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Tsotsi Chapter AnalysisCHAPTER 1-3
Critical Issues (Chapter 1 -3)
1. Assess the characters of the four gang members. How does the writer reveal character?
2. Tension leading up to the murder of Gumboot Dhlamini – techniques used by the writer to
create and relieve tension.
3. Relationship between Tsotsi and Boston. What are Boston’s feelings towards Tsotsi? Why
does Tsotsi beat up Boston violently?
4. The theme of decency. What does Boston mean when he uses the word “decency”? Why is
Tsotsi unable to understand what it means to be decent?
5. Tsotsi’s actions soon after he beats Boston. Why does Tsotsi run when he leaves Soekie’s?
Comment on his thoughts as he sits beneath the trees. Critically analyse the spider
anecdote.
6. The brief interlude with the woman with the box. Tsotsi thinks about raping the woman but
eventually doesn’t – why doesn’t he attack the woman?
Analysis
Characterisation
Their actions, thoughts and what they say reveal a great deal about the characters of the four
gang members.
Tsotsi is the least communicative but most contemplative – there is a quiet assurance about him.
He knows that he is feared and loathed, but this gives him a sense of satisfaction as he realises,
he has power over those around him. He makes the decisions for the gang. His thoughts about
the other gang members reveal his feelings towards them. “You I can trust…smile hides fear.”
p.7.
Butcher is described as ruthless and dangerous – “small, dangerous eyes…but with impatience”
p.6. Tsotsi’s thoughts about Butcher reveal that he cannot be trusted and that he hates Tsotsi
(hates him perhaps because of Tsotsi’s position of leadership and the power that Tsotsi has over
him).
Boston is the most sensitive of the four. He is the most civilised and has a keen sense of decency
– he is opposed to violence and murder. He tries to delay the gang from going on their usual
spree of robbery and violence – note: “Why?” he asked and played…hands…Sometimes you
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,pick one and he’s got nothing.” p.7 Boston also gets physically sick after the murder of
Gumboot.
Die Aap, as his name suggests, is not of first-rate intelligence. He is powerfully built and
perhaps stronger than two men put together but can be manipulated easily because of his lack of
intelligence and that’s why Tsotsi trusts him completely.
Control of tension
There are two distinct periods in the first chapter where tension is generated. The first when the
gang members are walking through the township to the train station. Their intentions, it seems,
are very clear to other residents of the township. The mothers pull their children indoors and
there are anxious stares from windows. The street becomes silent and deserted. This being a
Friday – payday – there is obvious anxiety over the safety of husbands returning home from
work with their pay packets. The next period of tension is the moment before the murder of
Gumboot – the writer plays out the scene where he zooms in on the three mistakes that cost
Gumboot his life. Tension is relieved when the writer flashes back to Gumboot leaving his home
for the goldfields p.9 and the description of the train pulling into the station after Gumboot’s
murder p.12/13.
Relationship between Boston and Tsotsi
We are told in chapter two that Tsotsi hated being asked questions and Boston asked him a lot
of questions. Why does he not like to be asked questions? Boston’s questions force Tsotsi to
recall his past which he does not want to remember – as long as he submerges his memories he
is at ease.
Boston also taunts him about his lack of decency. Tsotsi beats Boston not because Boston had
done something wrong but because Boston makes him confront the wrong that he has done,
and also makes him aware of his pitiful lack of human identity and glaring lack of decent
human values.
Theme of Decency
Boston has a keen sense of what decent human behaviour means and is therefore repelled by
the mindless violence perpetrated by the gang. He is deeply affected by the murder of Gumboot
which makes him physically and emotionally sick – he vomits in the gutter and ponders over
what they had done when they are drinking at Soekie’s. The murder as well as the rape of the
drunken Rosie prompts Boston to question the gang’s lack of decency and particularly Tsotsi’s
inability to understand what decency means. This, in a sense, is a foreshadowing of Tsotsi’s
moral growth later in the novel when he begins to learn to behave in a decent way and when he
seeks out Boston to question him about moral issues.
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, Tsotsi’s thoughts and actions after beating Boston
Tsotsi runs after he leaves Soekie’s because in a sense he wants to run away from Boston’s
words “Your folks Tsotsi…a dog” p.23/ “You must a soul…got a soul!” p.23 “One day..that
day” p.27 – words that dredge up his sordid childhood past, words that remind him of his lack
of humanity and decent human values. Tsotsi’s thoughts, as he sits under the trees, once again
dwell on Boston and his words and he begins to question why he had chosen Boston for the
gang – it soon becomes clear that Boston’s cleverness was why he was chosen – his penchant
for detail had saved the gang on many occasions but it was the same intellectualism which
results in Boston’s questions and stories (with morals) that Tsotsi resented. Tsotsi also had
irrational fears – the phobia for spiders for example. Why was he terrified of spiders? Did
spiders and their webs remind him of his own entrapment? Why did Tsotsi not help the
handcuffed man being led off by the policeman? This man, like Boston, reminded him of a past
he did not want to remember – the man called out his name, David.
Tsotsi and the woman
The meeting is a critical moment in the story – it marks the beginning of Tsotsi’s moral
transformation. Looking after the baby gives Tsotsi a sense of purpose and raises his moral
conscience. Tsotsi had every intention of attacking the woman, but she is saved by the box
and the crying baby inside it.
CHAPTER 4:
Critical Issues (Chapter 4)
1. Impact of Gangsterism on township residents
How is Cassim and is family affected by Tsotsi’s presence in the shop? What does the
following line reveal about the reaction of other residents to Tsotsi’s presence in their
midst: “On Fridays they opened up and made a path for him.” (p.39)
2. First turning point in the novel
Tsotsi is presented differently for the first time – he is not confident and cocksure
anymore. Provide evidence of this from this chapter. Provide evidence of Tsotsi becoming
more sensitive and responsible. What are the implications of Tsotsi consciously
attempting to remember his past? In this regard, discuss the link between the baby and the
“yellow bitch”.
3. Social inequalities in apartheid South Africa
How does the writer explore the unequal lives of blacks and whites in this chapter? What
are the links between apartheid and the story of Tsotsi?
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