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Nelson Mandela - Long Walk To Freedom
At the beginning of his speech, Mandela mentions “an extraordinary human disaster”. What does he mean by this? What is the “glorious … human achievement” he speaks of at the end?
By human disaster Mandela means to say that coloured people have been victimized by the system of racial discrimination. The glorious human achievement is the welcome of a black person as the president of a country where the blacks had never been considered as human beings.
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What does courage mean to Mandela?
Which does he think is natural, to love or to hate?
What “twin obligations” does Mandela mention?
What did being free mean to Mandela as a boy, and as a student? How does he contrast these “transitory freedoms” with “the basic and honourable freedoms”?
Does Mandela think the oppressor is free? Why/Why not?
Why did such a large number of international leaders attend the inauguration? What did it signify the triumph of?
What does Mandela mean when he says he is “simply the sum of all those African patriots” who had gone before him?
Would you agree that the “depths of oppression” create “heights of character”? How does Mandela illustrate this? Can you add your own examples to this argument?
How did Mandela’s understanding of freedom change with age and experience?
How did Mandela’s ‘hunger for freedom’ change his life?
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