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ENGLISH LITERATURE > Tsotsi Novel Notes > Flashcards

Tsotsi Novel Notes Flashcards

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1
Q

Why does Tsotsi target Gumboot?

A

He smiles, he has a flaming red tie and bought his ticket with money in a packe

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2
Q

Why did Boston feel so sick after the murder?

A

He tells the gang that unlike them, he felt sick because had decency.

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3
Q

Who is Cassim

A

He is the shop owner who sells Tsotsi condense milk in Chapter 4

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4
Q

What do we know about Tsotsi (chapter 1-4)

A

-He is the gang leader
-He is illiterate
-He doesn’t like being asked questions or talking about his personal life
-He has a mysterious past

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5
Q

Where does Tsotsi place the baby in Chapter 4

A

The ruins

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6
Q

Why is Gumboot’s funeral so significant?

A

Gumboot is buried as John Doe and his wife and family aren’t present at the funeral because they don’t even know he is dead. This links to the theme of Apartheid as a System since due to the fact that Gumboot is a black man, his death is never investigated and the police don’t put in an effort to find who he was in order to contact his family.

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7
Q

How is the gang dependent on Tsotsi?

A

In Chapter 5 when Boston wakes up, he finds Die Aap and Butcher and just waits around with them until Tsotsi comes so they can be told what to do. This proves their dependence on him since they have no direction without him.

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8
Q

What makes Tsotsi feel remorse for Morris?

A

Morris crawls around like the ‘yellow bitch’ did. Due to the yellow bitch’ significance

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9
Q

What is Tsotsi’s massive revelation when he is confronting Morris

A

He realises that nobody is forcing him to kill. He realises that for the first time he actually has a choice. It is an Alternative not imperative.

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10
Q

Where does Miriam live?

A

Waterworks Square

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11
Q

What happened to Tsotsi’s mum?

A

She was arrested and taken to prison. She likely got arrested unfairly during a police raid.

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12
Q

What did Tsotsi’s father do?

A

He was so furious about hearing about his wife being sent to prison that he kicked Tsotsi’s pregnant, childhood dog (the yellow bitch) to death. The dog gave birth to the puppies as she died and they died very quickly.

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13
Q

Who is Petah?

A

He was the leader of a gang of homeless children who stole and did crime in order to survive. Tsotsi met him and joined the gang after running away from home.

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14
Q

How did he get the name Tsotsi?

A

When he was shoplifting, a shop owner called him Tsotsi and he began identifying with this instead of David.

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15
Q

How did he get the name Tsotsi?

A

When he was shoplifting, a shop owner called him Tsotsi and he began identifying with this instead of David.

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16
Q

How does the baby help Tsotsi?

A

The baby acts as a catalyst and helps Tsotsi trigger his own memories as well as help Tsotsi to become softer and more caring

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17
Q

Why was Boston expelled from university?

A

He was accused of attempting a rape a female student. However, it was accidental

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18
Q

After coming to Johannesburg, how did Boston make a living?

A

He sold fake passport books.

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19
Q

What does Boston do after his last talk with Tsotsi?

A

He decides to go find his mother.

20
Q

Who is Isaiah?

A

An older, challenged man who works at the church Tsotsi goes to in Chapter 12

21
Q

What is Tsotsi’s full name?

A

David Mondondo

22
Q

How does Isiah work for God?

A

He believes that when he rings the church bells, all the people who believe in God are summoned for prayer.

23
Q

What is Tsotsi’s three most important rules

A

-Never ask questions
-He must always be able to see his knife
-Never disturb his inward darkness.

24
Q

What does Miriam symbolise?

A

Miriam represents all the women and mothers who have been abandoned or taken away from their husbands. She represents characters like Gumboot’s wife who has to assume their husbands are dead without any proof.

25
Q

What does the baby represent?

A

Kindness, innocence and hope.

26
Q

Why is Butcher called ‘Butcher’

A

He is a skilled killer who never misses a shot. This is revealed in Chapter

27
Q

Why is Die Aap called ‘Die Aap’?

A

He has big and long arms

28
Q

Why is Die Aap called ‘Die Aap’?

A

He has big and long arms

29
Q

Apartheid as a system

A

-Leads to the divide
-Leads to the life of crime and poverty of Tsotsi and his community
-No choice but to resort to crime.
-Forced to life this harsh lifestyle
-Apartheid is the reason why Tsotsi is the way he is.
-His mother was taken by Apartheid

30
Q

Redemption as Mercy

A

Morris receives Mercy from Tsotsi
Tsotsi learns he doesn’t actually have to kill

31
Q

Decency

A

-Boston believes in decency (moral compass/ground)
-Struggles with violent attacks due to this
-Tsotsi doesn’t understand decency in the beginning
-Gumboot’s decency got him killed
-Baby helps Tsotsi to become more decent
-Miriam brings medicine for the baby

32
Q

Abandonment

A

-The baby is abandoned and left in Tsotsi’s care
-Tsotsi is abandoned by his mother + gran+ father
-Morris abandons his dignity
-The gang disbanding
-Tsotsi abandoning his old identity
-Miriam will be abandoned by Tsotsi

33
Q

Fear

A

-Living in fear
-Tsotsi fears nothingness, his father, his past
-Miriam fears for her child
-Community fearing for gang

34
Q

Hope

A

-Colour of white: hope, goodness, ‘the linen’
-Hope baby will help Tsotsi recover from past
-Hope of Tsotsi’s mother returning when he was a child
-Hope Morris will become less pessimistic

35
Q

Guilt

A

-Guilt of killing victims
-Guilt Tsotsi develops
-Boston guilt for the murder of Gumboot
-Aap, Butcher and Tsotsi feeling no guilt
-Baby’s mother abandoning him
-Boston feels guilty for lying to his mother

36
Q

Identity

A

-Tsotsi’s main objective is find and figure out his true identity
-He gives baby an identity
-Refering to himself as David in the end

37
Q

Poverty, Crime and Violence

A

-Tsotsi and his gang are all round gangsters and criminals
-They commit crimes to help them survive
-Gumboot is proof that poverty is inescapable under Apartheid

38
Q

The Baby (symbol)

A

-Acts as a trigger for Tsotsi’s memories
-Teaches Tsotsi who really is
-Teaches Tsotsi decency
-Causes Miriam to handle and accept her husband’s death
-Reminds Tsotsi of his own childhood.

39
Q

The Yellow Bitch

A

-A part of Tsotsi’s childhood
- Reason why Morris wasn’t killed
-Painful memory
-Refers to Tsotsi’s childhood pet
-Dog was killed

40
Q

The Ruins

A

-Part of Apartheid regime
-Both Tsotsi and the baby die there
-Where Tsotsi takes the baby
-Taking and rebuilding of identity

41
Q

Water

A

-Relief from heat and thirst
-Waterworks used to demonstrate desperation under Apartheid due to water scarcity

42
Q

Light and Dark

A

When we first meet Tsotsi, the sun is going down and an encroaching darkness is spreading as the gang makes its way to the station on a “job”. But while the gang uses night-time darkness to cloak crimes there is also an inner darkness that Tsotsi maintains through strict rules: for example, “never to disturb his inward darkness with the light of a thought about himself or the attempt at a memory”.

43
Q

Watching (motifs)

A

-Tsotsi is always watching people
-Way of him staying in control
-Almost spotting his prey

44
Q

Survival

A

-Tsotsi and his gang commit crime to survive
-Life about surviving, not enjoying
-Tsotsi has rules set in his life to raise his chance of survival
-Learnt to survive within the River Gang
-Morris surviving as a cripple

45
Q

Conflict

A

-Tsotsi is in conflict with himself
-There is conflict in the gang between Tsotsi and Boston
-Gang involved win constant conflict
- Yellow bitch memory creates conflict within Tsotsi

46
Q

Redemption

A

-The baby becomes a catalyst to Tsotsi’s memories
-Boston, Morris and Tsotsi need redemption
-Tsotsi naming the baby

ENGLISH LITERATURE (1 decks)

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