Ms. Bowers
English 12
10/10/10
Mandela, Nelson. Long Walk to Freedom. South Africa: Purnell, 1994.
Remember Marthin Luther King, Rosa Parks and several other African-American who opposed racism? Long Walk to Freedom is the bibliography of Nelson Mandela, it depicts all his struggles but also all his success during his journey.
He begins by his birth and the importance of his name "Rolihlahla" wich in his native langage meant "pulling the branch of a tree" but really "troublemaker", and this forshadowing turns out to be ironic because he was a troublemaker in the sense that he rebelled for what was right. Nelson gets a life emprisonment for rebelling, treason and conspiracy against the South African Government. Mandela was fighting like Martin Luther and Rosa Parks for justice. He opposed to the idea of being inferior because of skin color. This book includes a lot of emotions do to all the hardship encountered, it is the story of an epic life told by the hero himself.
One of the main theme of the novel was respect, people want and need to be respected no matter where they come from. The theme of the story strongly emphasised on being dedicated to ones cause and never giving up no matter how hard it is. After all the hardships, Nelson Mandela became known as a martyr and those who oppressed him before are now praising him.
I liked reading this book because I am african and may be if Nelson Mandela never stood up for what he believed, I would still be discriminated today. It is an important story of African delivrance and is a good example of how to pursue a life goal, showing that failure is just part of the process. I would recommend this book because it has so much insights and people say the winners write history, but the oppressed one wrote it this time. I think all types of people could read this book, but the ones who have a strong pechant for history books will enjoy it more. The bibliography of Marthin Luther King would be a good book to read too.
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