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Main character

Tsotsi (David Madondo) is the main character (chief protagonist) in that he is central to the action throughout the novel. It is a good idea to build up a profile of each of the characters while you are reading the novel. The table below shows one way of doing this:

We do not know how old Tsotsi is, but he seems to be about twenty-years-old at the time of the story. He leaves home at the age of ten and joins a group of homeless boys, when his mother is arrested by the police.

What is Tsotsi like?	How do we know?
When he is young, he is timid and dependent on his mother.As the leader of the gang, he is hard.	He hides behind her skirts when strangers appear.He shows that he does not feel the pain he inflicts, or have any sympathy for his victims
He has no clear sense of his identity.	He has decided to call himself “Tsotsi”, a generic name.When he looks into a mirror, he does not register any connection between his features and anyone else’s.He has suppressed any memories, so all he knows is what is happening in the present.
He is a skilled but vicious fighter.	When he attacks Boston, it is clear that he is an experienced fighter and that he is skilled at inflicting pain and serious injury.

Table 1: Character of Tsotsi

As you read the novel, you will find you can add to this. It would also be useful to draw up tables on rounded characters like Boston and Morris Tshabalala.

Other characters

Miriam

Miriam is an eighteen-year-old woman with a six-month-old baby, Simon. Her husband, also Simon, disappeared eight months before, during a bus boycott, and has not been seen since. When she starts feeding Tsotsi’s baby, little David, she realises that her husband Simon will never return. She has proved herself very resilient during the eight months he has been gone, taking in washing and fending for herself.

Miriam is a tender woman who has cared lovingly and responsibly for her baby and is gentle and kind to other people in need. One of these people is the old man for whom she collects water. She provides an example of the value of a mother’s love, of leaving the past behind and of finding contentment in the present. She overcomes her revulsion at being asked to be a mere source of milk – and at being asked to feed a foul-smelling and dirty baby – and sees beyond, to the baby’s need and to her “duty” to offer her resources to those in deep need. In a very short time, Tsotsi is affected by her gentleness and goodness, and views what she is and what she does appreciatively.

Flat characters

There are a number of flat characters, in the sense that they do not develop.

Die Aap

His nickname comes from his exceptionally long arms – they seem almost to reach the ground. He has immense physical strength and is able to hold victims so they do not fall to the ground, when Butcher inserts a bicycle spoke. This hides the fact that the victim has been fatally wounded and is being robbed, until the gang can escape. He is not very intelligent, but is fiercely loyal to Tsotsi. He awaits Tsotsi’s orders and follows them without question. He sees the gang as a “brotherhood” – membership of the gang has defined his life for two years. It is he who warns Boston not to ask questions, and it is he who is still willing to follow Tsotsi, even when he seems to have betrayed the gang. He is quite unable to understand why Tsotsi sends him away, but he obeys nevertheless.

His relationship with Butcher is a superficial one. He does what Butcher does. (For instance, when Butcher decides to have sex with Rose, he follows suit.) He is not able to take the initiative himself.

Butcher (Boy) Songile

He is named for his expertise with the bicycle spoke. In his hands it is a lethal weapon that paralyses the victim and pierces the heart. Violence gives him pleasure so murder brings him joy. Even though Rosie is willing to let him have sex with her in return for a drink, he makes it a violent, painful act.

He does sometimes show another side. For instance, he is willing to dress up to look like a teacher colleague so a photograph can be taken to send to Boston’s mother.

There is no anguish for him when the gang breaks up. His expertise as a killer means that he is able to find another gang and go on doing what he really enjoys – killing.

Johnboy Lethetwa

Despite Johnboy’s spells in prison he remains optimistic, as can be seen by the humour in his eyes. Boston meets Johnboy Lethetwa by chance outside the Pass Office. This meeting is the start of Boston’s life of crime.

Johnboy is quick to see possibilities. He soon establishes himself as the agent who finds clients who will pay for Boston’s skill at providing entries in passbooks. He has a new way of making money. He forms a partnership with Boston to supply people with previous employers. He recruits businessmen and Boston does the paper work. The proceeds are divided between them. In a very short time, they expand the business to supplying a variety of permits. Johnboy is rather foolish, and the partnership comes to an end when he is arrested with ten passbooks in his pocket.

Tondi

David’s mother, Tondi, is very like Miriam in that she creates a safe and loving environment for her son. Despite her hardships, the home is a happy one. If she errs, it is in over-protecting and mollycoddling her son, David.

David’s father

He has been in jail for some time (it seems for the whole of David’s life) and appears to be someone whose anger is explosive. When the bitch snarls at him, he kicks her so viciously that she dies in agony soon afterwards.

Isaiah

Isaiah is the old man who does gardening duties and rings the bell at the Church of Christ the Redeemer. He is treated as if he were a simple child, by the white adults who are involved at the church. He bears this patiently and escapes by daydreaming. When Tsotsi comes, he gives an almost comic version of the events of the Bible but ironically, captures the key message in a way that affects Tsotsi very deeply.

Like the other old men in the novel, the man at the tap and Big Jacob, he seems to have a quiet dignity and to have deep insight into life.

The Baby (Little David)

The baby is thrust into Tsotsi’s hands, in the Bluegum trees, by a frightened woman, at the beginning of the novel. Right from the start, there is a strong sense that the baby is not destined to live long. He is wrinkled as if already very old. In a sense, the baby redeems Tsotsi. He evokes memories of the past, leading Tsotsi to change and become an ethical man.