Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 2 Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom Notes in English

1Background: The Writer and the Day

1.1 About the Writer

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela led the fight against apartheid in South Africa along with his party, the African National Congress (ANC). The book tells us he had to spend thirty years in prison. When South Africa finally held democratic elections in 1994, he became the first black President of the new nation. This chapter is an extract from his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, so it is told in the first person (“I”) by Mandela himself.

1.2 The News Report of 10 May 1994

Before the chapter begins, the book prints a BBC news item from that day. It gives the hard facts you should remember:

The report adds that this came “after more than three centuries of White rule”, and that the ceremony was held in the Union Buildings amphitheatre in Pretoria. Blacks, whites and coloureds celebrated together on the streets afterwards.

2The Chapter, Step by Step

The extract moves from what Mandela saw on that day to what he thought and felt about his long struggle. Here is its shape at a glance.

2.1 The Morning of the Inauguration

The tenth of May began bright and clear. For days, world leaders and dignitaries had been coming to pay their respects, and Mandela says he had been “pleasantly besieged” by them, that is, happily surrounded on all sides. It was to be the largest gathering of international leaders ever on South African soil.

The ceremony was held in the beautiful sandstone amphitheatre of the Union Buildings in Pretoria. For decades this place had been “the seat of white supremacy”, the centre of white rule. Now it hosted “a rainbow gathering of different colours and nations” for the installation of the country’s first democratic, non-racial government.

2.2 The Oath

Mandela was accompanied by his daughter Zenani. The order of the swearing-in matters for MCQs:

Mandela pledged to obey and uphold the Constitution and to devote himself to the well-being of the Republic and its people.

2.3 The Speech

Speaking to the guests and to “the watching world”, Mandela made five points:

What he said (key words)	What it means
“an extraordinary human disaster that lasted too long”	Apartheid. Out of that long suffering a new society must be born, one that all humanity can be proud of.
“We, who were outlaws not so long ago”	Because of apartheid, many countries had broken off diplomatic relations with South Africa. Now the same country was host to the nations of the world.
“a common victory for justice, for peace, for human dignity”	He thanks the guests for coming to share this victory with the people of South Africa.
“political emancipation”	Political freedom has been won. Next he pledges to free all the people from “poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination”.
“Never, never, and never again”	This beautiful land will never again see the oppression of one people by another. He ends: “Let freedom reign. God bless Africa!”

The “glorious human achievement” is the birth of a free, democratic South Africa in which people of every colour have equal rights. The repeated “never” shows how firmly he promises that the past will not return.

2.4 The Air Show

Moments later, South African jets, helicopters and troop carriers roared over the Union Buildings in perfect formation. Mandela saw it as more than a show of “pinpoint precision and military force”. It was the army showing its loyalty to democracy, to a government that had been freely and fairly elected.

Just before this, the highest generals of the defence force and police, their chests covered with ribbons and medals, had saluted him and pledged their loyalty. Mandela notes that not many years earlier these same men would not have saluted him but arrested him. Finally a chevron (V-shaped pattern) of Impala jets left a smoke trail in the colours of the new flag: black, red, green, blue and gold.

2.5 The Two National Anthems

For Mandela, the whole day was summed up by the playing of the country’s two national anthems. He saw:

That day neither group knew the words of the anthem it “once despised”, but Mandela says they would soon know them by heart. The two anthems stand for respect between both races and a shared, united nation.

2.6 A Sense of History

Mandela felt “overwhelmed with a sense of history”, meaning he felt deeply moved as he remembered all the past events that had led to this moment.

2.7 The Heroes Behind the Day

Mandela insists the day came from “the unimaginable sacrifices of thousands of my people”. He felt he was “simply the sum of all those African patriots who had gone before me”: their long and noble line ended and began again with him. It hurt him that those heroes would never hear his thanks, nor see the result their sacrifices had produced.

Apartheid left “a deep and lasting wound” that would take years, perhaps generations, to heal. Yet it had an unintended effect: it produced men of rare courage, wisdom and generosity. The book names six:

South Africa is rich in minerals and gems, but Mandela says its greatest wealth is its people, “finer and truer than the purest diamonds”.

2.8 What Courage Means

From these comrades Mandela learned what courage is. He had seen men and women risk and give their lives for an idea, and stand up to attacks and torture without breaking, with a resilience (power to bear hardship and recover) that is beyond imagination.

2.9 Love Comes More Naturally Than Hate

Mandela believes no one is born hating another person because of skin colour, background or religion. Hate has to be learned, and if people can learn to hate, they can also be taught to love, because love comes more naturally to the human heart.

Even in the grimmest days in prison, when he and his comrades were “pushed to our limits”, he would sometimes see “a glimmer of humanity” (a small sign of kindness) in one of the guards. Even a second of it was enough to keep him going.

2.10 The Twin Obligations

In a civil and humane society, a man can fulfil both according to his own inclinations and abilities. In apartheid South Africa this was almost impossible for a man of Mandela’s birth and colour:

• A man of colour who tried to live as a human being was punished and isolated.
• A man who tried to serve his people was inevitably torn away from his family and home.
• He was forced into “a twilight existence of secrecy and rebellion”, a half-hidden life lived in the shadows.

Mandela says he did not choose, at first, to put his people above his family. But in serving his people he found he could not do his duty as a son, a brother, a father and a husband.

2.11 How His Idea of Freedom Grew

This is one of the most important parts of the chapter. Mandela says he was not born hungry for freedom; he was born free, in every way he knew.

Stage of life	What freedom meant
Boyhood (in his village)	Running in the fields near his mother’s hut, swimming in the clear village stream, roasting mealies (maize) under the stars, riding the broad backs of slow-moving bulls. As long as he obeyed his father and the customs of his tribe, nothing troubled him.
Student	He found his boyhood freedom was an illusion. He wanted freedom only for himself: the “transitory freedoms” of staying out at night, reading what he liked and going where he chose.
Young man in Johannesburg	He wanted “the basic and honourable freedoms”: achieving his potential, earning his keep, marrying and having a family, and not being blocked in leading a lawful life.
Grown man	Slowly it struck him that this was not his problem alone: every person with his skin colour was held back in the same way. He joined the African National Congress, and the hunger for his own freedom became the greater hunger for the freedom of his people.

2.12 How the Hunger for Freedom Changed Him

The wish that his people should live with dignity and self-respect drove his whole life. The book lists four changes:

Mandela does not claim to be a better man than others. His point is that any small freedom he was allowed felt empty to him as long as his people stayed in chains.

2.13 The Oppressor Is Not Free Either

Mandela’s final idea is surprising: the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A man who takes away another’s freedom is “a prisoner of hatred”, locked “behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness”. So Mandela is not truly free if he takes someone else’s freedom, just as he is not free when his own is taken. In the end, “The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.”

3Themes and Message

3.1 The Five Main Themes

3.2 Mandela as a Person (character points)

Quality	Evidence from the chapter
Humble	Calls himself “simply the sum” of the patriots before him; says he is no more virtuous than the next man.
Grateful	Pained that he cannot thank those who died; thanks the international guests.
Forgiving, free of hatred	Wants the oppressor liberated too; sees goodness even in prison guards.
Selfless	Gave up family life and home for his people’s freedom.
Courageous	Defines courage as conquering fear, and lived by it.

4Thinking about the Text: Short Answers

1. Why did so many international leaders attend? What did it signify? They came to honour the end of apartheid and the birth of a democratic, non-racial government. It was a triumph of justice, peace and human dignity, and of equality over racial discrimination.
2. “Simply the sum of all those African patriots”? Mandela means his success is not his alone; it is the total of the sacrifices of all the freedom fighters before him, whose noble line continued through him.
3. Do “depths of oppression” create “heights of character”? Mandela shows it through Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu, Chief Luthuli and others, whom harsh oppression made exceptionally brave and wise. Students may add examples such as Mahatma Gandhi or Bhagat Singh in India’s freedom struggle (your own examples).
4. How did his understanding of freedom change? From a boy’s carefree play, to a student’s personal freedoms, to a young man’s basic freedoms of work and family, and finally to the freedom of his whole people.
5. How did the “hunger for freedom” change his life? It made a frightened young man bold, a law-abiding attorney a “criminal”, a family-loving husband homeless, and a life-loving man live like a monk.

5Words to Know

These are the book’s own margin meanings, as used in this chapter.

Word / phrase	Meaning in the chapter
besieged by	surrounded closely by
amphitheatre	a building without a roof, with rows of seats rising in steps (as in ancient Greece and Rome)
confer	(formal) give
emancipation	freedom from restriction
deprivation	the state of not having one’s rightful benefits
discrimination	being treated differently or unfavourably
spectacular array	an impressive, colourful display
not unmindful of	conscious of; aware of
chevron	a pattern in the shape of a V
despised	had a very low opinion of
wrought	(old, formal) done, achieved
profound	deep and strong
resilience	the ability to deal with hardship and recover from its effects
pushed to our limits	pushed to the last point of our ability to bear pain
inclinations	natural tendencies of behaviour
inevitably	unavoidably
illusion	something that seems real but is not
transitory	not permanent
curtailed	reduced
prejudice	a strong dislike without any good reason

5.1 Expressions from the Book’s Activity

Expression	Meaning
a rainbow gathering of different colours and nations	a beautiful coming together of many peoples, like the colours of a rainbow
the seat of white supremacy	the centre of racial superiority
overwhelmed with a sense of history	deeply moved, remembering all the past events that led to this moment
resilience that defies the imagination	an almost unimaginable power to stay unchanged by suffering
a glimmer of humanity	a small sign of human feeling such as kindness or pity
a twilight existence	a half-secret life, like life in the fading light between sunset and dark

5.2 Idioms (Thinking about Language III)

• I was not unmindful of the fact: I had not forgotten; I was aware of the fact.
• pushed to our limits: felt we could not bear the suffering any longer.
• keep me going: help me go on living in hope in a very hard situation.
• earning my keep: earning enough money to live on.

5.3 Noun Forms (Thinking about Language I)

Many nouns in the chapter are made from verbs with -ion, -ation or -ment: form → formation, govern → government, rebel → rebellion, constitute → constitution, inaugurate → inauguration, emancipate → emancipation, discriminate → discrimination, deprive → deprivation. In the book’s Martin Luther King paragraph the answers are contribution, assistance, subjugation, humiliation, imprisonment and resistance.