Final lesson before the essay

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

Final lesson Born a Crime

Essay

Important

You can find the information in the document "Online Essay on Born a Crime - Trevor Noah TV4 2021-2 on  Classroom. I've also uploaded this document to Magister.

What? Choose one of the three essay questions. Write your essay in response to your chosen question.

When? 15:00 - 16:30 (yellow card: 16:40)

How? The assignment appears on Classroom at 15:00. Upload your essay to Classroom and Turnitin before 16:35. (Yellow card: Upload your essay before 16:45)

Turnitin

Join the class on Turnitin:

Cursus-ID: 28320437

Inschrijfwachtwoord: Bornacrime21

Students who still need to join the class: Indy, Laurie, Jilaya, Eser, Greta, Kiara, Isa

Essay structure

Introduction (final sentence(s): thesis statement = main claim)

three body paragraphs with P.E.E. structure (point, example, explanation)

Conclusion (In conclusion... / To conclude... (-> summarise your main points)

Note

You are allowed to use the book.

Write an outline before you start writing (TS, point of each paragraph, describe scene in key words, explanation). The outline won't be graded.

Tips

• Your point clearly indicates the main subtopic/focus of your body paragraph. Your point links back / supports your thesis statement.
• Discuss the examples in detail. You can use quotes -> use quotation marks! Refer to the page number.
• Write an extensive explanation. This illustrates / shows / emphasizes....
• In your explanation, you could also refer to parts of the quotes and discuss the language/tone/how they talk to each other, etc.

Sample introduction (mother)

“The doctors took her up to the delivery room, cut open her belly, and reached in and pulled out a half-white, half-black child who violated any number of laws, statues, and religions⎼ I was born a crime.” “Born a Crime” is a book written by Trevor Noah. It is a coming of age story about Trevor, a boy growing up during apartheid. Trevor was born In South Africa and at that time, apartheid was a big issue. Apartheid was a system of separating different racial groups. There were the white, and all non-whites were classified into various subgroups. These groups were given different levels of rights and privileges, like a ranking system. The top rank were the white people, these basically ruled South Africa and were the ones who introduced the system of apartheid. Then there were Asians, then colored people, and at the bottom were black people. During apartheid it was prohibited to have sexual intercourse with another racial subgroup. However, this did not stop Trevor’s parents. Trevor’s father is white and his mother is black. He was therefore ‘born a crime’. Throughout the book Trevor constantly feels left out because of his mixed skin colour and has to choose whether he wants to be ‘white’ or ‘black’. As the book proceeds the reader learns about the relationship between Trevor and his mother as well as how he uses the things his mother teaches him in life. Whenever Trevor finds himself in a bad situation he uses one of the life lessons to help him. Trevor Noah highlights the relationship between him and his mother through the way they communicate with each other, the life lessons and discipline she teaches him. 

When Trevor has been naughty, his mother always teaches him a lesson. An example of this is when his mother is running after him with a slipper in her hand. Trevor had been naughty and this was his mother’s way of teaching him to be a well-behaving boy. Trevor gets so-called ‘beatings’ from his mother to teach him a lesson. This is a form of discipline, but Trevor does not always agree with that. He does not always think beating your child is the best way to go. He finds that communicating rather than beating your kid would be a better way to go. Another example of this can be found in chapter 6 , when Trevor and his mother are at the shops, where they sell toffee apples. Trevor keeps on whining about wanting a toffee apple. However, his mother refuses to buy him one. Then when they are at the checkout, his mother pretends she is not Trevor’s mother. Trevor describes how "My mom shook her head. 'Poor little colored boy lost his mother. What a shame.' I panicked. Was I crazy? Is she not my mother? I started bawling “You’re my mother. You’re my mother. She’s my mother. She’s my mother. She’s my mother.” The lesson that Trevor’s mother teaches him is to always be grateful and not keep whining about something when the answer is no. This is important for later in Trevor’s life, because then he will know what is socially acceptable. 

Important

Try to integrate the example into the essay. 

 An example of this feeling is expressed in chapter .. when ...

An example of this behaviour can be seen in ...

An example of this struggle is apparent / can be found in the beginning of the book / half-way through the book / near the end of the book, when ...

Rubric

A -Response to the question (10)

B - Presentation (10)

C -  Language (5)

Themes

The history and consequences of Apartheid

The constant threat of violence

Striving for independence and identity

The influence and nature of a mother’s love

The presence and power of religious faith

Plagiarism

Turnitin is an online platform that detects plagiarism in any uploaded assignment. The purpose of this platform is to manage potential academic misconduct by highlighting similarities to the world’s largest collection of internet, academic, and student paper content.

This means that turnitin will compare your writing to content that’s available on the web but also to that of other students. In the case of plagiarism it will generate a report that explains the percentage and the source.

If your work turns up for plagiarism, this will result in a ​1.1​ as is stipulated in the school rules.

During this lesson

Prepare for the essay. 

• Revise the context (Apartheid)
• Revise the main themes and the main characters
• Revise the plot
• Read my feedback
•  Stick post-its to relevant pages that contain important scenes, so that you can easily find them. 

You can do this!