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Frances Noah, affectionately referred to as Gran, is Trevor’s grandmother on his mother’s side, and his description of her as the family matriarch seems particularly fitting given her commanding presence at home and in their community. With her sharp mind, warm heart, and unwavering belief in God, she manages to singlehandedly keep her family intact despite the hardships they face under apartheid. Frances’s resilience shines through in every story that Noah recounts about her, and as a result, she becomes an example for future generations. The fact that she must live in a crowded, two-room house in East Orlando, for example, does not prevent her from effectively organizing and managing the household. She confidently asserts her will in her personal life despite the government’s attempts to disempower women like her. In addition to maintaining a leadership role within her family, Frances also plays an important role in her community by hosting prayer meetings at her home. Giving her neighbors a space to come together and worship grants her a unique status and further emphasizes her identity as a caretaker.
Despite all of these positive attributes, Frances’s past is full of struggles which undoubtedly shape how she thinks and behaves throughout Trevor’s childhood. The tense cultural climate under apartheid frequently exacerbates the personal challenges she faces. The army, for example, forces her and her husband to relocate to Soweto where they soon divorce. Frances must also deal with the reality of raising a rebellious, tomboyish daughter, Trevor’s mother. The tension that builds between them during Patricia’s childhood, which pushes her to leave home at a young age, taints their relationship for many years. Although they gradually repair their bond when Patricia returns home to work as a secretary, the memories of being separated from her child stay with Frances for the rest of her life. This feeling, along with the knowledge of the government’s brutality under apartheid, influences the way she treats Trevor when he is young. She refuses to let him play outside with the other children, for example, out of fear that the police would abduct him for being mixed race. While Frances clearly loves her grandson and wants to protect him, her personal experiences under apartheid also contribute to the way in which she understands his racial identity. She is more lenient toward Trevor because, in her eyes, he is white, unlike the rest of their family. This attitude in turn impacts Trevor’s own self-perception as he grows up.
