SECTION –C (LITERATURE) FIRST FLIGHT
PROSE: NELSON MANDELA – LONG WALK TO FREEDOM – Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela GIST
Nelson Mandela became South Africa‘s first Black President after more than three centuries of White rule. Mandela had spent a life time fight against ‗apartheid‘. He had spent thirty years in prison fighting for the democratic rights of the Black and Coloured people of South Africa.
UNIT 2
PROSE: NELSON MANDELA – LONG WALK TO FREEDOM – Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela GIST
Nelson Mandela became South Africa‘s first Black President after more than three centuries of White rule. Mandela had spent a life time fight against ‗apartheid‘. He had spent thirty years in prison fighting for the democratic rights of the Black and Coloured people of South Africa.
Mr. Mandela‘s African National Congress (ANC) party won 252 of the 400 seats in the first democratic elections of South Africa‘s history.
In this extract from his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela speaks about a historic occasion, ‗the inauguration‘ on 10th May 1994.
The inauguration ceremony took place in the Union Building‘s amphitheater in Pretoria today, attended by politicians and dignitaries from more than 140 countries around the world.
EXTRACT BASED COMPREHENSION QUESTION EXERCISES
Q1. ‗Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.
The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement‘
Questions:
a) Who is the speaker?
b) Which is the beautiful land the speaker refers to here?
c) What is the ‗glorious a human achievement‘ that the speaker talks about in the extract?
d) The idiom ‗The sun shall never set‘ means:
i) It is always bright in the land
ii) The sun always shines in the land
iii) The people will enjoy the freedom attained forever
iv) It is never dark in the country
Answers
a) The speaker is Nelson Mandela
b) The beautiful land is South Africa
c) The freedom that the people of South Africa have attained/ freedom attained after the fight against
‗apartheid‘/first democratic non-racial government.
d) The people will enjoy the freedom attained forever
Q2. ‘It is from these comrades in the struggle that I learned the meaning of courage. Time and again, I have seen men and women risk and give their lives for an idea. I have seen men stand up to attacks and torture without breaking, showing a strength and resilience that defies the imagination. I learnt that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.‘
Questions:
i) Who learnt the meaning of courage?
ii) What has he seen again and again?
iii) What has he noticed (seen) about the people?
iv) Define ‗Courage‘ as given here?
Answers
i) Nelson Mandela
ii) He has seen men and women risk and give their life for the idea of freedom, again and again
iii) He has seen men stand up to attacks and torture showing strength and resilience.
iv) Courage doesn‘t mean the absence of fear but the triumph over it. It mind to stand up to attacks without breaking, showing strength and resilience.
SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS – (30 - 40 words)
1. What according to Nelson Mandela is true freedom?
2. What did Nelson Mandela pledge when he was sworn in as President?
Answers
1. According to Mandela, true freedom means, not to be obstructed in leading a lawful life.
2. Nelson Mandela pledged freedom and justice for all the black and coloured people of South Africa. He promised to uphold the constitution of his country and devote himself to liberate his people from the bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination.
LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS – (100-150 words)
1. What were the difficulties Nelson Mandela encountered while fighting for freedom
2. What were Nelson Mandela‘s views on the policy of Apartheid?
Answers – Main Points
1. Nelson Mandela underwent extreme hardships and suffering. He was a true patriot and sacrificed his personal comforts and that of his family‘s while demanding freedom and equality for all his countrymen. He and his comrades were oppressed, punished and imprisoned for resisting the white rule. He was imprisoned for almost thirty years. His persistence and sacrifice culminated in the independence of South Africa.
2. Nelson Mandela says that Apartheid created a deep and lasting wound in his country. It cast a shadow on the people of South Africa - deep wounds that would take many years to heal. The oppression and brutality that the people of the nation had been subjected to had no parallel. From this situation arouse a spirit of aggression in the minds of men and produced men of extraordinary courage, wisdom and generosity. Mandela believed that the greatest wealth of South Africa are the people of the nation. The more the oppression rained on them the more the spirit to fight back was triggered in the minds of the people. In the end victory for the people of South Africa prevailed and they attained Independence on 10th May 1994.
UNSOLVED QUESTIONS SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
1. What does Mandela mean to say that the oppressor and the oppressed alike are robbed off their humanity?
2. What are the twin obligations that Mandela talks about? LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS
1. Do you agree with Mandela that the ‗depths of oppression‘ create ‗heights of character‘? Explain how he illustrates this.
2. How did Mandela‘s ‗hunger for freedom‘ change his life?
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