Structure

Trevor Noah’s autobiography Born a Crime is divided into three parts and 18 chapters. Part I mainly focuses on Trevor’s childhood, Part II focuses on his teenage years, while Part III largely focuses on life after high school. The structure of the memoir is more or less chronological, as it begins with Trevor’s birth in 1984 and ends with events that took place when he was in his twenties. A few times, several chapters jump backward and forward in time and present events in a non-linear manner.

The autobiography mainly revolves around the adults who influenced his life the most – his mother, his father, and his stepfather. Trevor’s mother is described throughout the book, but Trevor mainly talks about her life before Abel in Chapter 5: The Second Girl, and about ...