Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Tsotsi, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Apartheid and Racism
Parents and Children
Identity and Memory
Hatred, Sympathy, and God
Habit vs. Choice
Summary
Analysis
Tsotsi wakes to knocking on his door and “instinctively” reaches for his knife. Without grabbing it, he has another idea and checks for the baby at the foot of the bed. He hears knocking again and thinks perhaps Miriam has come back—but wonders why she would. He grabs his knife, and instead of comforting him, it triggers memories of the children by the river, Petah, and his mother.
Earlier in the novel, the reader learned that Tsotsi always grabs his knife and tests its sharpness as soon as he wakes up, as a way of clearing his mind and maintaining his stereotyped “gangster” identity. Here, Tsotsi breaks that habit: rather than picking up the knife, he checks on the baby first, which suggests that his parental role is becoming more important to him that his stereotyped “gangster” identity. When he does eventually grab the knife, meanwhile, it no longer clears his mind. Instead, it makes him remember the events that led to him becoming “Tsotsi.” By reclaiming his memories, Tsotsi is moving further from the “tsotsi” stereotype and becoming more aware of himself as a unique individual with a particular past.
Themes
The knocking continues, so Tsotsi asks who it is. Die Aap calls out, asking for Tsotsi. Tsotsi puts the baby under the bed, opens the door, and asks what time it is. Die Aap tells him it’s morning. Tsotsi asks what he wants, and Die Aap points out he always shows up at Tsotsi’s. Tsotsi tells him not to and shuts the door.
Whereas Tsotsi is breaking with old habits, Die Aap is sticking to them: he shows up at Tsotsi’s just because he always does. In telling Die Aap to go away, Tsotsi is rejecting Die Aap’s way of living according to habit.
Themes
Through the window, Die Aap asks why. Tsotsi thinks about his memories, especially his mother, whom he considers “the beginning of himself.” He says “my mother” out loud. Die Aap, surprised at the idea of Tsotsi’s mother, mentions his own mother is dead. Tsotsi is struck that every person, including Boston, Die Aap, and Butcher, has a mother. He asks where Butcher is, and Die Aap replies that Butcher isn’t coming. Tsotsi ponders what this means. If the gang is over, will Tsotsi join another one, as he has since childhood?
Tsotsi considers his mother “the beginning of himself,” which illustrates both how important parents are to their children’s identities and how traumatic losing his mother was for Tsotsi specifically—it led to him embracing the “tsotsi” identity that he’s now struggling to discard. Much like Tsotsi’s earlier recognition that his reflection could be that of any man, his revelation here that every person has a mother shows he’s coming to appreciate the common humanity of all individuals. Yet he and Die Aap are both surprised at the idea that the other had a mother—hinting that up to this point, neither one has fully perceived the other’s humanity. Finally, when Tsotsi wonders whether he’ll join another gang, it suggests that while he is breaking with his old “gangster” habits, he does not yet feel fully free of them.
Themes
Die Aap explains Butcher is angry that Tsotsi had “done a job alone” and, though he and Die Aap came back to Tsotsi’s room twice after that, once Tsotsi wasn’t there and once he was with a woman. Tsotsi asks, “So what?” Die Aap says Butcher has joined another gang led by a man named Buster, and Tsotsi asks why Die Aap didn’t join too. Die Aap points out that he’s been in a gang with Tsotsi for two years. Tsotsi is baffled that Die Aap has been following him for that long.
Butcher is angry that Tsotsi “done a job alone”—in other words, he believes that Tsotsi killed Morris Tshabalala when the gang went to the city and resents that he didn’t get to participate in the murder. This detail reveals Butcher’s sadism. By contrast, Die Aap’s return to Tsotsi reveals Die Aap’s loyalty but also his tendency to get stuck in habits.
Themes
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Die Aap begins to suggest that he and Tsotsi reform the gang with new members when the baby under the bed begins to cry. When Die Aap notices Tsotsi isn’t reacting to the noise, Die Aap pretends not to hear it. Meanwhile, Tsotsi is thinking: “start again, since the river…but what about the river?” The baby stops crying. Tsotsi tells Die Aap they aren’t going to reform the gang, which is “finished.” Die Aap asks Tsotsi what he should do. Tsotsi tells him to leave. They stare at each other, and then Die Aap exits.
At this moment, Tsotsi both recalls the beginning of his career in gangs—which has been his lifestyle “since the river”—and decides that career is “finished.” Since Tsotsi remembering how he became a gang member and deciding to stop being a gang member coincide, the novel suggests that to change one’s habits or pattern of life, a person has to remember and understand how they got to where they are.
Themes
From the window, Tsotsi watches Die Aap leave. He wonders what he himself meant by saying the gang was “finished” and thinks disjointed thoughts about Boston and his own life before the river. When the baby resumes crying, Tsotsi fetches him from under the bed and feels his “reality,” in contrast with his own memories’ unreality. He has begun to associate the baby with David—that is, with himself as a child—and feels sorry for the baby because he believes the baby will experience the terrible events that he himself did. He thinks that if the baby dies, he’ll have to shoulder the burden of his memories by himself. He calls the baby “David” and says he’s going to fetch “mother’s milk” for him.
This passage reveals more of Tsotsi’s confused motives for taking care of the baby. The baby’s abandonment by his mother reminded Tsotsi of his childhood separation from his own mother. This connection makes Tsotsi think of his adopted baby as an extension of himself; he not only sympathizes with the baby but identifies with him. Yet the baby possesses “reality,” whereas Tsotsi’s former self, David, no longer exists. Tsotsi may be caring for the baby, then, to make up for the care that he himself didn’t receive as a child.
Themes
Tsotsi looks through his window for Miriam, who has gotten in line for the water tap. He sees her glance toward his room and speculates that it will be easier to persuade her to come with him this time, since she doesn’t seem scared. She gets water and begins walking away. Tsotsi notes her looks and posture in a way he didn’t before. He leaves his room and waits outside so she’ll spot him. Tsotsi tries to communicate through eye contact that he wants her help feeding the baby. She follows him back toward his room.
Instead of coercing Miriam to help him, Tsotsi appeals to her with his eyes. He also observes her more closely than he did previously. This close observation may suggest sexual attraction, but together with his more respectful treatment of Miriam, it also suggests that he is getting better at recognizing her as an individual with value—sympathizing with her, in other words.
Themes
Once inside, Tsotsi demands Miriam feed the baby. She balks in the doorway but then enters. When Miriam produces ointment for the baby’s mouth, new clothes, and baby powder, Tsotsi realizes she was planning to come back. She begins to breastfeed the baby, which at first drinks milk but then refuses. Miriam tries to coax the baby to drink, asks his name, and suggests calling him Peter. Tsotsi says the baby is called “David.” Miriam asks whether Tsotsi is the father, but Tsotsi tells her David “never saw his father.”
Miriam’s decision to care for the baby above and beyond what Tsotsi has demanded of her hints that she regrets her earlier disgust with the baby and sympathizes with the baby’s situation. Although Tsotsi has been acting in a parental role toward the baby, he is not ready to claim the identity of “father.” His statement that David “never saw his father” betrays how closely he is currently identifying the baby with his memories of himself as a child.
Themes
The baby begins to breastfeed properly. Miriam asks Tsotsi to give her the baby so she can care for him. She offers to let Tsotsi visit and says the baby can play with her son. Tsotsi’s first impulse is to murder Miriam. He points out to himself that he bought the baby milk and killed the ants. Then he thinks about the river and how he used to play with other children in a derelict car.
That Tsotsi wants to kill Miriam when she offers to adopt the baby shows both how emotionally invested he is in the baby and how, when feeling threatened, he is still in danger of reverting to his old, violent patterns of behavior. When he reviews what he has done for the baby (buying the milk, killing the ants), he seems to be reassuring himself that he's an adequate parental stand-in. His intrusive memories of childhood imply that his identification of the baby with his childhood self, David, is motivating his behavior: he wants to care for the baby to compensate for the neglect and homelessness he experienced after his mother’s arrest.
Themes
Miriam tells Tsotsi that the baby is deathly ill. She wants to care for him because she shouldn’t have tried to refuse him milk before, and caring for him pleases her. Tsotsi thinks that the baby’s mother gave him to Tsotsi, and so the baby belongs to Tsotsi. Miriam tells Tsotsi that the previous night she was praying when a voice asked her why her prayer should be answered if she had “no milk for babies.” Tsotsi says aloud that the baby belongs to him. Miriam points out he isn’t the father. Tsotsi repeats that the baby belongs to him, and Miriam asks how he came to have the baby. He says the mother, without crying, put the baby in a box, gave the box to Tsotsi, and ran away into the night.
In previous moments, the novel has implied that religion is powerless to help the oppressed. In this passage, however, Miriam’s story suggests that religion can increase religious people’s sympathy for others. Before praying, Miriam wanted to reject the baby Tsotsi forced her to feed; due to her prayer—which a voice, which she presumably believes to be God’s, answered—she comes to sympathize with the baby and desires to save his life. The voice’s implication that being good means having “milk for babies” suggests that caring for children, regardless of one’s biological relationship with them, is the sign of a moral, sympathetic person.
Themes
Miriam demands the whole story, so Tsotsi tells her. She asks how long ago it happened. He tells her three days and explains some of what has happened since. She asks what Tsotsi plans to do with the baby, and Tsotsi says he’s going to keep him. She asks why. Tsotsi considers the question, thinking of the yellow dog and the connection he feels to the baby, and says he “must find out.” Miriam, unable to think clearly about this response, puts a milk bottle on the table, tells Tsotsi to feed the baby the next day, and announces she’ll come by. Then she leaves.
The novel doesn’t clarify what Tsotsi means when he says he “must find out,” but this passage does provide a clue. Immediately before he says it, he's thinking about the yellow dog—which represents the destruction of families by apartheid, in particular his own family’s destruction and his ensuing homelessness and gang involvement. He’s also thinking about the baby, whom he identifies with David, his childhood self. By caring for the baby, Tsotsi may be trying to find out what would have happened in his own childhood if he hadn’t been abandoned.
Themes
Tsotsi, periodically looking around to make sure Miriam isn’t tailing him, goes to hide the baby in the demolished ruins. Then he walks to the pipes down by the river. He finds the derelict car and takes it as proof that his memories are correct. Afterward, he runs back home and enters a shebeen to ask after Boston.
Despite Tsotsi’s sympathy for the baby, his identification with the baby and desire to keep the baby for himself make him act selfishly: after all, even if Tsotsi is now afraid Miriam will take the baby from him, the baby would be safer under Miriam’s supervision than alone among ruins. Tsotsi’s behavior here implies that identification is not always a positive force—it can also lead to questionable behavior.
Themes
