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Apartheid
A shebeen is a bar where alcohol is sold illegally, without the required license. In South African under apartheid, shebeens were often located in Black townships and run by women, like the Tsotsi characters Soekie and Marty. At various points in South Africa under apartheid, shebeens were associated with criminal gang activity but also with political activist meetings and Black/African cultural expression.
Shebeen Quotes in Tsotsi
The Tsotsi quotes below are all either spoken by Shebeen or refer to Shebeen. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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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.
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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!’
Chapter 3
Quotes
The knife was not only his weapon, but also a fetish, a talisman that conjured away bad spirits and established him securely in his life.
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Get the entire Tsotsi LitChart as a printable PDF.
Shebeen Term Timeline in Tsotsi
The timeline below shows where the term Shebeen appears in Tsotsi. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...dog.” Boston again demands to know what that proves. They are drinking at Soekie’s, a shebeen (that is, illegal drinking establishment) in the township. The police often close down shebeens in...
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Chapter 10
...as proof that his memories are correct. Afterward, he runs back home and enters a shebeen to ask after Boston.
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Chapter 11
Boston has been lying unconscious or drinking in a shebeen run by a woman, Marty, since Tsotsi beat him up. When Tsotsi locates Boston there,...
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...he and Johnboy are not similar people, but that doesn’t bother him. Boston goes to shebeens to think and drink until, without realizing it, he’s developed a drinking problem.
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At Marty’s shebeen, Boston meets another gang. One day, after Johnboy is arrested for the passbook business, Boston...
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In the shebeen subculture, Boston gains a reputation as an intelligent but timid person who abuses alcohol “after...
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