Character Analysis

1. Tsotsi Character Analysis Boston
2. Tsotsi Character Analysis Text
3. Tsotsi Character Analysis Graphic Organizer
4. Tsotsi Character Analysis Meaning

Slumdog Millionaire study guide contains a biography of director Danny Boyle, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Internal Conflict: Anger, Resentment and Abandonment External Conflict: The infant becomes a part of the story and part of Tsotsi's life and everything changes Setting Description & Analysis Tsotsi Context: The Post Apartheid Era Chance Apartheid Poverty Colour Music Themes Lack. Review of „Tsotsi“ 4 2. Film analysis Tsotsi is a nineteen year old teenager who lives in the poor periphery of Johannesburg. Since he has been a child, he has been on his own like thousands of other child, living in the ghetto. Now that he is a young man between adolescence.

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.

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.

Tsotsi is an African film that shows the contrasts between the rich and poor divide (Binary Opposition) and tells a story in the eyes of a thug and shows redemption and even a thug can change. Which is in the title. Tsotsi is translated into thug in english. This shows that not every thug is a thug all the way through him and even as something small or vulnerable as a baby can change even the hardest of thugs life around. The genre of this film in my opinion is a Crime Drama.

Narrative- A thug from Johannesburg is in a gang and causing trouble throughout the town he is in. When he is on one of his jobs in the rich side of the town he comes into contact with a baby that will change his life around. As the film goes on he cares more and more for this baby and he changes his life around and become less of a thug. You see the horrid life he lived at a young age that got him to this point and see the journey he has been on and will take. Only one person sees so much more than he lets on to be (Miriam) and those emotions come out more and more as the film goes on.

The Codes and Conventions of any film is basically the unwritten rules for the colours and lighting for that genre of film. For example if it is a comedy film then the colours will be bright and the lighting will be bright to make a happy emotion for the audience. If it is raining in a comedy film then the audience will suddenly feel down and not find it funny just because what is on screen. For Tsotsi as this is a Action, Drama the colours are dark and pure. It depends what is happening on screen. When Tsotsi is being a thug and hitting people or talking about bad things like when a flashback happens and he thinks about his father and his mother and how his father killed his dog and he ran away and thats how he become homeless its at night. So the colours are very dark and its raining which is a sign of emotion being poured out in the character even if they don’t show it. Its more than likely to show that they are upset or crying. When the audience see’s rain on the screen it changes their emotion as-well so the audience can empathize with the characters on screen. As we are looking through the eyes of the ‘thug’ then we empathize with him as we can see through his eyes but if there was another main character in the film and we didn’t follow his story we would look at him as a bad guy.

Tsotsi Character Analysis Boston

When the baby comes into view and the rich side of Africa, then the colours become pure. This is the point in the film that he changes his life. There is a point in the film when Tsotsi tries to stop the baby crying by putting on some music and dancing because he doesn’t know what to do. At first when he brings the baby back to the shanty town and in his shack then its just dark but as he goes along and continues looking after this baby sun shines through the shack and onto him. This could mean that his soul is becoming more pure with the help of this baby and now he has to look after someone else and not him-self for a change.

Already through this film at the beginning of the film the first shot you see is Tsotsi doing a stabbing on a train for money. So the audience reaction is not vert sympathetic towards this character only the character who got stabbed. The clothes he is wearing are very dark with browns and blacks and also leather. These are the clothes and the colors of bad people who commit crimes, you will see throughout the film the changing of clothes is different and more free. By the end of the film his clothes change from dark colors and leather jackets to a white loose shirt and black trousers. White symbolizes pure, church and freedom, with the help of the baby he is a changed person. The contrast from Tsotsi at the beginning from Tsotsi at the end is so different. If the he stayed the same person throughout the film then the film will be changed and he would continue being violent and he would keep on running away form the law. If that baby wasn’t in that film then you wouldn’t of had that story and nothing would of become of him. Baby’s are normally seen; in the eyes of people, immature, vulnerable, not a person yet, can’t cope on their own and they learn from adults. If you change that around, you could describe Tsotsi with the same exact words. But the difference is that he learns from the baby and not the other way round. He is not learning like everybody else does, with looking after this baby, he is learning responsibility and he is now getting feelings towards it. He looks up to this baby like a guru if you like to call it that. He teaches him life lessons without him knowing it.

The genre is Crime Drama. The reason it is Crime Drama because in the beginning you know Tsotsi as a thug, he stabs somebody on a train for money, he steals from a homeless guy in a wheel chair and there is aspects of crime in this film but there is also aspects of Drama in this film as-well like the flashback within the film when he looks back at his Family and the reason why he ran away and become the guy that he has become and that change in his life.

In the crime genre the structure is, there is a murder, then and investigation then it is solved. Within this film, there is a murder and there are knives and guns involved which you would link to the crime genre. There is the good cop and the bad cop and they try to find Tsotsi and how Tsotsi lives is with guns and knives. That is how this can be within the crime genre.

The Drama genre, normally tells you the story about family struggles. Which this does tell you when he goes back into his flashback from how his mother died form how his father treated him and why he ran away and how he ended up in the end. You can also class him changing with the baby in his life is a struggle for him to change his life and he cares for that baby and he didn’t think that he could care for anybody. The first time you see this emotion is when he follows the homeless guy in the wheel chair and starts harassing him. He reminds him of his dog that he had and become ‘crippled’ is how he described him as his dad hurt the dog and the guy couldn’t walk. This is the first emotion that you see from him.

In this film i think there are more elements of the Drama genre then the crime genre because this film is all about redemption and how his life changes and at the very end if he continued because the thug he was he would of ran away from the police and show no emotion but he changed. His clothes changed from being leather and dark to at the very end just a white loose shirt. That is the color of purity. He doesn’t want to give away the baby and shows emotion because he got attached. You could say here that he couldn’t changed without help and now it was time to let go he wasn’t ready. You can also say that as the baby was form the rich side of the country that the poor just need help from that side even if they just care and they will be come better people.

Tsotsi Character Analysis Text

This film is all about the rich and poor divide and how people want to change. There is a scene that stands out to me when he first has the baby and he sees a single mother with her baby and he goes to her to feed his baby. But he holds her to gun point while she breast feeds. For a living she makes chimes and sells them. Tsotsi goes up to them. There is one which is old and rusty and right next to it is one very colourful and inviting and bright. He looks straight thorugh the old rusty one and touches the colourful one with his gun. Here is could represent him. The person he is and the person he will be. A gun shows power and security. As he just looks straight through the rusty one it could show that he is invisible and wants to move away from it and break away. But while looking up the the colourful chime and touching it with his gun this could shows he looks up to people like that but scared to step in that direction. You could say here, he is in limbo. Too scared to move forward but doesn’t want to take a step back.

Representation within this film is Race, Gender and disability. For race, as this film is a African film and the director is not african it shows it through the eyes of a different person. It shows two different parts of the country and what they go through in Johannesburg. Here they are seen as dangerous as Johannesburg has one of the highest crime rates ad as the main character is a thug then it points the audience in that direction. Through gender the male characters are the strongest physically but the females are stronger through mind. So it kind of equals itself out. With the disability is with the guy in the wheel chair. As he is a homeless person it kinds of shows him as weak and cant look after him self and he is vulnerable and a easy victim. In the train station people just walk right by him and not even bother with him. When they do bother with him he is being a target.

Theories- The film doesn’t just go by one theory i think it combines. With the Aristotle theory there is just a beginning middle and end. But i think think this film is more complex than 3 stages within the film. Levi Strauss theory is Binary opposition, this has defiantly got binary opposition between the rich and poor divide. Yladmir Propp theory is 8 types of characters. The hero, villian, donor, dispatcher (messenger) false hero, helper, princess and her father. I don’t think some of these apply but some do like the hero, villain, helper and the princess. The hero would be Tsotsi the villain would be the police, the helper or helpers would be his friends (Gang) and Miriam would be the princess. Izetan Todorov theory is 5 stages within the narrative.

Tsotsi Character Analysis Graphic Organizer

1. A state of equlibrium at the outset- Tsotsi being the thug and does what he does best and commits crimes in his gang.

2. Adisruption of the equlibrium by some action- He hits one of his gang members and his gang falls apart.

3. A recongition that there has been a disruption- The baby comes along while he is steeling the car.

4. An attempt to repair the disruption- He tries to look after the baby but cant so he asked for help from the princess.

5. A vein statement of the equilibrium- The very end when he has changed and become a different person.

Tsotsi Character Analysis Meaning

So i think the 3 theories make up this film and it just doesn’t go by one theory.

In this film you go on a journey with one particular person with a troubled childhood and the ability to change. The catch is that the change in his life was a baby. When he comes into contact with the baby he debates whether or not to give the baby back but as he is getting chased by cops he is forced to keep the baby in his apartment. He is torn between his old life and the new one that is about to come upon him. This film has so many emotional impact on you when you watch it. It doesn’t mean you will cry but you will feel different once you have seen it. When i watched it for the first time the ending got me and thats when i got the emotional impact. In other films you watch the gangster/ thug is the bad person, this film changed your perception of that character. When you see the life of someone that you think is evil it changed your way of thinking about them. The saying applies here ‘Don’t judge a person unless you walk a mile in their shoes.’ With the soundtrack in this film combines very well with the emotion shown on screen. There is a reason why this is one of my favorite films. You have to watch this film to actually know what impact it throws on you. It is not an easy going film to watch.

Structuralism is how a story goes. Its like the structure of the film, its what makes the film up. If you take away a part in the film it changes the whole film all together. The main part of the film is how Tsotsi looks after the baby, but what will happen if you took away the baby? This film will not be what it is. There will be no redemption, no change in his character and the whole story line will be different. I think it will just be a film about a thug and his life. I think it will be still a drama because of what happened in the past to him with his mother dying of aids and his father being a drunk and him running away from home. But without the baby we will not see the other side of him and he wont change.