Born a Crime

by

Trevor Noah

Abel is Trevor’s abusive alcoholic stepfather, Andrew’s biological father, and Patricia’s husband. From Trevor’s childhood onwards, when he and his mother bring their Volkswagen in for repairs, the auto mechanic Abel is a constant fixture in their lives. In Eden Park, Abel once beats up a colored kid who is bullying Trevor and then threatens to kill the man’s father, which makes Trevor realize that Abel is genuinely dangerous; Trevor eventually moves out of the house to get away from Abel, who has started viciously beating both Trevor and Patricia. Every time, Abel apologizes profusely after, convincing the family to take him back. He is also beloved by the community and goes out of his way to help those in need—the family feels caught between his outward and inward selves. Patricia sells the family’s house and quits her job to try and help Abel fix his garage business, but he drinks away their profits. Eventually, Patricia moves to a shed in the backyard to get away from Abel, but she is afraid to leave because she thinks he might kill her. Ultimately, she meets someone else and does leave—and then Abel tries to kill her by shooting her in the head. Miraculously, she survives, but Abel turns himself in and gets off with no prison time. The police had never taken Patricia seriously when she reported the previous beatings, so Abel had no criminal record, and he convinced the court he needed to be free to support his children (even though they were completely dependent on Patricia’s salary). Abel’s constant violence and professional failure reflect the endemic problems that threatened black South African communities after apartheid. Abel is furious because he feels powerless and emasculated, unable to make a decent living because he has never learned how to run a business and obsessed with “controlling” his wife in order to prove his masculinity in a world that denies him any sense of honor.

Abel Quotes in Born a Crime

The Born a Crime quotes below are all either spoken by Abel or refer to Abel. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Racism, Apartheid, and the Cycle of Poverty Theme Icon
).
Chapter 7 Quotes

Fufi was my first heartbreak. No one has ever betrayed me more than Fufi. It was a valuable lesson to me. The hard thing was understanding that Fufi wasn’t cheating on me with another boy. She was merely living her life to the fullest. Until I knew that she was going out on her own during the day, her other relationship hadn't affected me at all. Fufi had no malicious intent.

I believed that Fufi was my dog but of course that wasn't true. Fufi was a dog. I was a boy. We got along well. She happened to live in my house. That experience shaped what I've felt about relationships for the rest of my life: You do not own the thing that you love.

Related Characters: Trevor Noah (speaker), Trevor’s Mother / Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah, Abel, Fufi
Page Number: 100
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

“I know you see me as some crazy old bitch nagging at you,” she said, “but you forget the reason I ride you so hard and give you so much shit is because I love you. Everything I have ever done I've done from a place of love. If I don't punish you, the world will punish you even worse. The world doesn't love you. If the police get you, the police don't love you. When I beat you, I'm trying to save you. When they beat you, they're trying to kill you.”

Related Characters: Trevor’s Mother / Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah (speaker), Trevor Noah, Abel, Mlungisi
Page Number: 243
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

I grew up in a world of violence, but I myself was never violent at all. Yes, I played pranks and set fires and broke windows, but I never attacked people. I never hit anyone. I was never angry. I just didn't see myself that way. My mother had exposed me to a different world than the one she grew up in. She bought me the books she never got to read. She took me to the schools that she never got to go to. I immersed myself in those worlds and I came back looking at the world a different way. I saw that not all families are violent. I saw the futility of violence, the cycle that just repeats itself, the damage that's inflicted on people that they in turn inflict on others.

I saw, more than anything, that relationships are not sustained by violence but by love. Love is a creative act. When you love someone you create a new world for them. My mother did that for me, and with the progress I made and the things I learned, I came back and created a new world and a new understanding for her. After that, she never raised her hand to her children again. Unfortunately, by the time she stopped, Abel had started.

Related Characters: Trevor Noah (speaker), Trevor’s Mother / Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah, Abel
Page Number: 262
Explanation and Analysis:
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Born a Crime PDF

Abel Quotes in Born a Crime

The Born a Crime quotes below are all either spoken by Abel or refer to Abel. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Racism, Apartheid, and the Cycle of Poverty Theme Icon
).
Chapter 7 Quotes

Fufi was my first heartbreak. No one has ever betrayed me more than Fufi. It was a valuable lesson to me. The hard thing was understanding that Fufi wasn’t cheating on me with another boy. She was merely living her life to the fullest. Until I knew that she was going out on her own during the day, her other relationship hadn't affected me at all. Fufi had no malicious intent.

I believed that Fufi was my dog but of course that wasn't true. Fufi was a dog. I was a boy. We got along well. She happened to live in my house. That experience shaped what I've felt about relationships for the rest of my life: You do not own the thing that you love.

Related Characters: Trevor Noah (speaker), Trevor’s Mother / Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah, Abel, Fufi
Page Number: 100
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

“I know you see me as some crazy old bitch nagging at you,” she said, “but you forget the reason I ride you so hard and give you so much shit is because I love you. Everything I have ever done I've done from a place of love. If I don't punish you, the world will punish you even worse. The world doesn't love you. If the police get you, the police don't love you. When I beat you, I'm trying to save you. When they beat you, they're trying to kill you.”

Related Characters: Trevor’s Mother / Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah (speaker), Trevor Noah, Abel, Mlungisi
Page Number: 243
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

I grew up in a world of violence, but I myself was never violent at all. Yes, I played pranks and set fires and broke windows, but I never attacked people. I never hit anyone. I was never angry. I just didn't see myself that way. My mother had exposed me to a different world than the one she grew up in. She bought me the books she never got to read. She took me to the schools that she never got to go to. I immersed myself in those worlds and I came back looking at the world a different way. I saw that not all families are violent. I saw the futility of violence, the cycle that just repeats itself, the damage that's inflicted on people that they in turn inflict on others.

I saw, more than anything, that relationships are not sustained by violence but by love. Love is a creative act. When you love someone you create a new world for them. My mother did that for me, and with the progress I made and the things I learned, I came back and created a new world and a new understanding for her. After that, she never raised her hand to her children again. Unfortunately, by the time she stopped, Abel had started.

Related Characters: Trevor Noah (speaker), Trevor’s Mother / Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah, Abel
Page Number: 262
Explanation and Analysis: