Research Paper On Long Walk To Freedom

Long Walk to Freedom

Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom is a triumphant narrative of one man’s trials and tribulations as he struggles vehemently to dismantle the system of Apartheid: “the codification in one oppressive system of all the laws and regulations that had kept Africans in an inferior position to whites for centuries” (Mandela 111). Mandela was a freedom fighter who dedicated his life to the creation of a nonracial and egalitarian South Africa. Throughout the autobiography, the leader grapples with the concept of violence as he struggles to make changes while maintaining a positive and reasonable public image. Mandela eventually chooses to utilize violence, but he does so reluctantly as a means to achieve cooperation and compromise with the government. Through Mandela’s story, we see that violence is justifiable and effective

The leader’s use of violence only when provoked makes his actions justified and successful. When Mandela is a young man, he is arrested for his possession of a firearm. However, he never intends to instigate violent acts: “’I inherited it from my father in the Transkei and brought it here because I was afraid of gangsters’” (Mandela 67). Mandela’s possession of a gun is illustrative of his opinion towards violence. While he is not violent, he is also not a pacifist: “sometimes men and nations, even when nonviolent, had to defend themselves when they were attacked” (Mandela 236). Mandela believed that people should be willing and able to defend themselves. Upon the inception of the ANC, the group fights Apartheid with nonviolent organization as they organize strikes and walk-outs. However, the government often responds by attacking protestors: “Eighteen Africans died and many others were wounded in this indiscriminate and unprovoked attack” (Mandela 117). When the ANC’s peaceful protest continue to be met with violent opposition, Mandela decides to make a