Tsotsi Summary
Chapter one
● Sat in silence (wasn’t deliberate) ,because they didn’t have anything to talk about
● First the only silence was the pause between something said and the next remark but then
their words just grew little
● Only moved when they lift up a glass ,stretched,yawn or when one considered a womens
voice from the backyard
● Shadows long enough:dark enough
● The silence broke when Tsotsi (youngest of them all,said the least,listened to the others)
leaned forward with fingers interlocking in the manner of prayer(he told them what their job
would be for the night;ironic because one would think his about to pray but instead his signals
the start of violence)
● Takes place early afternoon in Tsotsi room with beer
● Boston was a teacher semi educated who always had a story to tell
● No one listened bec it wasn’t that important,it did however pass the last hour of the afternoon
● Idle hands:doing something you shouldn’t be doing
● Boston wears /needs glasses
● Die App-has long arms and his strong (based on his appearance),listener (attentively) hardly
asked questions(struggled to form sentences)oldest of them all
● Butcher:built like Tsotsi ,listened with impatience (sentences less then 10 words)his small
dangerous eyes is different to Tsotsi and pendulous lower lip,name =never missed his mark
● Butcher eyes hid
● Bostons eyes hid fear
● Die aaps face hid nothing
● Tsotsi said they take one on the trains
● Boston questioned (scared?)while the others agreed
● Butcher left last =fetched a bicycle spoke
● Description of township **
● Even older men moved for Tsotsi but he was fine with it
● The hate,whispers everything was for him
● They killed Gumboot Dhlamini(he smiled cause his work is coming to an end ,he’ll see his
wife in a weeks time, someone is coming to him to write a letter to his wife,wore a flaming red
tie with bolts of silver lighting and payed for his ticket with his pay packet)measured in
hope;his tall;he walked barefoot into the city to work for his pregnant wife ;Maxulu(she was
pregnant);found work on the mines in the city (he bought him a pair of shoes and wore them
again and again,then finally bought him a new pair of shoes)
, Chapter 2
● Drinking at Soekies place
● Tsosti hates Boston and his questions,moral and conscience and brutality beats him
● Butcher and Die Aap rape Rosie
● Had a table with chairs around it ,floorboards were rotten,light didn’t have
covering ,broken window
● Boston slaps the women to prove himself to the others ,eventually stops
● Butcher later looks at her because he wants to assault Rosie
● He hates Boston ( had something to do with why his reality is strange now)
● Bostons first question to tsotsi what is your real name
● Soekie is coloured,in fifties ,her mother didn’t love her (that’s why she lived in
township),wrote regularly to find out her birthdate,born in the best bed,in the
biggest house of the best European suburb
● Boston claims he has decency after trawling room ,that’s why he got sick and
the others didn’t
● Tsotsi doesn’t understand what decency means
● “ś goed”-Die Aap agreeing
● Die Aap joins Butcher in raping Rosie
● Soekie tried to get Rosie to go home
● Tsotsi hated the question’s because he really didn’t know the answers to it(his
name,age,etc…)
● The things he knew =doesn’t remember
● Him not knowing him=deeper meaning than not knowing his name and age
● When he asked about Tsotsi’s family(mother ,yellow bitch)=Boston went too
far
● Tsotsi beats Boston up (breaking his first into Bostons nose then ear)
● Boston foreshadowed that one day when Tsotsi do start feeling ,he won’t
know what to do with that feeling
● Tsotsi runs out into the night
Chapter one
● Sat in silence (wasn’t deliberate) ,because they didn’t have anything to talk about
● First the only silence was the pause between something said and the next remark but then
their words just grew little
● Only moved when they lift up a glass ,stretched,yawn or when one considered a womens
voice from the backyard
● Shadows long enough:dark enough
● The silence broke when Tsotsi (youngest of them all,said the least,listened to the others)
leaned forward with fingers interlocking in the manner of prayer(he told them what their job
would be for the night;ironic because one would think his about to pray but instead his signals
the start of violence)
● Takes place early afternoon in Tsotsi room with beer
● Boston was a teacher semi educated who always had a story to tell
● No one listened bec it wasn’t that important,it did however pass the last hour of the afternoon
● Idle hands:doing something you shouldn’t be doing
● Boston wears /needs glasses
● Die App-has long arms and his strong (based on his appearance),listener (attentively) hardly
asked questions(struggled to form sentences)oldest of them all
● Butcher:built like Tsotsi ,listened with impatience (sentences less then 10 words)his small
dangerous eyes is different to Tsotsi and pendulous lower lip,name =never missed his mark
● Butcher eyes hid
● Bostons eyes hid fear
● Die aaps face hid nothing
● Tsotsi said they take one on the trains
● Boston questioned (scared?)while the others agreed
● Butcher left last =fetched a bicycle spoke
● Description of township **
● Even older men moved for Tsotsi but he was fine with it
● The hate,whispers everything was for him
● They killed Gumboot Dhlamini(he smiled cause his work is coming to an end ,he’ll see his
wife in a weeks time, someone is coming to him to write a letter to his wife,wore a flaming red
tie with bolts of silver lighting and payed for his ticket with his pay packet)measured in
hope;his tall;he walked barefoot into the city to work for his pregnant wife ;Maxulu(she was
pregnant);found work on the mines in the city (he bought him a pair of shoes and wore them
again and again,then finally bought him a new pair of shoes)
, Chapter 2
● Drinking at Soekies place
● Tsosti hates Boston and his questions,moral and conscience and brutality beats him
● Butcher and Die Aap rape Rosie
● Had a table with chairs around it ,floorboards were rotten,light didn’t have
covering ,broken window
● Boston slaps the women to prove himself to the others ,eventually stops
● Butcher later looks at her because he wants to assault Rosie
● He hates Boston ( had something to do with why his reality is strange now)
● Bostons first question to tsotsi what is your real name
● Soekie is coloured,in fifties ,her mother didn’t love her (that’s why she lived in
township),wrote regularly to find out her birthdate,born in the best bed,in the
biggest house of the best European suburb
● Boston claims he has decency after trawling room ,that’s why he got sick and
the others didn’t
● Tsotsi doesn’t understand what decency means
● “ś goed”-Die Aap agreeing
● Die Aap joins Butcher in raping Rosie
● Soekie tried to get Rosie to go home
● Tsotsi hated the question’s because he really didn’t know the answers to it(his
name,age,etc…)
● The things he knew =doesn’t remember
● Him not knowing him=deeper meaning than not knowing his name and age
● When he asked about Tsotsi’s family(mother ,yellow bitch)=Boston went too
far
● Tsotsi beats Boston up (breaking his first into Bostons nose then ear)
● Boston foreshadowed that one day when Tsotsi do start feeling ,he won’t
know what to do with that feeling
● Tsotsi runs out into the night
