Chapter 1
- Tsotsi Novel Essay
- Tsotsi Novel Characters
- Tsotsi Novel Summary
- Tsotsi Novel Study Guide
- Tsotsi Novel Analysis
- Tsotsi Novel Notes
The gang is sitting around a table. Tsotsi is the leader of the group. Boston is telling stories and talking nonstop. Die Aap and Butcher listen to Boston as they drink their beers. Tsotsi folds his hands together and everyone stops what they are doing. Tsotsi tells the gang that they will take one on the train. They walk through the town and are avoided by everyone. The boys victim is Gumboot Dhlamini. He is a hardworking, larger man. Almost a year has passed since Gumboot has left his pregnant wife for work, and he is excited to return home to write her a letter which will inform her that he will be returning home in a week. The man makes three mistakes: he smiles at Tsotsi, he is wearing a bright red tie which makes him easy to follow and he exposes his pay packet to everyone. On the train Die Aap grabs Gumboots arms. Butcher works a bicycle spoke up his heart before he even realizes that he cannot move his arms. Boston grabs Gumboots pay packet and they exit the train before anyone notices what has happened.
Chapter 2
Discuss how tsotsi. Morris tshabalala and the baby all embody the struggle to survive May 22, 2019 10:11 PM By: keanuadams11 2 Answers. The novel Tsotsi, by Athol Fugard, is a story of redemption and reconciliation, facing the past, and confronts the core elements of human nature. The character going through this journey, who the novel is named after, is a young man who is part of the lowest level of society in a poor shanty town in South Africa.
We find the gang drinking, laughing and enjoying themselves at a girl named Soekie’s house. Butcher is drinking at a much faster rate than anyone else. In the corner of the room, a friend of Soekie named Rosie is sitting passed out. Butcher and Die Aap are attracted to her and begin to mess around with her. Tsotsi has no problem with what the other boys are doing, but Boston finds their lack of decency sickening. Boston and Die Aap eventually take Rosie outside and rape her.
Chapter 4
Tsotsi’s first problem is to find milk for the baby. He goes to Cassim’s shop where we learn that Tsotsi can not read, this leads to him being fooled into thinking condensed milk is breast milk for the child. After going back to his room and cleaning and feeding the baby he decides to go hide the child in an abandoned building. That night Tsotsi has a flashback of the “yellow bitch”.
Chapter 5
The novel slows down in chapter five as Gumbot is buried and Tsotsi, Butcher and Die Aap sit around in Tsotsi’s room waiting to see if Boston will show. After coming to the conclusion that Boston is not coming Tsotsi decides they will go to the city.
Chapter 6
As Tsotsi and the gang make it to the city they go out to find their next target. Tsotsi soon loses them in the crowd of people at terminal place, although as he is lost he finds his next target; Morris Tshabalala. Morris continues on with his day but soon notices he is being followed by Tsotsi. The chapter ends with Morris looking back only to see Tsotsi vanish into the shadows.
Chapter 7
Stepping on Morris-the cripples- hand he draws back memories of his childhood. Remembering a yellow bitch, a dog, crawling towards him just as Morris crawls now. The similarities are striking calling back the memory with great pain. This intrigues Tsotsi and he continues to follow the man through the crowded area observing without being observed. Tsotsi follows the cripple out f Terminal Place and into the twilight. He is both frightened and intrigued by what lies before him, wishing to again have his memory jolted but knowing it is against everything he has stood for. As Tsotsi continues to follow the beggar he notice many details: the speed with which the cripple tries to get away, his grunts of effort as he pushes onwards with his arms, even the fear in the way he moves. This all means nothing to the old Tsotsi but something in him has changed. He feels for the man, feels sympathy. He continues to follow Morris as he makes his way from street to street stopping only when tired or briefly to eat at the Bantu Eating House. Finally the two are alone and Tsotsi realizes it is time to do the only thing he knows-kill. He must kill the beggar. He approaches and caught in the light cast from the lamp overhead the beggar faces his follower. Tsotsi talks to the man about his life, how he lost his legs, why he wishes to live and for the first time realizes killing is a choice. This time he chooses to let the beggar live.
Chapter 9
A flashback to his childhood, his mom and grandma chatting, the news his father will finally return home and then the pain he recalls the night his mother was taken from him-the last night before the return of his father. The suddenness with which it happens is the most shocking to David and when his grandmother learns of her disappearance she sets off to find her. Young David is left to fend for himself. His father returns but David cannot bear the burden and hides as to not be seen. The father returns to the empty house and is angry kicking and breaking the dogs back. Now David is truly alone but is picked up by 7 others in a similar situation. Petah is the leader of the gang. They take him in, feed him, and allow him to sleep in the pipes by the river ith them. As he learns to fend for himself he leaves the pain of the past behind even ridding himself of his forer name, deeming himself Tsotsi-gangster. He begins to develop a set of rules that take him down his future path.
Chapter 8
Church bells toll. Tsotsi returns to the ruins to check on the baby only to see that the condensed milk has attracted ants. He fears for the baby and rids it of the ants, cleaning the baby and realizing condensed milk is no longer an option. He returns to his room with a plan in mind. He shall wait. Just out the window of Tsotsis home lays what is known as Water Works Square. The only area in the area with readily available drinking water. The citizen’s line up for miles waiting to collect their water. He waits until s3eeing a young woman with a baby. She will have milk, although he doesn’t know it her name is Miriam. He waits until she leaves following her home and waiting until she is comfortably inside before knocking and before she can comprehend what is about to happen he has snuck inside. He demands she feed the baby, she begins to unbutton her shirt and the feeding begins…
Tsotsi Novel Essay
Chapter 10
The book starts off at Tsotsi’s house when Die Aap comes over. Tsotsi has to hide the baby under his bed. The gang ends and tsotsi explains that to die aap. Then after Miriam comes to tsotsi’s room and helps take care of David, because he needs mother’s milk. After she left, tsotsi took David to the ruins and hid him there.
Chapter 11
Tsotsi goes back to where he left Boston after he beat him up, and takes him back to his room and takes care of him. Once Boston wakes up he talks to tsotsi then runs away. While they are talking tsotsi explains how the gang is over.
Chapter 12
Isaiah was planting plants in the church garden, trying to keep the rows straight. Then talked to father ramsy, and he told Isaiah he could ring the church bell tonight 10 mins before seven o’clock. Isaiah the talked to tsotsi and told him about god. Tsotsi then takes David back to Miriam so she can feed him and then brings him back to the ruins. After he leaves
David at the ruins he hears the bulldozers coming and rushes back in attempt to save him. He is not quick enough though and gets crushed, along with David. A wall collapsed on them and when they cleared the rubble he had the biggest smile on his face that anyone has ever seen.
Chapter 1
Tsotsi, Boston, Butcher and Die Aap sit around the Tsotsi’s room drinking beer in silence, waiting for him to specify what job they will do that night. Tsotsi decides they will head to the train station where their unsuspecting victim, Gumboot Ghalimini, begins to head home to his wife. Tsotsi targeted Gumboot for three reasons: he smiled, he wore a flaming red tie, and he bought his ticket with money from his pay packet. After everyone does their part in the murder and robbery they leave gumboots lifeless body on the train to be discovered by the other passengers.
Chapter 2
Tsotsi, Butcher, Boston, and Die Aap head to Soekie’s house after the murder to have a few drinks. As they start drinking they begin to talk about Boston getting sick and throwing up during the murder of Gumboot. Boston claims that the only reason he got sick and the others didn’t was because he has decency unlike the rest of them. As the conversation advances Die Aap and butcher take Rosie, a girl who was also in Soekie’s house, outside to rape her. When the others leave Boston begins to question Tsotsi about what he feels. This breaks one of Tsotsi’s rules: never ask questions. Tsotsi begins to get irritated by all the questions about Tsotsi’s personal life. Tsotsi eventually has enough and brutally beats Boston leaving him in Soekie’s place beaten half to death.
Chapter 3
After beating Boston, Tsotsi leaves the she been and takes a walk through the street. As he walks he begins to have a flashback, he sees a boy named Petah being taken away by the police, as he is being taken away he looks down the street and recognizes Tsotsi as David, his name before he changed it to Tsotsi. Tsotsi does not acknowledge the fact that Petah recognized him and just continues his game of dice. As Tsotsi lay under a tree he begins to hear what he recognizes as footsteps, as he hears them come closer and closer he moves to get a better vantage point and sees a young woman as. As he studied her more he began to recognize the symptoms of fear and sees that she was carrying a small parcel and kept checking over her shoulder. Tsotsi grabs her by one arm and swings her into the darkness of the trees, as he pins her against the tree she takes the parcel and thrusts it into the hands of Tsotsi and runs off. The lid slips off and Tsotsi finds himself looking at the face of a young baby boy.
Chapter 4
Tsotsi heads straight to Cassim’s shop in search of milk for the baby, before he gets courage to go up and talk to Cassim he exits and renters the store multiple times waiting for it to empty. Nervously Cassim sends his wife into the back room to round up their children in case Tsotsi tries to mug them, Tsotsi goes up to the counter and asked to buy some milk. After buying the condensed milk Tsotsi takes the baby back to his room to clean it and feed it, after the baby is all clean and fed he takes him to the ruins to hide him. After hiding the baby in the ruins Tsotsi begins to remember the “yellow bitch,” the dog that he had when he was a kid. Tsotsi just broke one of his three rules: never ask questions about the past.
Chapter 5
Gumboot Dhlamini is buried and the pastor who is doing his burial is sorely troubled after burying another man whose name no one knows. Boston awakes from his state of unconsciousness and moves for the first time in almost a day. Butcher and Die Aap begin to talk about Tsotsi beating Boston and begin to wonder what the future holds for their gang. Tsotsi, Butcher and Die Aap find each other and begin to do what they do on any other night, sit around and drink waiting for Tsotsi to make the decision of what job they will do. Without Boston’s stories conversation ended rather quickly and Tsotsi decides they will head into the city tonight.
Chapter 6
Tsotsi, Butcher, and Die Aap wait for the shadows to become long enough so that when they are they can head to terminal place. When they get to terminal place Tsotsi steps on Morris Tshabalala’s – a crippled man who lost his legs in a work accident – hand and decides that he will be his target tonight. As Morris continues on his way home he realizes that Tsotsi is following him, he hopes that if he continues on his way he will lose Tsotsi before he has to go through the dark part of his journey. He stops for some food at the Bantu house and then continues on his way. As he gets to the dark part of his journey he realizes that even though he feels like a “half-man” he does want to live. He leaves his money in a pile underneath a light hoping Tsotsi would just take the money and leave him alone. When Tsotsi kicks the money and continues walking towards Morris he begins to throw rocks and shout insults in order to defend himself.
Chapter 7
Tsotsi Novel Characters
As Tsotsi followed Morris he began to realize that he crawls like the “yellow bitch” used to, dragging his body around since he doesn’t have any legs. Tsotsi confronts Morris in the street and tells him that he feels for him, after he does this Morris tells him why he wants to live. After he tells Tsotsi all the reasons he wants to live he confronts him about why Tsotsi has to kill him. Tsotsi then realizes that he doesn’t have to kill him and that it’s he is able to choose to let him live. Tsotsi then decides he will find out who he is and what happened in his past.
Chapter 8
Boston awakes to the sound of church bells begins to think about his faith in God. Tsotsi returns to the ruins to find the baby covered head to toe in ants and instead of leaving it he cleans the ants off the baby. We then are taken to Waterworks square where a young mother by the name of Miriam Ngidi waits in the long line to get to the tap. Miriam is a single mother because one day her husband, Simon, left and never returned. Tsotsi takes her to his room and forces her to feed the baby. Miriam feeds and cleans off the baby.
Tsotsi Novel Summary
Chapter 9
Tsotsi begins to remember his past, he begins to see his old home and how happy he was living with his mother. Eventually the flashback leads him to the events that happened on the day that his mother was taken to jail. As he father returns after being away from the family for a long time he becomes furious when he finds out his wife has been taken to prison. During the outrage the father kicks the dog breaking its back, the dog then gives birth to a litter of pups who soon die. David then runs away from home where he is welcomed to the river gang which is lead buy a boy named Petah. He then decides to abandon his identity and start his life under the new name Tsotsi.
Chapter 10
Die Aap visits Tsotsi to ask about the next job, Tsotsi tells him that the gang has been disbanded and that he would no longer be doing the jobs that they used to. Die Aap leaves after him and Tsotsi hear the baby cry. Tsotsi then takes out the baby; staring at it he finally realizes that the baby is helping him remember his past. Miriam comes to Tsotsi’s room to feed the baby and later asked Tsotsi if she can have him because she would be able to take care of him best. Tsotsi won’t let her take the baby because he is Tsotsi’s baby. Tsotsi tells Miriam that the babies name was David and that he was notches father but David belonged to him. Miriam leaves and gives Tsotsi some milk for the baby, Tsotsi takes David back to the ruins and begins to wonder where Boston was and leaves to go and find him.
Tsotsi Novel Study Guide
Chapter 11
Tsotsi eventually finds Boston passed out of the floor of a bar. Tsotsi helps him up and carries him back to his house to take care of him. Fugard begins to reveal to us the life that Boston has lead, how he was mistakenly expelled from college, how he illegally sold fake passbooks to people and then how a guy as smart as he became a part of the gang. As Boston awakes Tsotsi begins to tell him about his experience with Morris and asks him questions about how he is changing. Boston tells him that they are all sick of life and seek God. Boston then leaves in search of his mother.
Tsotsi Novel Analysis
Chapter 12
Tsotsi Novel Notes
Isaiah sits in the church garden planting flowers where Tsotsi, who was on his way to seek redemption from God, finds him he explains how he works for God and that when he rings the church bell it calls to all the other people who believe in god and invites him back next time the bells ring to find God. Tsotsi then finds Miriam again to feed the baby. As she feeds the baby Tsotsi realizes that mothers really do love their children and that in order for you to move into the future you have to let your past go. Miriam then asks him to let her have the baby again but, he does not leave the baby with her because he doesn’t quite trust her yet. After he goes to church Tsotsi then decides that he will go back to his childhood name, David Mondondo. As he heads back to the ruins he hears bulldozers taking down the walls, he runs into the building only focused on one thing, finding the baby. He runs straight to the corner where the baby lay, where he and the baby would be crushed by the ceiling. The workers who recover his body minutes later agree that his smile was beautiful and strange for a Tsotsi.