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Mathabane’s Father (Jackson)
Mathabane, George, Florah, Merriam, and Linah’s mother. Mathabane’s mother does not share her husband’s devotion to tribalism, but since he owns her by tribal law, she follows his lead for much of their marriage. However, when she develops an interest in Christianity—despite her husband strictly forbidding it—Mathabane’s mother begins opposing his father more and more, challenging his opinions and authority. Mathabane’s mother is Mathabane’s strongest support throughout his upbringing, taking on extra work to fund his education since she never had the opportunity to learn herself. She states several times that she places all her hopes and dreams in Mathabane. Although Mathabane’s mother starts as a “nominal Christian” and maintains her belief in voodoo for her whole life, she becomes heavily invested in a local church and constantly tries to pull Mathabane into Christianity. Although Mathabane’s mother is proud of her son’s academic prowess, she does not understand the value of tennis, and remains skeptical that it will lead to anything good until he finally receives an athletic scholarship to an American college. Mathabane’s mother is the antithesis of his father: supportive rather than opposing, gentle rather than angry, and open to the possibility that some white people are kind rather than evil.
Mathabane’s Mother (Magdalene) Quotes in Kaffir Boy
The Kaffir Boy quotes below are all either spoken by Mathabane’s Mother (Magdalene) or refer to Mathabane’s Mother (Magdalene). 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:
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Chapter 7
Quotes
My father was now a completely changed man; so changed that he now began drinking and gambling excessively, and from time to time quarreling with my mother over money matters and over what he called my mother’s streak of insubordination not befitting “the woman he bought.” But he still tried, in his own way, to be a father and a husband.
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Chapter 10
Quotes
“You and Papa should not have had me. I’m not happy in this world.”
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Chapter 12
Quotes
As we had no nursery rhymes nor storybooks, and, besides, as no one in the house knew how to read, my mother’s stories served as a kind of library, a golden fountain of knowledge where we children learned about right and wrong, about good and evil.
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Chapter 21
Quotes
“Education will open doors where none seem to exist. It’ll make people talk to you, listen to you and help you; people who otherwise wouldn’t bother. It will make you soar, like a bird lifting up into the endless blue sky, and leave poverty, hunger, and suffering behind. […] Above all, it’ll make you a somebody in this world.”
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Chapter 36
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Worst of all, I found among members of some churches a readiness to accept their lot as God’s will, a willingness to disparage their own blackness and heritage as inferior to the white man’s Christianity, a readiness to give up fighting to make things just in this world, in the hope that God’s justice would prevail in the hereafter.
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Mathabane’s Mother (Magdalene) Quotes in Kaffir Boy
The Kaffir Boy quotes below are all either spoken by Mathabane’s Mother (Magdalene) or refer to Mathabane’s Mother (Magdalene). 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:
).
Chapter 7
Quotes
My father was now a completely changed man; so changed that he now began drinking and gambling excessively, and from time to time quarreling with my mother over money matters and over what he called my mother’s streak of insubordination not befitting “the woman he bought.” But he still tried, in his own way, to be a father and a husband.
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Chapter 10
Quotes
“You and Papa should not have had me. I’m not happy in this world.”
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Chapter 12
Quotes
As we had no nursery rhymes nor storybooks, and, besides, as no one in the house knew how to read, my mother’s stories served as a kind of library, a golden fountain of knowledge where we children learned about right and wrong, about good and evil.
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Chapter 21
Quotes
“Education will open doors where none seem to exist. It’ll make people talk to you, listen to you and help you; people who otherwise wouldn’t bother. It will make you soar, like a bird lifting up into the endless blue sky, and leave poverty, hunger, and suffering behind. […] Above all, it’ll make you a somebody in this world.”
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Chapter 36
Quotes
Worst of all, I found among members of some churches a readiness to accept their lot as God’s will, a willingness to disparage their own blackness and heritage as inferior to the white man’s Christianity, a readiness to give up fighting to make things just in this world, in the hope that God’s justice would prevail in the hereafter.
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