written by Himadri Das
Introduction
Here is the second part of the line by line by analysis and explanation of the prose piece ‘Long Walk To Freedom’. After you finish reading part I of the analysis and explanation of the text, go through this one. And Once you finish reading this, go through short question answer on Long Way to Freedom. Also read analysis and explanation on A Letter to God.
Line: Perhaps it requires such depths of oppression to create such heights of character. …..……finer and true than the purest diamonds.
Oppression of one by another is a great shame to humanity. But in spite of all the ill-effects of oppression, one thing about it must be acknowledged. Oppression gives man an opportunity to discover his or her true self. It recognises the power hidden within. The more oppression one faces, the more he or she becomes determined to get himself or herself out of such an oppressive system.
Determination makes one desperate. The degree of oppression determines the degree of determination; and the degree of determination determines the degree of desperation. A society in a state of desperation produces leaders with strong characters who, in turn, guides their people towards emancipation.
The author here exposes a different side of oppression that appears to be a blessing in disguise by producing leaders of great character.
The visionary insight of the author makes him say that the people of his country are the greatest wealth of the country. They are much more valuable when compared with the precious minerals and gems that lie beneath the soil.
To the author, the greatest resource of his country is the human resource. A society is made of human beings. A nation is made of human society. The most important raw material needed for the construction of a society is a human being. When a human being is good in character, the society comprising such a human being is bound to be good in quality. A nation built by such a society is also strong and noble. A nation is as rich and strong as its people.
The author here shows his trust in people. He intends to put faith on common people. No nation can progress without the common people of the land. The author compares people with the purest diamonds and holds that people are ‘finer’ and ‘truer than the purest diamonds’.
The author’s hope and optimism and his democratic fervour as a leader is manifested here in his high regard for the common people of his country.
Line: It is from these comrades in the struggle that I learned the meaning of courage. ……………showing a strength and resilience that defies the imagination.
The author here makes an honest acknowledgement that he learned the meaning of courage from ‘these comrades’. What does he mean by ‘these comrades’? In the previous paragraph, he talked about great leaders such as Oliver Tombo, Walter Sisulu, Chief Luthulis, Yusuf Dadoo, Bram Fischer, and Robert Sobukwe. The phrase ‘these comrades’, most probably refers to these leaders of great character.
The author has also spoken highly about the role of common people in the development of a nation.
In the narrow sense ‘comrades’ may refer to his colleagues in the struggle. In a wider sense, the expression ‘these comrades’ may well refer to his fellow countrymen who suffered a lot yet showed resilience against oppression. They did not let oppression break their indomitable spirit.
When a society goes through a phase of desperation, instances of courage become a common occurrence. It requires no greatness or special quality to make sacrifices of supreme nature. The author says that he has seen men and women risking their lives for an idea. When the life of a person is driven by an idea, he or she can do everything to actualise that idea.
The whole-hearted commitment to an idea makes a person do extraordinary things which a person in a normal state of mind cannot even imagine. The urge to attain freedom from oppression, inequality, and injustice was powerful enough to drive people to embrace even death in order to materialise the idea.
When the human mind is overwhelmed with an idea and there is an urge to materialise that idea, pain inflicted from outside sources appears ineffective. The body may receive wounds, even succumbs to wounds but mind and soul remain ineffective. This urge is the greatest source of inner strength, resilience, and courage. When a person achieves inner strength, he or she stands up to torture without breaking. No amount of torture is able to break that person. It is definitely a mark of courage.
Line: I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. ..……but he who conquers that fear.
The author shares with us his experience while working with his comrades for the political freedom of his people. What he learned was really fascinating. He learned that courage does not refer to a state of mind which is devoid of fear. It rather refers to a state of mind that has emerged victorious against the challenges of fear.
The author realises the true meaning of courage. It is an insightful one. He shows us that we may not have to always cultivate courage through continual efforts. Because one part of the human mind is full of courage but the other part is cramped with fearful thoughts. There is a continual struggle between these two parts.
When the fearful thoughts overwhelm the thoughts of courage, the person gets afraid of everything. When the part of the mind with courageous thoughts overcomes the parts with fearful thoughts, the person becomes courageous.
The conclusion that we can draw is that a man is neither courageous nor fearful by birth. Both the elements are the properties of the human mind. There is continual struggle between these contradictory mental elements. It is through a sincere and conscious process, one becomes courageous overcoming all the fearful thoughts. So the author’s perception of courage is an utterly human one.
The author does not deny the existence of fear. He is rational when he expresses his opinion that fear is a normal human emotion and it is like any other human emotion, normal to get afraid of something. A man, according to him, falls in the category of a brave man when he is able to conquer the fear that exists within him. Bravery lies in the way fear is managed and overcome over time.
Line: No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background. ..……..…for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.
Hatred is not inborn. Hatred based on racial or religious prejudices is also not inborn. So hatred is not something that comes naturally to the human mind. According to the author, hatred is an acquired mental phenomenon.
The author applies the same criterion when it comes to love. Love is the mental or emotional phenomenon which is just the opposite of ‘hatred’. The author feels that both of them can be learned. One who is capable of hating another person is also capable of loving others.
The author sounds optimistic when he says that people learn to hate. If they learn to hate, they can also learn to love. And it is easier to teach people to love because according to the author, love comes to the human heart more naturally compared to hatred.
The author's belief that love comes to the human heart more naturally bears out his faith on human beings. This belief bears out his optimistic frame of mind in dealing with people in general.
The author is not only optimistic but we may also consider him idealistic when he says, ‘...love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.’ Here he tries to put man in a positive light. The author acts as a true leader in manifesting a positive frame of mind.
Line: even in the grimmest times in prison, when my comrades and I were pushed to our limits, …..……..Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished
One of the qualities of a leader is to remain positive even in trying situations. The higher the degree of difficulty, the brighter the true leader shines. The qualities of a true leader is such that he or she finds a ray of hope when there is nothing but darkness.
It is really hard to find traces of hope and positivity when one is imprisoned and faced with inhuman treatment. Such inhuman treatment breaks a person. It crushes the confidence and self-respect of a person in such a way that he or she is never able to live as a human being.
According to the author, the times spent in prison are ‘the grimmest times’. In prison, the author and his comrades were pushed to their limits. They were subjected to torture. The prison atmosphere took a test of character as well as a test of leadership qualities of the author.
When the author says that in the grimmest times in prison, he saw ‘ a glimmer of humanity in one of the guards,’ he evidently passes the test of character and the test of leadership. His being able to see ‘glimmer of humanity’ in one of the prison guards, is a manifestation of his insightful vision; his observational power, and the broadness of his mind. That he is able to see ‘glimmer of humanity’ even in one of his enemies speaks volumes of his liberal approach. It also shows that he is devoid of prejudice.
The author admits that he comes across the ‘glimmer of humanity’ only for a flitting second. Still, it was enough for him to bestow his faith upon that experience - no matter how short-lived it was.
The democratic mind of the author always looked for humanity in human beings for all the good qualities of human beings - love, kindness, compassion, sympathy - are characterised by the word humanity. All these qualities make a person a complete human being. Becoming a good human being should be the ultimate motto of life and a prerequisite for a successful democracy.
Humanity stands for the inner goodness of man. The author never lost faith in man's inner goodness. He was ever sure about the existence of this goodness. Each time he discovered it in man, he got energised and his faith increased manifold. The hope and positivity he gathered, made him move forward overcoming all the disappointments and debacles.
Goodness is something that is an inborn quality. It comes to man naturally. It is spontaneous. The author makes use of a metaphor to describe man’s goodness. He describes it as a flame. The spontaneity and the innateness of human goodness makes it an ever-awakened quality. It may go in the hiding but it never dies. Burdened with the pressure of life, goodness may not get manifested easily, but it continues to exist and comes out in critical moments.
Line: In life, every man has twin obligations - obligations to his family, to his parents, to his wife and children. …………..almost impossible for a man of my birth and colour to fulfil both of those obligations.
In these lines, the author speaks about ‘twin obligations’ of a person. One obligation is personal in nature - the obligation is to his or her family, relatives, and near and dear ones. There is another obligation in a man’s life - obligation to his or her people.
To put it simply, there are two sides to a man’s life. One is personal and the other is related to public life. Both sides come together to make one a complete human being.
In a free society, each man is able to fulfill his or her obligations according to his or her choice and ability. This results in showing regard for human dignity. According to the author, people of his birth and colour in South Africa did not get dignity. The author here refers to racial discriminations meted out to a large number of people on the basis of their birth and colour. He criticises the South African system for denying people a dignified life that would allow them to fulfill their personal and public obligations simultaneously.
Line: In South Africa, a man of colour who attempted to live as a human being was punished and isolated. …..……a twilight existence of secrecy and rebellion.
The author further delves deep into the matter and provides us with some more clarifications as to what he intends to say with regard to the South African system. He tells us that a man of colour in South Africa was punished and isolated. For such people of colour, obligation to people meant service to the community of coloured people and not the service to the nation in entirety.
There was a deep chasm in the society. A man of colour trying to fulfill his duty to his people meant an effort towards upliftment of the community as a whole. Service to the community meant striving towards a life of dignity. Striving towards achieving a life of dignity for the people of colour in South Africa evidently meant a direct challenge to the oppressive system based on racial discrimination. Any effort that defied the racial system meant rebellion. So any effort by a man of colour to fulfill his or her obligations to his or her community ultimately meant a rebellion against the established order.
Life of rebellion is opposed to a normal life. It means that in South Africa, the established system was such that no man of colour was allowed to work for the upliftment of his community; no man of colour was allowed to talk about the rights of the people of his community. This clearly points to a reign of injustice where any effort by a man of colour to fulfill his or her duty to his or her people was considered a rebellion against the system of injustice.
A life of rebellion, in turn, ‘ripped’ the very person ‘from his family and his home’. He was ‘forced to live a life apart’. A life of rebellion is a life of secrecy. A country prospers when all sections of people grow economically, spiritually, and culturally. A country gets enriched when the backward and weaker sections of its society are able to place themselves on the path of all-round growth and join hands with other sections of the society towards taking the country to new heights in diverse fields of activity. This is normal and desirable. But in South Africa any effort towards talking about the rights of the people who belonged to the community of coloured people was considered as rebellion. It was indeed an abnormal scenario.
Line: I did not in the beginning choose to place my people above my family. …….a father and a husband.
In these lines, we find an honest admission made by the author clarifying as to why he preferred his obligations to his people over his obligations to his family and home. He admits that in the beginning, he did not choose to place his people above his family. He did so only when realised that he would not be allowed to do his duties as a family man. He preferred the former over the latter.
This very admission by the author highlights a number of interesting aspects about the author’s personality.
Firstly, the author is courageous and honest when he says that he ‘did not in the beginning’ choose to place his people above his family. It shows that he is not going after cheap nobility. He is not yearning after greatness and fame. The author is free from any romantic notion of greatness and heroism.
Secondly, from what he says, it becomes clear that he, at first, tried to strike a balance between his various obligations. He did not want to do things differently.
Thirdly, from what he says it also becomes clear that at a later time he realised that he would not be able to perform all of his duties. This realisation forced him to make a choice. He chose his people over his family. We may conclude that the author was a rational being; thought rationally but in a desperate situation he sacrificed his personal life for a greater cause.
Line: I was not born with a hunger to be free. …….I was not troubled by the laws of man or God.
The free spirit of the author is manifested through these lines. He declares that he was not born with a hunger to be free. He was, in fact, born free.
Here we get to know the author’s notion of freedom. The instances he cites as marks of his freedom are all associated with his childhood days. His freedom came from the pleasure he got in running in the fields near his mother’s hut, pleasure he got in swimming in the clear stream, pleasure he got in roasting mealies under the stars, and pleasure he got in riding the bulls. These activities together form a notion of freedom that is deeply associated with simple childhood pleasure that one gets from physical activities.
The kind of freedom the author is talking about is simple and superficial in nature. All types of freedom are limited by factors - social, political, moral, and financial.
G.B Shaw, in his essay on freedom, shows that the notion of freedom is an illusive one. No one is free in this world. Even in this very paragraph, the author points out two of the limiting factors that constrains his freedom to some extent. This mentioning of these two factors and the author not challenging them, contradicts his claim he made in the beginning of the paragraph that he was born free. The key point is that no one is free on this earth. But a relentless effort should be made to overcome all the factors that seek to put limitations on freedom. This makes one different from the rest.
Line: It was only when I began to learn that my boyhood freedom was an illusion…….….that I began to hunger for it.
The idea of absolute freedom is always an illusion and will remain so forever. There is a huge difference between idealistic notions of freedom and reality. It took very little time for the author to realise that his boyhood freedom was only a temporary phase in his life. It was only a momentary, quick-flitting reality. His awareness of the true nature of ‘boyhood freedom’ and his realisation of deprivation of freedom as a young man made him hungry for freedom.
When the author says that he grew hungry for freedom, it comes as an acceptance of the fact that freedom is not a right that one can enjoy without any effort. It is something that must be earned through struggle. No one is, in reality, born free. The author’s romantic illusions get shattered with the passing of time. (Experience) The author’s journey from innocence to experience begins.
Line: At first, as a student, I wanted freedom only for myself, ……...that freedom not to be obstructed in a lawful life.
The term ‘freedom’ means different things to different people. Meaning of freedom and priority for a particular type of freedom is subject to a person’s age and interest. Most people only have a very limited type of freedom. This is also true for the author. He tells us that as a student, what he meant as freedom was the freedom of staying out at night, the freedom of being able to read what he pleased, and the freedom of being able to go where he wanted to. All these are examples of personal freedom having no wider implications.
What the author yearned for as a young man was the freedom of achieving his potential, the freedom of being able to earn, the freedom of getting married. These are related to the quality of living and personal fulfillment.
Upon closer examination, we may come to the conclusion that there is a qualitative difference between the freedom he wanted as a student and the freedom he wanted as a young man. The former type of freedom is temporary and impulsive in nature. The latter type is far more basic and deeply linked with deeper issues of human rights. These are political in nature. The author ends the paragraph by mentioning that these are the types of freedom that are the very basis of a lawful life. If denied, they may have serious consequences on human rights.
Line: But then I slowly saw that not only was I not free but my brothers and sisters were not free. ……….….the hunger for my own freedom became the greater hunger for the freedom of my people.
Some of the lines already discussed, have revealed to us the author’s preoccupation with his personal freedom which is temporal in nature without having any wider implications. What he has said with regard to freedom ( see lines ‘It was only when i began….. lawful life’) is purely driven by personal interest and narrow in scope.
In the above lines in discussion, we notice a change in his attitude. Here the author shares with us a change in his mind. The change is taking place slowly but surely. He comes out of his preoccupation with his own interest-driven freedom. He shares with us his realisation that he, along with each person who liked him, was not free. Here we notice in him a sense of collective freedom for the collective well being of his community.
Take a closer look at the expression ‘my brothers and sisters.’ This very expression is not a mark of sympathy. It is an indication of empathy. The author has grown empathetic towards the people of his community. This empathy comes to him because he, like many from his community, has suffered a lot. Suffering and deprivation has united them as one. The author’s sense of lack of freedom makes him look at others in his community and when he does so, he discovers that everywhere the story is somewhat the same, his own interests take a backseat. He moves from self-interest driven narrow form of freedom to an idea of freedom in the collective interest of a deprived community.
A change in the author's mind is the outcome of his reflective mind. He reflects upon the true nature of freedom he is allowed to have and comes to a conclusion that freedom is illusive not only to him but also to people who look like him.
The author does not stop being reflective. He gets to the next level by being active. He joins the African National Congress to alleviate the pain and suffering of his people. Thus we see that after reflection comes action. The author's decision to join the African National Congress had a wide implication. Joining a party to fight for freedom signifies an end to the author’s pre-occupation with his own freedom. It is the outward manifestation of an inner change in attitude in the author’s mind regarding the idea of freedom. It marks a journey from subjectivity to objectivity, from narrowness to broadness, from personal interest to collective well being.
Line: It was this desire for the freedom of my people to live their lives with dignity and self-respect…..…….that forced a life-loving man to live like a monk.
The lines discussed here contain an explanation by the author as to why and how he was transformed from a normal law-abiding fellow to a rebel - a criminal. Desire for freedom and a life of dignity required a high price to be paid. The cost of freedom has always been very high and will remain so forever. It often requires sacrifices of supreme nature to be made. The life of the author clearly shows us what price one has to pay for freedom.
These lines show us what one goes through before being fully converted into a rebel from a frightened young man. A hero is not born but made. a rebel is also not born but made. There are several socio-political and economic factors that come into play in the making of a rebel.
The conclusion we may draw from what the author reveals is that he became a rebel from a frightened young man, a law-abiding citizen, only out of compulsion. It is, in no way, a matter of choice. It is neither a matter of pride, nor a matter of heroism.
The author does not intend to build a larger than life like image for him. He is extremely humane when he describes himself as ‘a life-loving man’ and ‘a family-loving husband.’ When he declares himself so, we easily identify ourselves with him. We further connect with him when he says that he has been forced to give up the life he loved and had to choose the life of a monk. He sounds somewhat helpless. It further makes him humble. This human side of the author makes us love him more.
What he says about his transformation marks his humility. But a question that may come to our mind is - was he really forced to choose the life of a rebel on a purely personal level? Has anybody forced him to do so? The answer is no. He might have passed the responsibility to fight for freedom and dignity to any other person and could have led a life of compromise. But it was his conscience, a call from his inner self, that made him do so.
Line: I am no more virtuous or self-sacrificing than the next man, ………..the chains on all of my people were the chains on me.
The greatness of Mandela, the author, lies in the fact that he does not yearn for nobility or greatness. He does not pretend to be great or noble. He identifies himself with common people. This becomes evident when he declares that he is ‘no more virtuous or self-sacrificing than the next man.’ He prefers to live his life as a common man rather than a hero. His awareness of the bondage of his people takes away his happiness derived from the limited privilege he was allowed to have.
The author’s opinion that freedom is ‘indivisible’ is a very important observation. Freedom at the expense of others is no freedom. Freedom is a positive phenomenon. Freedom for a community signifies collective well being of that community. It strives to create an atmosphere in which everybody can flourish according to his or her abilities.
Freedom bestowed upon any particular individual cannot be considered as freedom because such type of freedom does nothing for the collective well-being of people. It only tries to fulfill the interests of an individual in an atmosphere where deprivation reigns supreme. This only creates division in society and acts contrary to the very purpose of freedom - unity and prosperity. Hence, freedom is indivisible because it is for all to enjoy.
The author talks about the chains on all his people. Look at the way he links one member of his community to another. His world view is emphatic. He sees his people in the light of empathy and presents each of them as having a lot of the same quality. It ultimately creates a network of people in which each one plays an important part; one’s deprivation signifies the deprivation of the lot; chains on one signifies the chains on the entire lot.
In such a situation, the sense of belonging to the community is extremely high. The author’s view that freedom is indivisible and his effort to relate each one from his community to himself by saying that ‘the chains on anyone of my people were the chains on all of them’ and ‘the chains on all of my people were the chains on me’ shows his empathy and his deep sense of belonging to his community.
Line: I know that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. ……… The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.
The lines we are going to explore here are from the concluding paragraph of the prose piece ‘Long Way to Freedom’ by Nelson Mandela. The concluding paragraph manifests an altogether different aspect of the author’s personality. So far we have come to know about his respect for democratic values, his love for people and the faith he has on them. We have come to know about his transformation from a regular law abiding fellow to a rebel. We have also come to know about his empathy for his people.
In the opening line of the paragraph, he tells us ‘that the oppressors must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed’. This very line points towards the broadness of his mind. This line is a clear sign of his hermit-like wisdom. It also points out the sublime nature of his thinking.
But the question is why he says so. We do not have to look far for the answer. According to him, one who is an oppressor is not at all free. The mind of an oppressor is a hostage to hatred. It is under the captivity of violence, cruelty, and insanity. In short, the mind of the oppressor reels under the bondage of all types of sinister thoughts and designs. The author has said that the oppressor ‘is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrowmindedness.’ - Mark the language used by the author. Negative mental states such as prejudice and narrowmindedness are described as lock up and prison. In the prison made of prejudice and narrowmindedness, the oppressor is perpetually locked up.
The metaphorical language used by the author makes the prison imagery quite touching. When the oppressed is robbed off his or her freedom, he or she is physically, emotionally, and economically drained. When the oppressor is very much into robbing people off their freedom, he or she is spiritually and emotionally drained and fallen. Ensuring freedom is a very delicate state of affairs. Attack on anyone’s freedom disturbs the balance. Humanity itself becomes the ultimate casualty.
Conclusion
Read this analysis if you want clarification on any of the portion of the text. The analysis is detailed and in depth. You can also go through the first part of the analysis and explanation of Long Way To Freedom and short questions and answers along with this one. There is another article on detailed analysis of A Letter to God and word note and vocabulary on A Letter to God that you can check after reading this one.
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