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forge a new identity with street children. The need for basic survival forces him into at first, a life of petty crime. Later he builds a reputation as a ruthless gangster.
• He chooses the identity of a Tsotsi when this name is declared over him by an irate shopkeeper.
He lives up to his name – he is feared and avoided, ‘brave men stepped aside to let him pass’.
Disfiguring the face of a dying man with words of hate is what gives him a perverse pleasure.
He is presented as a hardened gangster who lives by the rule of not having his ‘inward darkness’ disturbed. He refuses to tolerate questions about his past, simply because he does not have any answers.
- Tsotsi represses all the memories relating to his past as they are too painful.
- When Boston is brutally beaten by Tsotsi for asking too many questions, the true extent of Tsoti’s refusal to acknowledge his past is revealed.
- His decision to take care of the baby reveals a major change in the identity
Tsotsi assumes. The baby is likened to a ‘talisman’ that triggers a memory of a ‘yellow bitch’ that is linked to his early identity. Slowly he sheds his
defences and shows a caring and protective side that contradicts the image of a hardened thug that he presents.
• Morris, initially meant to be a victim, reminds Tsotsi of how the ‘yellow bitch’ crawled towards him after being kicked by his father. Miriam’s comment, ‘a bitch in a backyard would look after its puppies better’ is another trigger that compels Tsotsi to remember the details of his past.
Petah’s desperate call to ‘David’ contributes to the unravelling of his buried ‘darkness’ and his name, now, no longer determines his actions.
- He seeks forgiveness and guidance from Boston. He names the baby ‘David’ and questions Isaiah at the ‘Church of Christ the Dreamer’ in an effort to find peace and wholeness. His typical Tsotsi behaviour and identity is changing.
- He remembers the traumatic events around his mother’s abduction and his father’s violence towards the pregnant yellow dog. These were the events that made him bury his real identity. He admits to himself that he is David Madondo.
& Through the baby he finds a purpose in living and believes Miriam when she says, ‘tomorrow comes and you got to live’.
• He dies as ‘David’, not ‘Tsotsi’ – sacrificing his life for the baby can be seen as his ultimate redemption for his old life.
/ Totsi’s last thought before he dies is ‘My name is David Madondo. He has confronted his traumatic past, shed his life as a sotsi, and healed and affirmed who he really is – David Madondo.