ABK –SSJ Class X

CH-2 : Nelson Mandela : Long Walk to Freedom

CLASS X :ENGLISH LITERATURE : FIRST FLIGHT
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ABK -SSJ
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1. How according to Mandela has apartheid affected South Africa? (CBSE 2002)
Ans. According to Mandela, the policy of apartheid has created a deep and lasting wound in his country and his
people. Many generations will be spent recovering from the profound hurt of this policy.
2. Mandela had the 'hunger for freedom? How did it change his life? (CBSE 2015)
Ans. Mandela longed for freedom since his boyhood. He desperately wanted freedom. But as a student he wished
freedom only for himself. Gradually his hunger for freedom increased manifold. It became the greater hunger for the
freedom of his people. This changed him and he joined the African National Congress.
3. What according to Mandela, is true freedom'? (CBSE 2006)
Ans. According to Mandela 'true freedom' means when one is not taking away someone else's freedom and also when
his own freedom is not taken away from him.
4. What ideals does Nelson Mandela set out for the future of South Africa? (CBSE 2009)
Or
What ideals does he set out for the future of South Africa?
Ans. Nelson Mandela pledged to liberate all the people of South Africa from the continuing bondage of poverty,
deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination. He even promised that never-ever again in the future shall
his beautiful land experience the oppression of one person by another. The sun shall never set on the most glorious
human achievement. Freedom shall henceforth reign in South Africa with the country and its people having also
achieved their political emancipation and peace for human dignity.
5. How does Mandela describe the systems of government in his country- (CBSE 2000)
(i) in the first decade and
(ii) in the final decade of the twentieth century?
Ans. (i) In the first decade of the twentieth century, which was a few years after the Anglo-Boer War and before
Mandela's own birth, the white-skinned people of South Africa patched up their differences and erected a system of
racial domination against the dark-skinned people of their own land. The structure they thus created formed the
basis of one of the harshest, most inhumane, societies the world had ever known.
(ii) In the last decade of the 20th century when Mandela was himself 80 years old, that system had been replaced by
one that recognized the rights and freedoms of all people, regardless of the colour of their skin.
6. What does courage mean to Mandela? How did he learn the meaning of courage? (CBSE 2009)
Ans. Mandela has learnt the true meaning of courage from the struggle of the people of his country. Time and again
he has seen men and women at risk and give their lives for an idea. He has seen men stand up to attack and torture
without breaking, showing a strength and the ability to deal with any kind of hardship that defies imagination. He
also learnt that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave is not he who does not feel
afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
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7. Which two obligations, according to Nelson Mandela, does every man have in life? How could a man not fulfill
obligations in a country like South Africa? (CBSE 2008)
Ans. According to Nelson Mandela, every man has twin obligations in life-obligations to his family, to his parents,
wife and children; and he has an obligation to his people, his community and his country. These obligations could
not be fulfilled by a man in a country like South Africa because a man of dark colour who attempted to just live as a
human being was punished and isolated in that country. A who man tried to fulfill his duty to his people was
inevitably ripped from his family and his home and forced to live a life apart from them all.
8. Would you agree that the 'depths of oppression' create 'heights' of character? How does Mandela illustrate this?
Or
'I was not born with a hunger to be free.' When did Mandela begin to hunger for freedom? (CBSE 2008)
Ans. Mandela's hunger for freedom began after seeing the brutality and oppression created by the policy of
apartheid. The structure created by this policy formed the basis of one of the harshest, most inhumane societies the
world has ever known. This policy also created a deep and lasting wound in his country and his people. The decades
of oppression created in him a hunger to be free. It required such depths of oppression to create in him such a
craving for freedom.
9. How did Nelson Mandela's understanding of freedom change with age and experience? (CBSE 2008)
Ans. Mandela was not born with a hunger to be free. He was born free in every way that he knew. As long as he
obeyed his father and abided by the customs of his tribe, no laws troubled him. Gradually he began to realize that his
boyhood freedom was a mere illusion. Then when he discovered as a young man, that his freedom had already been
taken from him, he actually began hungering for it. As a student he had wanted transitory freedom but then as a
young man he yearned for basic and honourable freedom for the people of his race, freedom for his brothers and
sisters to live with dignity and respect.
10. No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background or his religion'. Do you
agree? Elaborate on the basis of the chapter "Nelson Mandela-Long walk to freedom". (CBSE 2023)
Ans. This statement of Nelson Mandela is a powerful insistence that reiterates the idea that prejudice and hatred are
acquired behaviours and not inborn traits. Born in a country, that was divided by segregation and racial
discrimination, Mandela experienced first hand inequality and injustices as a black man. But he was not born with
the prejudices that characterized the society in which he lived. He saw the stigmas in the social and political system
prevalent during that time. Throughout his life, Mandela fought against the system and worked relentlessly to end
the discrimination that existed in South Africa.
11. Describe the aerial display from the lesson 'Long Walk to Freedom'. (CBSE 2003)
Ans. After the swearing-in-ceremony wherein each leader pledged his loyalty to the well-being of the Republic, all
eyes were lifted in awe as an impressive display of a series of South African jets, helicopters and troop carriers roared
in perfect formation over the buildings. It was a remarkable display of pinpoint precision and military force. It was
also a demonstration of the military's loyalty to democracy, to a new Government that had been fairly and freely
elected.
Extract Based Questions
12.Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow :
To the assembled guests and the watching world, I said : Today, all of us do, by our presence here ..... confer glory
and hope to newborn liberty. Out of the experience of an extraordinary human disaster that lasted too long, must be

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born a society of which all humanity will be proud. We who were outlaws not so long ago, have today been given
the rare privilege to be host to the nations of the world on our own soil. We thank all our distinguished
international guests for having come to take possession with the people of our country of what is after all, a common
victory for justice, for peace, for human dignity.
(i)A society that __________ was born out of human disaster.
(a) all humanity would be proud of
(b) was full of extraordinary human disaster
(c) was full of outlaws and fighters
(d) hosts nations on their soil
Ans. (a) all humanity would be proud of
(ii)The former outlaws were given the privilege of _________.
(a) getting citizenship of their country
(b) participating in a trade conclave
(c) finalizing the foreign policy
(d) hosting the nations of the world on their soil
Ans. (d) hosting the nations of the world on their soil
(iii)The speaker was overwhelmed with the sense of _________.
(a) gratitude
(b) achievement
(c) happiness
(d) charity
Ans. (b) achievement / (a) gratitude
(iv)State whether the following statement is True or False :
The common victory was when South Africa did not become an independent nation.
Ans. False
(v)The noun form of the word ‘confer ’ is
(a)conferring
(b)confident
(c)conference
(d)configuring
Ans. (c) conference

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