The novel Tsotsi, by Athol Fugard, is a story of redemption and reconciliation, which faces the past and confronts the fundamental elements of human nature. The character who undertakes this journey, from which the novel takes its title, is a young man who is part of the lowest stratum of society in a poor slum in South Africa. Tsotsi is a criminal, someone who kills for money and feels no remorse. But he begins to change when circumstances find him in possession of a child, who serves as a catalyst in his life. A chain of events leads him to rediscover his childhood memories and discover why he is the way he is. The novel establishes the parameters of being "human" and brings them to the reader's consideration. The limits of the reader's redemption are tested as Tsotsi comes from a life devoid of what the novel suggests are basic human emotions. The word Tsotsi means "thug", which is what the character is portrayed as at the beginning of the novel. He kills to survive, but the way he does so suggests that it is not out of necessity but rather by choice. When he killed a man in public for his money, he "smiled at the growing bewilderment on the big bastard's face... Just as this happened, Tsotsi leaned close to the dying man and whispered an obscene reference to his mother in his ear" (12) . The novel suggests that he kills not out of desperation, but as a way of life. His reasons are psychological. “The great men, the brave ones, retreated because of him, the fear was for him, the hatred was for him. It was all there because of him. He knew he was." (7). Tsotsi kills not just to survive, but as a way to justify his existence, a way to confirm that he exists. This makes more sense when his fear, the fear of nothingness, is explained. He kills ... in the middle of the paper... the bell of the Church of Christ the Redeemer is ringing loudly” (122). suggest that at that point Tsotsi is redeeming himself. The novel ends with Tsotsi sacrificing himself for a child, which is the final act committed in redemption. Tsotsi begins as a criminal, feeling no remorse. But he changes and his last action is to commit a great act of love; to sacrifice oneself for a child. He regains the memories of his childhood and discovers why he is the way he is a moral, having an identity, having a spirituality and feeling love. Tsotsi learns of them and is redeemed. It's a very moving story about the beauty of human nature and the hope of redemption, no matter what.