The Dark Years
Nelson Mandela

Community Comments

Sara Brant, Book Club Guide

Thinking of the place that Mandela has come to hold in our culture as a thinker, defender, orator, leader, one of the things that strikes me about the essay that grew from his brief imprisonment at Robben Island is its calm. There is so much calmness and sanity at the core of "The Dark Years." That a man who spent so many years behind bars could articulate a mission to free "the oppressed and the oppressor both" and see the difference between freedom and the "freedom to be free." All of it seems extraordinarily impartial, practical, ernest. It has what African-American scholar Cornel West calls "gravitas" -- the necessary depth of gravity, the weight of responsibility that hangs on a man and makes him powerful.

Of Mandela's essay,

- What particularly strikes you about its tone?

- Were you surprised by the things that Mandela choose to tell his readers and the details he seems to have left out? Why or why not?

- I found the beginning and the ending particularly strong because they rooted the essay in a certain philosophical surety. Do you agree?

Audrey Metcalfe, '90 Retired Mental Health Counselor

Nelson Mandela's essay relates the vision of the man. His world changed the day he was imprisoned but his idea of his role in the world was not altered. Judging from what he tells us in this essay his was able to practice his beliefs of respect and non-violent leadership. Yes, the beginning and end of the essay are strong statements of his beliefs. Were there times during his decades of imprisonment when his resolve was lost? What was it that kept him strong and growing in his ideology? From what source did he derive hope and strength??

Questions?

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