What is the author's (Trevor's) purpose in writing this chapter and telling this story?

Along with these personal lessons, Noah continues to grapple with his place in South African society as he grows older. Because Noah's persona and behavior are a combination of things he's learned from different communities, he signals himself as an outsider. As Deborah Posel explains, "While understood and represented as a biological phenomenon, 'race' was also crucially a judgment about social standing. Constructions of a person’s race were based as much on 'modes of living' as on physical appearance" (pg. 94). Noah's inability to fit neatly into understandings of how a person of a given race should behave means that he is often lonely. While being bullied by other children seems like mostly a personal loss, it offers another insight into how apartheid had a personal impact on the lives of all South Africans. In a society where fitting into racial categories is so important, being different is barely tolerated.