1. What “twin obligations" does Mandela mention?
2. 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"?
3. Does Mandela think the oppressor is free? Why/Why not?
Answers
Answer:
1. First obligation - Obligation to the family, to wife, to his parents and to his children.
second obligation - Obligation to his people, to his community, his country.
2.As a boy Mandela says that he was free to run around the field and ride the backs of slow moving bulls, and he was free as long as he obeyed his father and abided by the customs of the tribe. As a student, he wanted freedom only for himself , the transitory freedoms of being able to stay out late at night.
When he became a youth, he yearned for the basic and honorable freedoms of achieving his potential, of yearning his keep of marrying and earning his keep.
3. Mandela thinks the oppressor is not free just as the oppressed is not free. The man who takes away another person's freedom is a prisoner of hatred, locked away behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness.
Answer:
1 Mandela mentions that every man has twin obligations. The first is to his family, parents, wife and children; the second obligation is to his people, his community and his country.
2 Like any other kid, for Mandela freedom meant to make merry and enjoy the blissful life. Once one becomes an adult, antics of childhood looks like transitory because most of the childish activities are wasteful from an adult’s perspective. Once you are adult, you have to earn a livelihood to bring the bacon home. Its only then when you get an honourable existence in the family and in the society.
3 Mandela does not think that the oppressor is free because according to him an oppressor is a victim of hatred who is behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. He realises that both the oppressor and the oppressed are robbed of their humanity and peace.