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Foreshadowing
Genre
Explanation and Analysis:
Tsotsi is both a colonial/postcolonial novel and an example of a trauma narrative. These two genres often coincide with each other, given the fact that many colonial or post-colonial novels deal primarily with the traumatic effects of imperialist violence and occupation. South African apartheid is a prominent example of colonial violence, fracturing society along racial lines. As such, a narrative like that of Tsotsi, which contends with apartheid, must also contend with colonialism's various traumas and after-effects, which continue to be felt even in modern South African society.
Tsotsi, while not the novel's sole narrator, is its most prominent protagonist. His story reflects on apartheid racism and trauma, a manifestation of the oft-heard phrase, "hurt people hurt people." Too traumatized by his mother's violent end, his eviction, and the indignities of being a Black South African under apartheid, Tsotsi seeks to erase the past, holding it at bay for as long as he can by spurning all human connection. He even resorts to violence himself as a way of coping, taking his anxieties and frustrations out on those weaker than him. Despite Tsotsi's protective veneer of masochism, he fails to prevent his trauma from resurfacing, repressing it until he cannot anymore—until memories emerge in disjointed fits and starts, as is characteristic of trauma narratives.
Related Themes:
