Other characters

Frances Noah

In Trevor Noah’s autobiography Born a Crime, Frances Noah is Trevor’s grandmother. Trevor describes her as a woman who is “barely five feet tall, hunched over from years in the factory” (Chapter 3, p. 42), but still strong and “the family matriarch” (Chapter 3, p. 42). She is also “calm, calculating, with a mind as sharp as anything” (Chapter 3, p. 42) and one of the dominant female figures in Trevor’s life. 

Frances is a religious woman who balances her faith in God with her indigenous Xhosa faith. She is protective of Trevor, whom she treats differently because she is afraid of losing him. For example, she forces Trevor to remain hidden inside the house during apartheid because he is mixed-race. While Trevor is stubborn and does not understand her over-protectiveness growing up, he later realizes that it came out of love.

Frances has a rather tense relationship with her daughter, Patricia, who lives away from her for twelve years. When Patricia returns home, Frances insists that Patricia’s money goes to the family, which prompts her daughter to leave home for good. When Patricia wants to escape her abusive marriage, Frances convinces her to stay: “her argument was basically, ‘All men do it.’ My grandfather, Temperance, had hit her” (Chapter 18, p. 253). 

Temperance Noah

Temperance Noah is Trevor’s grandfather. He is divorced from Frances and has remar...