Noah – 143-225

1. How does Noah define regret? Failure? Rejection?

- Regret: a question you will never have the answer to
- Failure: is an answer
- Rejection: is an answer
2. How does regret play into his relationship with Zaheera?
- She ended up moving away and Noah never got to tell her how he liked her and wanted her to
be his girlfriend.

3. With whom did Noah become friends in the white suburb Highlands North?
- He became friends with the children of domestics.

4. What happened when Teddy and Noah shoplifted the chocolates at the mall? How was race
involved?
- When Teddy and Noah shoplifted the chocolates, they got caught stealing and were chased
after, but Noah was able to escape while Teddy went a different way from Noah.
- Noah was called into the principles office and was asked if he knew who Teddy was with when
he was stealing chocolates. He said no and the principle shows him video footage and asks him if
he knew who the “white person” was in the video with Teddy. Noah was shocked because in the
tape it showed him as white because he is mixed, and nobody ever put the pieces together.

5. How many official languages does South Africa have?

- Eleven languages.
6. By Noah’s senior year, how had his business grown?
- By the end of high school, he’d become a mogul.

7. Describe how the government relocated black people from illegally occupying a white area.
- They would find a patch of arid, dusty. Useless land and dig row after row of holes in the ground
and a thousand latrines to serve four thousand families.
- They would forcefully remove people illegally occupying white are and drop them in the middle
of nowhere with some plywood and iron.
8. What happened to Noah when he went to the talent show with Tom?
- Tom asked Noah to wear Timberlands and basically if you had those shoes you were a famous
rapper. Tom then announced that Noah was a famous rapper from America and pressured him
on stage.

9. According to Noah, what makes a con man successful?

- Is that he never gives you nothing.
10. What was Tom’s deal with Noah about the dance?
- That if Noah gives him a better cut on CDs Toms selling and free music for himself, then Tom will
find Noah a beautiful date.
11. What was Tom’s deal with Abel about the car?
- That if they bring the girl the Noah’s house and Abel thinks she’s beautiful then they can take
the BMW to the dance.

12. What did his mom say when Noah came home with his hair in corn rows?
- That they turned him into a pretty little girl.

13. What happened the night of the matric dance?

- Abel got home drunk and never let Noah take the BMW to the dance. Later on Noah gets lost
but eventually gets to the dance. Noah’s date didn’t want to get out of the car so some of
Noah’s friends come to talk to her and turns out she doesn’t know any English.

14. What is the difference between the teaching of: the Holocaust in Germany, colonialism in
Britain, the history of racism in America, and apartheid in South Africa?
- Germans grow up appropriately aware and apologetic.
- Britain schools treat colonialism the same way, to an extent.
- South Africa they weren’t taught judgement or shame. They were taught history the way
America teaches.
- America history with racism is there was slavery, then Jim Crow, and then MLKJ but now its over
15. What piece of equipment changed Noah’s life?
- CD writer
16. According to Noah, what is the freedom of money?
- The richer you are, the more choices you have.
17. With his money, where did Noah eat?
- McDonald’s.
18. What is the missing part of the analogy “teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime?”
- And it would be nice if you gave him a fishing rod.

19. How did Noah expand his business from just mixing CDs?
- DJ’ing gigs
20. Who was the best dancer in Noah’s crew?
- Hitler
21. How did he get his name?
- In south Africa black people were required to have a English or European name that white
people could pronounce and a lot of the times their names were picked randomly from
someone famous. That is how he got the name Hitler.
22. According to Noah, why do Holocaust victims count?
- Because Hitler counted them.

23. What happened at the King David school?

- Noah was asked to play at a cultural day at the school. Once he got on stage he saw a bunch of
Jewish kids. He started by shouting at the crowd if they were ready to dance and the music
started to play. He then shouts “give it up for Hitler” and of course it’s the dancer but they didn’t
know it was wrong. The crowd stops and looks shocked.

24. As apartheid fell, what changed about living in the hood?

- Everything grew and changed.
25. Which fast food franchise went to the hood first?
- KFC
26. At what age did Noah graduate from high school?
- Seventeen
27. What does “Cheese Boy” mean?
- You’re not really hood because your family has enough money to buy cheese.

28. What happened to cheese boys when apartheid ended?

- He has been given more potential, but he has not been given more opportunity.
29. What was one of the first things Noah learned in the hood?

- That there is a very fine line between civilians and criminal.

30. Finish this sentence. “In the hood, even if you’re not a hardcore criminal,__________.”
- Crime is in your life in some way or another.
31. Why does Noah think that crime succeeds?
- Because crime does the one thing the government doesn’t do: crime cares.
32. How does Noah feel about selling pirated CDs?
- That he owes all the artists money for stealing their music.
33. Noah had cash; what did he do with it?
- He would lend someone money, around 100 dollars, and then he would ask for 120 in return.
34. What’s “the hustle” in the hood?
- Trying to be in the middle of who’s selling what and who’s buying.
35. What’s another perk of being white?
- When they loose stuff they get money.
36. What surprised Noah and his mother about her definition of crime?
- That if someone who had stolen cornflakes, she would see it as her family needs food and the
guy has corn flakes so she would buy them.

37. Noah ate smileys for lunch. What are these?

- Goats head

38. Why did moms like Noah and Bongani?

- They’re the ones looking to buy that box of soap that fell off the back of the truck and likely to
buy from them again rather than some crackhead.

39. Why did Noah and Bongani like making loans to moms?
- They would lent the mom some money and until she would pay it off the boys would stay near
her and make the mom trust her. Eventually they would ask to take their daughter to a party
and then the boy who wanted to get to know the girl they would have to give the boys
something in exchange.

40. How did they manage their business?

- On a computer.
41. Explain Noah’s analogy: “hustling is to work what surfing the internet is to reading.”
- It’s a maximal effort put into minimal gain.

42. Why did Noah like the hood?

- It’s a low stress and comfortable life.

43. List three things that are good about the hood.
- Township policies, sharing, and wonderful sense of community.
44. Describe the South African police force.
- If someone is caught doing something bad the township deals with it.

45. What ended Noah’s DJ-ing and CD-selling business?

- A policeman shot the monitor and fried Noah’s hard drive.

46. After two years, what finally made Noah see hustling as a crime?
- He never saw it as a crime
47. What does Noah think would cause people to not commit crimes?
- If we could see one another’s pain and empathize with on another.

48. What’s a spot-fine?

- Shaking someone down for a bribe.

49. What made Noah different from other guys in the hood?
- He had other options for him to leave and the other guys couldn’t.

50. What did Noah’s mother say when her 10-year-old son shoplifted batteries?
- To take him to jail.