The novel focuses on a young black man who lived some time ago and was involved in. Criminal activities in an impoverished black community. Chapter 4 and symbolism 1) Look at each of the symbols listed below: the name Tsotsi the ruins the baby Gumshoe Boston the yellow dog. Try to find quotations to describe the symbols. Then work out what each of these things represents, especially for Tsotsi himself.
Content
1. Introduction
2. Athol Fugard as a writer and the historical context
3. Tsotsi as a novel and Tsotsi as a film - a direct comparison
3.a. General differences
3.a.1. Narrators in novels and pictures in films
3.a.2. The atmosphere
3.a.3. The setting
3.a.4. The language
3.b. The differences in the plots of the two versions
3.b.1. Tsotsi’s gang and the murder of Gumboot Dhlamini (Chapter 1)
3.b.2. Tsotsi’s fight with Boston (Chapter 2)
3.b.3. Tsotsi’s encounter with the baby (Chapter 3)
3.b.4. Tsotsi hides the baby in the ruins (Chapter 4)
3.b.5. The funeral of Gumboot Dhlamini, Boston’s recovery and Tsotsi’s reunification with Butcher and Die Aap (Chapter 5)
3.b.6. Tsotsi’s encounter with Morris Tshabalala (Chapters 6 and 7)
3.b.7. Tsotsi finds a replacement mother in Miriam Ngidi (Chapter 8)
3.b.8. Tsotsi’s childhood (Chapter 9)
3.b.9. Tsotsi’s second encounter with Miriam Ngidi (Chapter 10)
3.b.10. The story of Boston’s life (Chapter 11)
3.b.11. Tsotsi’s death (Chapter 12)
Tsotsi Chapter 1 Summary Chapter 1
4. Interpretations of the major differences
4.a. The replacement of the apartheid topic
4.b. The different atmospheres in the two works
4.c. The missing narrator and its effect on the plausibility and numerous details
4.d. Apparent commercial reasons for changes in the plot
5. Summary
6. Works cited
1. Introduction
Tsotsi is the first and up-to-present only novel by the South African playwright Athol Fugard (*1932). The novel deals with a young, acrimonious criminal whose life starts to change when he becomes responsible for a baby. Influenced by the author’s visit to Sophiatown near Johannesburg, Tsotsi was written between 1958 and 1962, but then Fugard put the manuscript away and did not think it was “worth publishing and did not show or submit it to anyone” (Kaplan in Fugard 2009:239). Later he “could not even remember having written it” (Pogrund in Gray 1982:37). About twenty years later, in 1978, a researcher named Stephen Gray edited the novel for publication and cut about 20 percent from the original manuscript. In 1979, Fugard read the novel for the first time in 20 years and approved its publication. More than another two decades later, in 2004 and 2005, Tsotsi was made into a film, directed by Gavin Hood, which won the Academy Award for the best foreign film in 2006. Unlike the novel’s plot, the plot of the film is not set in the 1950s to 60s but in the post-apartheid South Africa around the beginning of the new millennium. Not just because more than 40 years passed from the original idea until its publication as a film, the original novel and the film version are quite different in many aspects. Although both the novel and the film follow roughly the same structure, the differences offer many enlightening insights. This paper is going to compare the film version with the original version in the novel in order to analyze and interpret the differences. Some of the major differences revolve around the role of racism, apartheid, politics and social criticism in the two versions, and still others around the different impacts of the two works and the different reasons, purposes and circumstances under which the novel was written and why the film was made.
2. Athol Fugard as a writer and the historical context
Harold Athol Lannigan Fugard was born in 1932 near the South African village of Middelburg as a child of a white father of English descent and an Afrikaner mother (Afrikaner is a term for a white ethnic group in Africa, mainly descended from northwestern European settlers). Fugard’s parents owned a tearoom in the town of Port Elizabeth, which was frequently visited by black workers (Kaplan in Fugard 2009). Since 1913, seventy-seven per cent of the South African area was reserved for white people, while the black population, which today as much as then formed the vast majority of the country’s population, predominantly moved to urban labour dormitories around the cities. In 1948, the Afrikaner Nationalist Party with its leader Daniel François Malan won the election and the apartheid laws (apartheid means separateness in Afrikaans), which aggravated the living conditions of black people even more, were established. Black people required passes, for example in order to go to work in the cities inhabited by white people. Furthermore, forced removals of black people from their homes and the creation of areas designated for black people only (so-called black townships) increased. The townships suffered from harsh problems like unemployment, poverty, diseases and crime, while the white authorities hardly did anything to improve the situation. Some very ruthless criminals, so-called tsotsis (the term tsotsi might have derived from the Africanisation of the term zoot-suit, a way of dressing in 1940 American gangster films) (Kaplan in Fugard 2009:i), who in many cases robbed, murdered and raped, soon became notorious for their pitiless and extremely violent crimes.
In 1958, at the time when the twenty-six-year-old Fugard started to write Tsotsi, he had just moved from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg, where he worked as a clerk dealing with violations of passports. More than most white people in South Africa, Fugard soon became very critical of the apartheid system and its brutality, which he became more and more aware of during his stay in Johannesburg. The plot of his novel Tsotsi is set in Sophiatown, a suburb of Johannesburg, where “black and white could drink and dance together” (Kaplan in Fugard 2009:v) until it was demolished, renamed into Triomf and turned into a suburb for white people only. At the time when Tsotsi was written, Fugard travelled repeatedly between Europe and South Africa. Roughly at the same time, Fugard wrote The Blood Knot, his first play that was publicly performed and deals with similar issues as Tsotsi does.
3. Tsotsi as a novel and Tsotsi as a film - a direct comparison
Although the novel and the film follow roughly the same structure, there are also many differences. The following subsections of this chapter are going to compare the novel and the film directly and analyze the differences. In the first part of this chapter some general differences will be pointed out, then, in the second part, the two plots will be compared.
3.a. General differences
3.a.1. Narrators in novels and pictures in films
When a novel is compared to an adaptation on film, the novel’s narrator is always either completely left out or considerably reduced in the film version. Narrators in films usually only exist as voice-overs or short, written remarks in some rare scenes. Of course, the narrator is usually not very necessary in a film because, as a famous adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. For example, when the narrator in the novel describes what a place or a character looks like, the viewer of a film can see that directly. However, the narrator in a novel can provide the reader with important background information, for example about the exact feelings or the thoughts of a character, which a film cannot do so easily. In a film version the viewer has to interpret the acting and the dialogues in order to understand the feelings and thoughts. Although a viewer of a film version does not need as much imagination as a reader of a novel (and the picture in the heads of different readers might also differ), he is less well-informed, for example about the exact reasons why a character acts in a certain way. This is especially true for omniscient third-person-narrators like in the case of Tsotsi. For this reason the plot and the dialogues must sometimes be changed in the adaptation process in order to make the actions of characters appear plausible.
3.a.2. The atmosphere
When a novel is adapted into a film, the writer of the screenplay and the director have many possibilities to change the atmosphere. For example they can add happy or sad music, they can add beautiful or unsightly shots of the scenery or they can use different camera angles and effects. Thus in the case of Tsotsi the atmosphere created by the director is quite positive. Gavin Hood answered an interview question about this topic in the following way:
The typical gangster-ghetto style film is portrayed with lots of handheld cameras, but I wanted to use my own style instead.(…). People were worried that it would be too slow but I wanted to reflect the inner conscious of the characters and depict their inner world. (…). I wanted my shots to be intimate and long. Using widescreen, the characters appear tiny against the big city and township backdrops. I just wanted to create my own visual sensibility. (Cowley)
3.a.3. The setting
Another general difference dealing with the adaptation of novels into films is that the plot can be moved to a different place time or even a different time. The effect of it is that the plot itself becomes renewed and isn’t just a rumination. The novel and the film versions of Tsotsi are set in different times. When Gavin Hood, director and editor of the screenplay, was asked why he moved the setting to a time 40 or 50 years later, he answered:
First of all I just thought that the great thing about Tsotsi is it's a very kind of universal story, not only could you set it in the contemporary world, but in fact you could have set it in almost any city in the world and just given it back it's flavour. (Cowley) Of course this raises the question if some plots don’t lose some of their most important messages when they are set to different times. In the case of Tsotsi this question will be dealt with in chapter 4.a.
3.a.4. The language
In the case of Tsotsi, the language was changed in the adaptation. The novel was written in English but the characters in the film speak Tsotsitaal, which is a Creole of Xhosa, Zulu and Afrikaans. If the original novel had been written in Tsotsitaal, most people wouldn’t have been able to read it. In the film version however it was possible to use the original language, because it could be made understandable for everybody else with the help of subtitles. A book can’t be subtitled, but the film version made it possible.
3.b. The differences in the plots of the two versions
3.b.1. Tsotsi’s gang and the murder of Gumboot Dhlamini (Chapter 1)
The novel begins with Tsotsi and the other three member of his gang sitting together on a Friday night and drinking beer. The characters are introduced. The reader meets Tsotsi, who is “the youngest of the four, the one who had said the least” (1), Boston, who “always had a story” (1), Die Aap, who has got his name “because of his long arms” (2) and Butcher whose “stories were told in ten words or less” (2) and who laughed with”a cold sound, sharp as a knife blade” (4). The four young men decide to “take one on the trains” (4). The victim’s name is Gumboot Dhlamini. The reader learns that Dhlamini left his loving wife on the countryside for one year in order to earn money in Johannesburg’s mining belt. It is the last week of that one year when he encounters Tsotsi’s gang. Tsotsi chooses him for three reasons: he is smiling, he wears a tie and he pays his money with cash from his pay packet. Unnoticed by the other passengers, the four tsotsis surround Dhlamini in the crowded train and without any further ado, Butcher murders him by stinging a bicycle spoke into Dhlamini’s heart. “Even as that was happening, Tsotsi bent close to the dying man and in his ear whispered an obscene reference to his mother” (12). Only when the crowd has left the train, the few remaining passengers find the dead body of Dhlamini.
The film begins with Tsotsi, Aap (in the film version the “Die” in his name is left out), Boston and Butcher playing with dice, but apart from such minor changes the first chapter of the novel does not differ much from its adaption on film. The novel’s first chapter as well as the film are simply used in order to introduce the reader/viewer to some of the main characters. Especially in the film version the deeper situation, which the characters are in, doesn’t surface yet at all. It doesn’t make too much of a difference if the robbery and murder is committed in the 1960s or at the beginning of the 21st century. Hence, the two versions start very similarly. Nevertheless, the novel of course has got much more possibilities to go into detail. For example the reader learns the name and the pitiable background of the victim, while he remains just a nameless, more or less anonymous character in the film version. This makes the murder appear even crueller in the original version. In the film version, Dhlamini is only murdered after he tried to verbally defend himself. Tsotsi’s whispered final insult is left out in the film version as well. The film version does not show the characters backgrounds and Tsotsi’s cruelty, hate and bitterness as much as the original version does.
3.b.2. Tsotsi’s fight with Boston (Chapter 2)
The novel’s second chapter is set at Soekie’s place, where the four young men are drinking and smoking marihuana after the “job on the trains”. Soekie is a coloured woman in her fifties. Tsotsi feels at unease because his gang-member Boston feels sick about their crime. Tsotsi avoids talking about his age or his real name and would rather kill than tell anybody the truth about himself (17). Tsotsi “allowed himself no thought of himself, he remembered no yesterdays, and tomorrow existed only when it was the present, living moment” (21), but Boston keeps asking questions and tries to teach Tsotsi the meaning of the word “decency”
(25). Butcher and Die Aap take a woman from the bar outside with them. Boston asks Tsotsi if he feels nothing but Tsotsi does not want to understand the question. Boston takes out a knife and cuts his arm in order to show Tsotsi how he feels about the murder earlier that night, which makes Tsotsi hate Boston even more than before. After Boston says that even Tsotsi must have a soul, Tsotsi lunges at him and beats him up brutally until Soekie, Butcher and Die Aap enter the room and keep Tsotsi back. Then Tsotsi walks out into the night.
Up to that point the plot of the film adheres quite closely to the original version. The dialogue is only slightly different, Soekie’s bar is crowded with dancing people in the film version, the four young men don’t smoke and Butcher and Aap don’t leave the room in company of a girl. In the film version Tsotsi rather runs out of the room instead of walking. Apart from these minor differences that, above all, have effects on the atmosphere, the second chapter is adapted quite identically and hence doesn’t offer many possibilities for further interpretation.
[...]
Character Analysis
Tsotsi Character Analysis
Our initial impression of Tsotsi would be that he is ruthless man who isolates himself emotionally. He doesn’t talk about his current state of mind, collaborative his thoughts with others or reminisce of his past. The only form of communication to others is when he commands his gang members to carry out a specific action. Tsotsi lives by three rules: 1- working in the moment, 2-never think about his past and 3- not tolerating any kind of questions. Regimenting himself so strictly enables him to only look out for his best self-interest, this is what brings Tsotsi to being the leader of his gang as he is the youngest in age out of the other thee members. Handpicking his victims for his next murder case is solely based upon his agitation level. The death of Gumboot was because of thee reason: he smiled too much and looked too happy, his tie reminded him of his own childhood and he had money. Gumboot was living a happy fulfilling life, one that isn’t seen in the township that he lives in. Tsotsi believes that by following these three principles is his sense of personal protection, by isolating himself from risks of learning about his pasts is the safest choice of living.
After targeting Morris, the man who had lost both of his legs Tsotsi has redeveloped a major emotion: compassion. After targeting Morris and stalking him Tsotsi is able to relate Morris to his old yellow dog as they have both lost their use of legs. This memory had triggered the sense of sympathy towards Morris, being how powerless and helpless he is. This emotion becomes summoned because through his childhood, he watched his father break his dogs back. However he was unable to help his dog out y his father’s rage and seeing eventually his dog dying had brought Tsotsi to be powerless with the desperate want to fix things. Having the same emotions towards Morris brings the first time ever Tsotsi has developed emotions towards anyone else. Ultimately through these emotions this also marks the first time Tsotsi decided not to kill his targeted victim. Showing that he is able to control himself over his impulses by making decisions over them. This is the start of his journey of gaining self-decency as he regains a sense of humanity and discovering more about his past.
In the flashback of his childhood of when he was ten years old -a time when David Madondo was all that existed-Tsotsi reveals his innocence. As a child, Tsotsi was very energetic, obedient and happy. He didn’t have anything to fear at this point, he was full of life and appreciating everything there was to offer. Tsotsi was very timid as well -never speaking out of term and always looking for his mother’s approval for answers-. He grew up in the township, having porridge for supper and sharing a single blanket with his mother for warmth: a typical family from poverty. Losing his mother to the police raid, having the disproval of his own grandmother then his built-up image of his father after killing his dog being shattered- he fled his house. Tsotsi took away the fact that you cannot put your trust in other people; you must be self-sufficient to make progression. After leaving his first gang, the river gang he learnt the basis of survival where, again you need to look after yourself first and foremost. He learnt that emotions are what weaken you as well, and becoming weak will make you more vulnerable to death. In order to survive he had to lock up his emotions and rely and trust only himself. This set the stage for current-day Tsotsi as he became so focused on survival, he detached himself from humanity; carrying no reason to live aside from surviving as long as possible.
Being directed by Boston, Tsotsi ended up in front of “The Church of Christ the Dreamer” in pursuit of finding answers for him. By looking for answers from God, Tsotsi is seeking guidance by an external source; he is breaking down his walls of isolation. Tsotsi has finally realized that he doesn’t just have to life on survival mode: he is able to embrace his life and live out who he actually is. “He [God] has got something to do with me,” Tsotsi is admitting to having a connection with God. Being connected to a higher power, he is surrendering his superiority of being the leader and knowing what to do and when. Tsotsi believes that through connecting to God he will be closer to discovering himself as a whole and will ultimately help him reclaim his former life.
In the end, we can conclude that Tsotsi has developed integrity. This is seen when he dives into the crumbling ruins to reach the hiding place of his baby. Just before running out the door, his final conversation with Miriam concludes to dropping his identity of being a “tsotsi” and reclaiming his former life as David Madondo. Knowing that he isn’t going to be coming back alive gives him the strength to admit the identity of how he wants to be remembered: self-sacrificing, morally just man. Tsotsi has been able to break out of his “isolated shell” when he sacrifices his life by crushing himself under the fallen ruins to go after the baby. Tsotsi has been able to connect the baby as him; by going back into the ruins to save the baby, he really is saving himself. Although Tsotsi is in a nineteen-year old boy, he is still mentally occupying a ten-year old brain. After revealing his body and seeing a smile pasted on his face shows that Tsotsi is satisfied with his sacrifice. He realized he found his destination of who he is, and has grown into who he was supposed to become.
Die Aap
Nicked from his long arms resembling an ape, Die Aap is one of the members in Tsotsi’s gang. He is a very intent listener rather than speaker. Die Aap doesn’t occupy any kind of a job, rather his life consists of drinking, gangs activities: obeying and conducting the orders from Tsotsi. He accepts the life he has, he doesn’t try to challenge Tsotsi’s authority or break free from his state of black oppression.
He resembles the stereotypical male black South African during the time of South Africans apartheid: no purpose for life, no goals or dreams.
Butcher
Butcher has the similar build as Tsotsi: lithe bone supply however he had unpredictable eyes and an unnerving lower lip. He was also a listener, however he became very agitated with long explanations or stories. He spoke very minimal, topping it off at a maximum of ten words. He is also apart of Tsotsi’s gang. He never question’s Tsotsi’s motives, rather he supports him and enforces what’s tolds.
Similar to Die Aap, he resembles the lifestyle of a black man in South Africa during their apartheid: jobless and caught up in drinking and participates in gang violence.
Tsotsi Chapter 1 Summary
Miriam
Miriam is an eighteen-year old with a six month old baby, Simon; named after her husband. She is a civilian of the Johannesburg Township as she never acts out of line or goes against authority. However she was guilty on holding onto the hope that her husband will return home after eight months. She was afraid of facing reality, of resuming a life without him. She is connected to Tsotsi as she is the provider of milk for his baby.
Miriam had taught Tsotsi the unconditional love between a mother and their child. After coming to terms with herself that her husband will never come back, that he was robbed of his life by the police, she was able to teach Tsotsi that he has to let go of the past. She also became his rock or constant. Tstosi would come back to her for help, confess to her about his true identity, and to talk to. She was seen as a nurturer for his baby through bathing, feeding and ensuring that he was happy.
Morris
Morris is an elder man who had lost his legs from a mineshaft collapse; he uses his arms as his method of transportation. He is not afraid of others or living his life. Morris became a very self-reliant and self-dependable man, as he doesn’t have anyone else to lean against, only himself. Despite his inabilities he is very optimistic and is able to make the most out of his situation by appreciating the fact that he still is living. He is able to see and enjoy all the beautiful features to earth. Morris is also a wise man; he knows that he has reached the highest point in his life; all he can do is enjoy himself and be grateful for his life that he still has. He was a target of Tsotsi’s as he had planned on killing him as he found Morris to be a disgrace to society. Totsi had stalked and observed Morris and eventually had encountered him.
Confronting Morris, Tsotsi learned the raw willingness to living; and that there is more to life than was you can physically see. Morris showed Tsotsi how to appreciate the gifts given to just living on the earth. Unable to steal his life away from Morris, he became the first victim that Tsotsi has not murdered. Morris had also uncovered the childhood memory of Tsotsi’s crippled yellow dog as they both didn’t have useful legs. This memory had struck Tsotsi as he had realized that this was the “final reality” in life, which was held in the purest form. This marked the first time that Tsotsi had actually felt emotions (compassion) towards others. Allowing Morris to continue living, he became his first target that he has never killed. This also helped in showing Tsotsi that there are choices in life, life isn’t carved in stone you can always make changes.
Boston
Boston is very curious and knowledgeable, as he constantly seeks for answers and asks questions because he doesn’t accept what he was given. Known as being the smart one, Boston is always telling stories as well. However he is seen as the weakest link in Tsotsi’s gang by asking all the questions. Formerly, he had enrolled into university, however by raping a girl he got expelled. Boston did hold visions of his future. He had dreams of actually living his life. Unfortunately he too has become victimized into the apartheid stereotype as a black male by being jobless, constantly drinking alcohol and really having no purpose for life.
Boston’s questions helps to unlock Tsotsi’s past. After accusing Tsotsi of having no decency, Boston actually initiates the spark for Tsotsi’s unconscious pursuit of finding his true identity and bringing on s form of decency. Although Boston knows that it is too late to accomplish what he wants to do in the end, he encourages Tsotsi to embrace his new, changed self. Boston also helps guide Tsotsi in going to the church and finding God.
Isaiah
He was the church bell boy. Although being an older man, he is treating as a little boy by the white workers there. He is seen as being a “uncaring” and irresponsible as he doesn’t seek out the detail and perfection in his work. Isaiah was the one who had told Tsotsi about God and Jesus when he had stopped outside “The Church of Christ the Dreamer”, and answering al the questions asked by Tsotsi.
Isaiah symbolizes the role of Christianity: welcoming everybody and spreading God’s word. He also brings the education to Tsotsi that the former gang actions he had done –thefts, murders- re actually sins but they can always be forgiven. Isaiah juxtaposes the bible: Isaiah the prophet.
The Baby
Tsotsi had snatched the baby from his fleeing mother after hearing his cries inside a shoebox. The baby is a newborn infant and presented life’s form in being the most vulnerable and dependable. The baby ran into many near-death situations under Tsotsi’s care. This baby brought on accountability towards Tsotsi as he had to constantly change, feed and meet the baby’s demands. In the end, Tsotsi names the baby David, after himself.
The baby, in its purest state of life helped bring clarity to Tsotsi. He had uncovered flashbacks of his own childhood, experiencing this the first time he ended up one of his three rules: never ask question. The baby had initiated the curiosity inside of Tsotsi as he had become thirsty in needing the knowledge and answers in discovering his past. The baby’s ability in uncovering the past to Tsotsi helped form his identity and brought back his willingness to living life again. The baby acts as a catalyst towards Tsotsi’s self-discovery by unlicking his childhood, he can form his identity as a person. Ultimately we come to the understanding that Tsotsi is the baby,-although he is inside a nineteen-year old body, he only has knowledge of a ten year old-. In the end, he is not only saving the baby from dying, but he is also saving himself.
