Tsotsi

by

Athol Fugard

Die Aap is a member of Tsotsi’s gang, which also includes Boston and Butcher. “Die Aap” means “monkey” in Afrikaans (the language of South Africa’s white minority Afrikaner population), a stereotyped and offensive nickname for a Black man that supposedly derives from Die Aap’s “long arms.” That Die Aap chooses to go by this nickname suggests he has internalized white South African racism under apartheid. Tsotsi recruited Die Aap for his gang to exploit Die Aap’s physical strength. Die Aap tends to agree with Tsotsi and follow him unquestioningly. He participates in Gumboot Dhlamini’s murder by pinning Gumboot’s arms while Butcher stabs him. After Tsotsi comes into possession of the baby, Die Aap and Butcher lobby Tsotsi to do another job with them, which leads to Tsotsi stalking but eventually sparing Morris Tshabalala. When Tsotsi begins to drift away from the gang, Die Aap is confused and worried. Eventually, Die Aap visits Tsotsi’s room and tells him Butcher has joined another man’s gang. He suggests that he and Tsotsi recruit a new gang. Tsotsi refuses and tells Die Aap to leave, a decision that marks Tsotsi’s definitive break with gang life.

Die Aap Quotes in Tsotsi

The Tsotsi quotes below are all either spoken by Die Aap or refer to Die Aap. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Apartheid and Racism Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

[Tsotsi’s] knowledge was without any edge of enjoyment. It was simply the way it should be, feeling in this the way other men feel when they see the sun in the morning. The big men, the brave ones, stood down because of him, the fear was of him, the hate was for him. It was all there because of him. He knew he was. He knew he was there, at that moment, leading the others to take one on the trains.

Related Characters: Tsotsi (David), Boston, Die Aap, Butcher
Page Number: 7
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

[Tsotsi’s] own eyes in front of a mirror had not been able to put together the eyes, and the nose, and the mouth and the chin, and make a man with meaning. His own features in his own eyes had been as meaningless as a handful of stones picked up at random in the street outside his room. He allowed himself no thought of himself, he remembered no yesterdays, and tomorrow existed only when it was the present, living moment. He was as old as that moment, and his name was the name, in a way, of all men.

Related Characters: Tsotsi (David), Boston, Die Aap, Butcher, Gumboot Dhlamini, Soekie
Page Number: 20-21
Explanation and Analysis:

They stayed that way until the street cried, then laughter, and Soekie started her song again at the beginning, staying like that, Boston still, Tsotsi seemingly the same as always, the one in disbelief, the other at the explosive moment of action, and this moment precipitated when Boston whispered: ‘You must have a soul Tsotsi. Everybody’s got a soul. Every living human being has got a soul!’

Related Characters: Boston (speaker), Tsotsi (David), Die Aap, Butcher, Soekie
Page Number: 26
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

Tsotsi knew one thing very definitely now. Starting last night, and maybe even before that, because sitting there with a quiet mind to the events of the past hours it seemed almost as if there might have been a beginning before the bluegum trees, but regardless of where or when, he had started doing things that did not fit into the pattern of his life. There was no doubt about this. The pattern was too simple, too clear, woven as it had been by his own hands, using his knife like a shuttle to carry the red thread of death and interlace it with others stained in equally sombre hues. The baby did not belong and certainly none of the actions that had been forced on him as a result of its presence, like buying baby milk, or feeding it or cleaning it or hiding it with more cunning and secrecy than other people hid what they had from him.

Related Characters: Tsotsi (David), The Baby, Die Aap, Butcher
Related Symbols: Tsotsi’s Knife
Page Number: 55-56
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

It was the awareness of alternatives that disturbed Tsotsi and seemed to paralyse his will. Up to that moment he had lived his life as the victim of dark impulses. They had been ready, rising to his moments of need all through his life. Where they came from he never knew, and their reasons for coming he had never questioned. What he realized now was that something had tampered with the mechanism that had governed his life, inhibiting its function.

Related Characters: Tsotsi (David), Die Aap, Butcher
Page Number: 70
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Tsotsi LitChart as a printable PDF.
Tsotsi PDF

Die Aap Quotes in Tsotsi

The Tsotsi quotes below are all either spoken by Die Aap or refer to Die Aap. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Apartheid and Racism Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

[Tsotsi’s] knowledge was without any edge of enjoyment. It was simply the way it should be, feeling in this the way other men feel when they see the sun in the morning. The big men, the brave ones, stood down because of him, the fear was of him, the hate was for him. It was all there because of him. He knew he was. He knew he was there, at that moment, leading the others to take one on the trains.

Related Characters: Tsotsi (David), Boston, Die Aap, Butcher
Page Number: 7
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

[Tsotsi’s] own eyes in front of a mirror had not been able to put together the eyes, and the nose, and the mouth and the chin, and make a man with meaning. His own features in his own eyes had been as meaningless as a handful of stones picked up at random in the street outside his room. He allowed himself no thought of himself, he remembered no yesterdays, and tomorrow existed only when it was the present, living moment. He was as old as that moment, and his name was the name, in a way, of all men.

Related Characters: Tsotsi (David), Boston, Die Aap, Butcher, Gumboot Dhlamini, Soekie
Page Number: 20-21
Explanation and Analysis:

They stayed that way until the street cried, then laughter, and Soekie started her song again at the beginning, staying like that, Boston still, Tsotsi seemingly the same as always, the one in disbelief, the other at the explosive moment of action, and this moment precipitated when Boston whispered: ‘You must have a soul Tsotsi. Everybody’s got a soul. Every living human being has got a soul!’

Related Characters: Boston (speaker), Tsotsi (David), Die Aap, Butcher, Soekie
Page Number: 26
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

Tsotsi knew one thing very definitely now. Starting last night, and maybe even before that, because sitting there with a quiet mind to the events of the past hours it seemed almost as if there might have been a beginning before the bluegum trees, but regardless of where or when, he had started doing things that did not fit into the pattern of his life. There was no doubt about this. The pattern was too simple, too clear, woven as it had been by his own hands, using his knife like a shuttle to carry the red thread of death and interlace it with others stained in equally sombre hues. The baby did not belong and certainly none of the actions that had been forced on him as a result of its presence, like buying baby milk, or feeding it or cleaning it or hiding it with more cunning and secrecy than other people hid what they had from him.

Related Characters: Tsotsi (David), The Baby, Die Aap, Butcher
Related Symbols: Tsotsi’s Knife
Page Number: 55-56
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

It was the awareness of alternatives that disturbed Tsotsi and seemed to paralyse his will. Up to that moment he had lived his life as the victim of dark impulses. They had been ready, rising to his moments of need all through his life. Where they came from he never knew, and their reasons for coming he had never questioned. What he realized now was that something had tampered with the mechanism that had governed his life, inhibiting its function.

Related Characters: Tsotsi (David), Die Aap, Butcher
Page Number: 70
Explanation and Analysis: