark was literally a fighter; he would get into fights regularly as a child, that made him want to become a boxer and fight for a living. But mentally Mark would struggle to survive, he would fight to live constantly. If it wasn’t for Mark fighting and struggling he wouldn’t be where he is today

Mark had several beliefs about society; two different religions were forced upon him neither of which he enjoyed.

Because Mark’s father was originally from a tribal reserve he would have Mark and his brother perform tribal rituals regularly. He would do this so that they would understand what they were to do whilst they were at the tribal reserves that they may one day return to. Mark hated these rituals with a passion; I believe this was because of his hate for his father being redirected to the Tribal faith. Mark’s family always thought that whenever something bad happened to them it was because a jealous neighbor cast a voodoo spell on them so they would go to a tribal reserve to lift their “curses”.

Mark’s mum eventually tired of her husband’s ridiculous tribal belief. She took the kids and got all of them baptized she was lucky enough that two white missionaries had arrived and were willing to baptize her children. Mark’s Father was completely against this as he seemed to be with everything that Mark’s mum decided was a good idea.