In the novel The Smell of Apples, written by Mark Behr, Behr uses a first-person perspective through the main character Marnus, an eleven-year-old boy. The book uses a first-person narrative, through Marnus, to convey both the events of when he was older and fighting as a soldier in the war, and the current events of his life in 1973 as an eleven-year-old boy. As he recounts his life as an 11-year-old, he is what Daniel Lehman calls a "naive narrator." Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay A “naïve narrator” is when the narrator of the story is a child or young adult, who is immature in the way they think and relate events. The narrator is often easily influenced by those around them and their thoughts, and the way they speak or narrate often shows the opinions and influences of the other characters around them. Marnus is a naive narrator because he is often influenced by his parents' views on race, a controversial topic in South Africa at the time, and Behr uses Marnus' narration to both reveal and criticize racial stereotypes in the novel. Both Marnus' mother, Leonore, and father, Johan, are racist, viewing black people and black people as inferior to them, and projecting these views onto Marnus and his sister, Ilse. Therefore, we can see these racial stereotypes in Marnus' narrative. Behr reveals Marnus' views on race by showing that Marnus has a generalized view of black people and their actions and morals. “All the Coloreds live on the Cape Flats and on the weekends they get drunk and then kill and rape each other” (Behr 32). Marnus also generalizes the Colored as “thugs” who create “wild deeds” (Behr 32). These stereotypes are false and demeaning to most Coloreds, as only a select few commit such crimes and act in such an uncivilized manner, however, this has no connection to their race. Behr uses these generalizations to highlight and critique how such generalizations were widely discussed and taught and how they added to the racist stereotypes that existed at the time. It shows how society has used the actions of some to justify its own racist generalizations and opinions. These stereotypes paint non-whites in a bad light and show how non-whites have been criminalized “More often they are criminals who will never see heaven” (Behr 19) and often accused of crimes they did not commit due to their race. “Since Chrisjan liked to fish, mom immediately realized that he must have stolen our stuff. Mom says Colored are just like that. You can never trust them” (Behr 19). This criticizes society as a whole as a generalized race and reveals that since they were considered inferior to whites, then they automatically were poor and had to commit crimes and live immoral lifestyles. Behr criticizes racial stereotypes by highlighting how irrational some stereotypes are. . Marnus tells Frikkie that the general is half Spanish and half Indian, to which Frikkie replies that if he is Indian, that therefore makes him a half-breed. “I wonder if he is some kind of Spaniard, because his skin is so dark and his hair and mustache are almost pitch black” (Behr 37). Marnus says you have to have "true black blood" to be a half-breed. Even though Mr Smith is visually dark-skinned, Marnus does not think he is half-breed because he is not a typical South African half-breed. He's not half black; therefore, it is not considered inferior like other South African colours. Marnus sincerely believes that the difference between.