Question

Read the given extract and answer the questions:

We have, at last, achieved our political emancipation. We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination. Never, never, and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another. The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement. (Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom)

1. What is the tone Nelson Mandela is UNLIKELY to have used in his speech? 1
   1. inspirational
   2. assertive
   3. conflicted
   4. direct
2. According to Mandela, emancipation is not merely political. Elaborate. 2
3. Fill in the blank with the correct word from the bracket: 
   Mandela’s speech swings between references to the past and a ______ (bleak/promising) future. 1
4. With reference to the extract explain the sentence, “The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement.” 1 

Answer 1

1. conflicted
2. According to Mandela, emancipation is not merely political; it must include social and economic freedom. He says the pledge is to “liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination,” linking political freedom with ending poverty, deprivation and discrimination; elsewhere the text stresses that “True liberty is freedom from poverty, deprivation and all forms of discrimination.” Emancipation therefore means building an equitable society, not just winning elections or ending legal apartheid.
3. Mandela’s speech swings between references to the past and a promising future. 
4. “The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement.” This is a metaphor meaning the achievement will be everlasting and universally celebrated; the dawn of a new, free South Africa will not be dimmed or undone. In context Mandela uses it to stress that overturning apartheid and founding a non‑racial, democratic nation is a permanent, glorious milestone for humanity.