Thinking About Your Thinking

Metacognitive Reading Worksheet

Tsotsi by Athol Fugard — Chapter 12: "My Name is David Madondo"

NAME

DATE

A DAY

B DAY

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Essential Questions for the Final Chapter

Can people fundamentally change? • Can evil acts be redeemed by later ones? • What is the relationship between memory and identity?

BEFORE READING: ACTIVATE & PREDICT

Monitoring

1. At the end of Chapter 11, Boston directed Tsotsi towards God. How does a man like Tsotsi — raised in apartheid townships, shaped by violence and abandonment — encounter something like faith or redemption? What do you predict this final chapter will look like?

2. The novel has been building to a resolution of the essential questions above. As you read, what specific moments or images will you watch for that might constitute Fugard's answer to whether redemption is possible?

DURING READING: MONITOR & QUESTION

Clarifying

Comprehension Check-In: Rate your understanding of each section as you read (1 = confused, 5 = clear).

Section	1	2	3	4	5
Isaiah and Miss Marriot; what each represents; the contradiction between their visions of salvation
Isaiah and Tsotsi's conversation; what Isaiah sees; what Tsotsi hears in Isaiah's faith
Tsotsi's final visit to Miriam; what he asks; her answer; what "Come back" means at the end
The ending: "My name is David Madondo" — what Tsotsi does, and what it means for the baby

Double-Entry Journal: Record a passage that struck you and explain your thinking.

Passage from the Text (with page number)	My Thinking: Why did this passage stand out to me?

Full Circle Tracker: Chapter 12 deliberately echoes earlier moments in the novel.

For each echo below, describe what has changed — and what the transformation reveals about Tsotsi's journey.

Earlier in the Novel	Chapter 12 Echo	What Has Changed? What Does This Resolve?
Ch. 3: The bluegum trees where Tsotsi finds the baby — a place of abandonment and survival	Ch. 12: The bluegum tree again — Isaiah, the light, and the possibility of God
Ch. 9: "My name is Tsotsi" — a name that erases identity and denies the past	Ch. 12: "My name is David Madondo" — the name fully reclaimed and spoken aloud
Ch. 1: Tsotsi as life-taker — the first act we witness is murder on a train	Ch. 12: David as life-saver — he sacrifices himself so the baby can live
Ch. 8: Miriam forced to feed the baby at knifepoint — care coerced from fear	Ch. 12: Miriam offers rest willingly — "Come back" — care given freely

AFTER READING: REFLECT & CONNECT

Connecting

1. Miss Marriot offers a version of care that is organised, systematic, and tied to the structures of apartheid. Isaiah offers something entirely different. What is the contradiction between them — and what does Fugard seem to be saying about how change actually happens in people's lives?

2. Isaiah reaches Tsotsi through simple presence and witness — not through doctrine or instruction. What does this suggest about what it actually takes for one person to reach another who has been as deeply damaged as Tsotsi?

3. How do you read the ending? Is it a triumph, a tragedy, or both at once? Tsotsi saves the baby and speaks his true name — but he does not survive. What does Fugard seem to be saying with this particular resolution?

4. Metacognitive Parallel — Rediscovering Something Hidden in Yourself: Tsotsi's journey is the story of recovering something essential that had been buried — a name, a past, a capacity for feeling. Has there been a moment in your own life when you rediscovered something about yourself that you had hidden, suppressed, or forgotten? What caused the rediscovery — and what changed as a result?

TSOTSI UNIT — METACOGNITIVE READING PRACTICE | CHAPTER 12 | MONITOR. QUESTION. CLARIFY. CONNECT.