NCERT Solutions For Class 10 English Chapter 2-Nelson Mandela
Book: First Flight: Lesson 2. Nelson Mandela [ notes by Shish Pal Chauhan]
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Rolihlahla
Mandela
A.
Very
Short Answer-type Questions (In Single Sentences)
1. Mandela became the first black President of a new nation.
2. Zenani
was the daughter of Nelson Mandela.
3. 100,000 South African men, women, and children of all races sang and danced with joy.
4.
The inauguration ceremony took place on 10th May 1994.
5. Thabo Mbeki was
sworn in as first deputy president.
6. The
formation of a democratic government in South Africa has been called a common victory for justice, peace, and
human dignity.
7. Nelson
Mandela takes the pledge to remove the bondage of poverty, hunger, and all kinds of discrimination.
8.
The smoke that trailed in the sky by Impala
jets symbolized the new South African
flag.
9. The old
system in South Africa was based on hatred.
10. The
policy of apartheid created a deep and
lasting wound in South Africa to its people.
11. The
people of South Africa are its greatest wealth.
12. Obligations to his family, his people, and the
country are the twin obligations for Mandela.
13. The twin obligations are filled only in civil
and humane societies.
14. Hatred towards each other robs humanity.
15. Inauguration
ceremony took place in Pretoria South Africa.
16. Mandela
talks about the inauguration of the formation of the new government in South Africa
in this lesson
17. Nelson
Mandela feels hungry for the freedom of his countrymen.
Q1.Where did the
ceremonies take place? Can you name any public buildings in India that are made
of sandstone?
Ans. The ceremonies took place in the campus of the
Union Building of Pretoria. The Parliament House in New Delhi, the Rashtrapati
Bhavan in New Delhi, the Supreme Court of India, etc. are some examples.
Q2.Can you say how 10
May is an ‘autumn day’ in South Africa?
Ans: The tenth of May is an
‘Autumn Day’ in South Africa. It is because there was a large gathering of guests from across the world on that day there.
Q3. At the beginning of
his speech, Mandela mentions “an extraordinary human disaster”. What does he
mean by this? What is the “glorious … human achievement” he speaks of at the
end?
Ans. The coloured people in
South Africa had to suffer torture of all types. They suffered it for about
three centuries. It was called ‘an extraordinary human disaster’.
Q4. What does Mandela
talk of as a ‘glorious human achievement’?
Ans. Mandela talks of a ‘glorious human achievement’ because a black person
became the president of South Africa. It was the country where the whites
did all types of cruelties on them for about three hundred years.
Q5. What does Mandela
thank the international leaders for?
Ans. Nelson Mandela thanks
the international leaders because they came to South Africa to attend the
function. It was of forming the first nonracial and democratic government
there.
Q5. What ideals does he
set out for the future of South Africa?
Ans. Mandela set out the ideals of removing poverty and discrimination
of all types and the sufferings of people. He wanted to make his people proud
of their democracy.
Q6. What do the
military generals do? How has their attitude changed, and why?
Answer
The military generals saluted Mandela and
pledged their loyalty.
Their attitude towards the blacks had changed a lot. In the past, they would
have arrested Nelson Mandela. But, at present, they were saluting him.
Q7. Why were two national anthems sung?
Ans.
The two national anthems were sung. It was done to create a balance between two
races, the white and the black. It showed the new government’s vision of
equality also.
Q8. What does courage mean to Mandela?
Ans. Mandela
thinks that courage is not the absence of fear in the mind. It is the victory over
it. Fear is present in every person. But the brave person is one who conquers
fear.
Q9. Mandela talks of twin obligations. What
are these?
Ans.
According to Mandela, every person has twin obligations in life. One is towards
his family, to his wife and children. The other is towards his people and the
country.
Q10.
In this lesson, Mandela talks of the oppressor. Is the oppressor free in
any sense or Is he also a slave of something?
Ans.
Madela says that the oppressor is also a slave of hatred. He is imprisoned
behind bars of prejudices and narrow-mindedness. He has made the other
person slave.
Q11. What does Mandela mean when he says
that he is “the sum of all those African patriots”, who had made struggle for
freedom in South Africa before him?
Ans. By
saying so, he pays a glowing tribute to the patriots of South Africa who had
struggled for freedom so far. He succeeded in his great mission of getting
freedom to South Africa. So he finds their blessings in himself.
Long Answer-type Qs (About 100 words)
Q1. What twin obligations does Mandela talk
about in this lesson?
Ans.
Nelson Mandela says that everyone has twin obligations. One obligation is
towards one’s family, children, and parents. Another obligation is towards his
people and the country. People fulfil these obligations towards their families
and the country in their own ways. But in South Africa, it was not possible to
do so. The white-skinned people had put several restrictions on the black
coloured people under the policy of apartheid. The person doing his duty for
his people was punished and sent behind bars. Mandela was also sent to
prison for fulfilling his obligation towards his people. Thus he was not
allowed to fulfil his twin obligations.
Q2. How did the meaning of the word
‘freedom’ change with the passage of time for Mandela?
Ans.
Mandela said that freedom had different meanings for him according to the
stages in his age. In the days of his boyhood, it was just running into his
fields near his mother’s hut and swimming in the clear water of a stream. He was
free to do the small things that a child could do. A he grew in age, that
freedom turned into an illusion for him. He began to understand that his
freedom was already snatched. As a student, he desired for freedom only just
for himself. It was the freedom to stay out at night, read what he pleased and
go where he chose. Later as a young man, he yearned (wished) for a real kind
of freedom. It was the freedom to fulfil his twin obligations. But it was not
there.
Q3. What does Mandela say about the policy
of apartheid? How did it affect people of South Africa?
Ans. The
white-skinned peoples of South Africa patched up their differences and erected
(set up) a system of racial domination (जातीय शाशन) against the dark-skinned
peoples of their own land. The policy of apartheid /əˈpɑː.taɪt/ created
a deep and lasting wound in my country and my people. The people of South
Africa would take a long time to recover from the deep wound created by the
policy of apartheid. But the continuous oppression and cruelty of the South
Africans produced great men like Oliver
Tambos, Walter Sisulus, Chief Luthulis, etc. They were men
of such extraordinary courage, wisdom, and generosity (kindness) that their like
may never be known again.
