The ending of Kaffir Boy is actually the beginning of Mark's life in America. As he says goodbye to his family, and to Alexandra, he realizes that although he's leaving, South Africa will always be with him. Yet when his mother shushes his crying sister by saying that Mark would return soon, Mark wonders if that's true. He wants to turn around and go back, but he doesn't. Instead, he embraces his future, his destiny, in the place he's dreamed about for so many years. Though we don't know what he'll face in America, or who he'll become, we know that the future holds more hope and potential than the past held.