Bac/Mythes et héros

We are going to deal with a notion "Myth and Heroes". To begin with, I would like to
give a definition of the notion. A myth is a popular belief on which social values are often based. Well… a hero can be someone
who is ready to sacrifice or his/her life in order to make things positively.
A hero is someone who inspires people thanks to his noble qualities.
A myth is a traditional story related to a country’s culture and
history.

I would like to illustrate
this notion through Nelson Mandela’s life. Nelson Mandela was one
of the historic leaders of the fight against the blacks’
discrimination and he was the first black president of South Africa.

To begin with, I’m going
to make a brief reminder of the historical context, then I will
describe the struggle of Nelson Mandela, and finally we will see how
he has marked the history by his pacifist action.

Nelson
Mandela was born on 18 july 1918 in Mvezo, and he died on 5 december
2013 in Johannesburg, South Africa, aged 95.

The
true name of Nelson Mandela is Rolihlahla, in his natal language, the
Xhosa. The little Rolihlahla lived in Qunu and went to school. He was given the name of
Nelson by Mlle Mdingane, his teacher. Indeed, it was customary to
give an English name to children at school.« Madida »
was his clan's name, and it was a mark of respect to call him that
way.

He
had 13 brothers and sisters. Their father was a respected advisor to
the Thembu royal family. But he died when Mandela was only 9. In his
family, he was the first to go to school. It was in a neighboring village that Mandela begins to realize the white oppression of blacks. At 16, he considered whites as
benefactors but as persecutors. In 1939 he went to Fort Hare
University, the only university for blacks. He returned to his home
village after being expelled from school. But he decided to flee with
his brother to escape an arranged marriage. He went to Johannesburg
where he did small jobs. He was a night
watchman in a gold mine, then an intern in a company. Finally, he decided to become a lawyer. He then
studied law. In 1942 he obtained his law degree and was hired in a
law firm by his friend Walter Sisulu and 9 years later he opened the
first law firm headed by blacks.

He
joined the African National Congress (a multi-racial nationalist
movement trying to bring about political changes in South Africa) in 1944 and formed the ANC Youth League where
he fought against racial discrimination and the oppression of the
white minority. He fought against apartheid in his
native country in a peaceful, non-violent way.

However
his party, the ANC, was banned in 1960, and his
peaceful struggle was not enough more.(je
veux ici dire “sa lutte pacifique ne suffisait plus” mais j'ai du
mal à l'exprimer)

Now,
I will slam a text entitled "Soweto 16/06/19763".This
slam is about the riots of Soweto, this
day, (je ne sais pas comment le
remplacer) all the children who revolted in this city, to
fight against the inequalities lived in the school. This text, which
I wrote in class and which you (je vouvoie ma
professeur mais you=vous non ?) have completed, is a good
representation of Nelson Mandela's struggle.

To
conclude, for me Nelson Mandela was a hero for South Africa as
despite all difficulties he encountered, he managed to reach his goal
to bring peace in South Africa.

He
was a very brave man, a true hero who always still deserves
admiration all over the world today. He fought for his beliefs, and
allowed people of color to live on an equal footing of equality like
whites.