Kaffir Boy: Chapter 50 Summary & Analysis

Mathabane is nervous during the first qualifying match of the SAB Open and loses due to foolish mistakes. The spectators sympathetically tell Mathabane that he played well, but he is crushed. He keeps going to the tournament to see others play, but on the way home afternoon, he sees in the paper that the black tennis leagues banned him for life. Mathabane approaches Owen Williams about joining a club, but Williams tells him to wait until after the SAB Open, and Mathabane wonders if Williams will go back on his word.

One afternoon, when Mathabane is feeling particularly listless, he watches Stan Smith and Bob Lutz—the best tennis doubles team in the world—practice together. Bob Lutz decides he’s done for the day, but Stan asks Mathabane if he wants to play awhile. Mathabane is thrilled and volleys with Stan while Stan gives him advice from across the net. A crowd of people gather to watch. When they are finished, several young people ask Mathabane for his autograph.

Stan and his wife, Marjory, invite Mathabane to join them in the Players’ Lounge, and speak animatedly with him while they walk, asking questions about his life and family and goals. At the lounge, which is full of white wealthy people, Stan and Marjory introduce Mathabane as their personal friend. Marjory asks many questions about apartheid and how it holds black people back so effectively. Mathabane tells her about the anger, frustration, and self-hatred that arises from being treated as sub-humans for decades.

Mathabane feels “uplifted” after he parts with Stan and Marjory, and spends the next several days with them and their friends. When the tournament ends and they prepare to leave for America, Mathabane cries at the thought of losing such good friends. Stan and Marjory promise to write, and Stan says he’ll try to connect Mathabane with some schools that offer tennis scholarships in America. Stan tells Mathabane that it would be good for him to have more competitive experience in the meantime, so he coordinates with Owen Williams to have Mathabane entered into a national series called the Sugar Circuit. Stan pays for all of Mathabane’s tournament expenses. The sum is more than Mathabane’s father could make in a year, and it emphasizes the many advantages white athletes have over black athletes. Nevertheless, Mathabane is thankful.