Chapters 15-16 Summary

Noah expands his CD business, branching out into video games as a middleman for Andrew, a white computer geek. When Andrew graduates, he gives his CD writer to Noah, changing his life. Noah is “a natural capitalist” who reinvests in his business, upgrading equipment and teaming up with his friend Bongani. He loves having money and especially loves spending it at McDonald’s. Noah begins gigging as a DJ, at Bongani’s urging, and soon his schedule is booked, which is good because there are no regular jobs available. He expands by adding dancers to his routine, and the best dancer is named Hitler, a “jellyfish [that] could walk on land.” Many kids have such names because Black people don’t really know who Hitler was, thanks to the low level of education given to Black people during apartheid. Noah meditates on how Africans cannot document their genocides because nobody counted the dead.

After graduation, Noah moves into his own flat because of his stepfather Abel’s violence. For the next couple of years, Noah works selling CDs with his friend Bongani in the “hood”—Alexandra, a densely packed town of shacks with no running water, sewage in the streets, crime, and constant noise. They branch out into payday loans and a pawnshop operation. Then a cop shoots Noah’s computer over a noise complaint, and they lose their main revenue generator. He also feels guilty when he is given a stolen camera to sell; its photos remind him that crime has victims. After he and his crew are arrested and released in a police bribery scheme, Noah realizes he can leave Alexandra behind, but his friends can’t.

Chapters 15-16 Analysis

In these chapters, Noah recounts how his life is changed by the gift of a CD writer from his white friend Andrew. Noah can suddenly be independent in a bootleg business because he has the right equipment. He makes the point that it isn’t only opportunity that underprivileged people need to get out of the poverty cycle, but physical resources. He thrives and expands the business, enjoying the freedom that money brings. Andrew empowers Noah to use his natural talents in a way that the education system and society have not.

The lack of education for Black people comes back to haunt Noah when he hires a dancer named Hitler for his DJ gigs. The gigs for Black people are not a problem, because most Black people in South Africa at that time don’t know the significance of the German dictator Adolf Hitler (1889-1945). When Noah gigs at a Jewish school, however, the reaction to the dancer Hitler is angry. The teenage Noah thinks it is because Hitler’s moves are inappropriate. As an adult, Noah can look back and understand that what happened was the result of centuries of state-sponsored racism.