English C
Jam
Spring 2012
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, born 18 July 1918, served as President of South Africa
from 1994-1999 and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully
representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an antiapartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the
African National Congress (ANC). In 1962 he was arrested and convicted of
sabotage and other charges, and sentenced to life in prison. Mandela served 27
years, spending many of those years on Robben Island. Following his release on
11 February 1990, Mandela led his party in the negotiations that led to multiracial democracy in 1994. As president from 1994 to 1999, he frequently gave
priority to reconciliation. Mandela has received more than 250 awards over four
decades, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.
A. Write
down your own answers to the following aspects. When
you are done. Discuss with a friend. Keep your notes.
Study questions for Invictus:
1) What is it about the Springboks that Mandela values most?
2) How would you describe the relationships among Mandela’s security guards
as the story progresses?
3) Mandela says: If we remove the rugby team, “we prove that we are who they
feared we would be.” What does he mean, what is he describing?
4) How did Mandela motivate and inspire in the face of adversity (a stroke of ill
fortune)?
5) What was the point of the team’s trip to Robben Island to see the prison
where Mandela was held?
6) It has been said that ”while imprisoned on Robben Island, Nelson Mandela
learned Afrikaans – crossing the barrier which lesser men could never
surmount”.
a) If you don’t know the language, culture or values of your
opponents, how could you learn these things?
b) How important is it?
7) How does sport shape community, impact relationships, create connections?
8) If or when one can’t use the universal language of a sport, what can one use
to overcome on-going adversity?
9) How do people determine who is an “enemy” and who is a “friend”?
10) Nelson Mandela overcame adversity, persecution and mistreatment over and
over and yet had the capacity to forgive.
a)
b)
c)
d)
What are the hardest or most difficult things about forgiving?
Who did Mandela forgive and why did he forgive?
How did he show his forgiveness?
What difference did it make?
11) If you could have lunch with Nelson Mandela, what would you like to ask
him and what would you like to talk about?
B. The poem Invictus
Read the poem Invictus and explain in your own words what it is about and
what it means. Write down your reflections. Compare your interpretation with a
friend. Hand in.
C. A short essay
Do you believe that you are the master of your fate? Or do your genes, your
environment, and other factors place your fate outside of your control. Present your
opinion in a short essay. Hand in.
William Ernest Henley. 1849–1903
Invictus
OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.