The Life Of Ghandi A Book Review

Essay, Research Paper

Mohatma Karamchand Gandhi was born in Porbandar, India, on October 2, 1869. Although his father was a chief minister for the maharaja of Porbandar, the family came from the traditional caste of grocers and moneylenders, (the name Gandhi means “grocer”). His mother was a devout follower of Jainism, a religion in which ideas of nonviolence and being a vegetarian are paramount. Gandhi stated that he was most influenced by his mother, whose life “was an endless chain of fasts and vows.” He was very affected by what his mother did, and how she lived. There is a story from long ago that says Gandhi stole money from his house to buy something. He was so troubled by his conscience, that he wrote a letter of confession, and he apologized to his father. His father was so hurt by this deception that the way he responded to it changed Gandhi.Gandhi was married by arrangement at 13. He went to London to study law when he was 18 and was admitted to the bar in 1891. For a while he practiced law in Bombay. From 1893 to 1914 he worked for an Indian firm in South Africa. During these years Gandhi’s humiliating experiences of severe racial discrimination propelled him into agitation on behalf of the Indian community of South Africa. He assumed leadership of protest campaigns and gradually developed his techniques and tenets of nonviolent resistance.Gandhi spent decades devoting himself to non violent protests and attempting to improve the status of the lowest classes of society, the casteless untouchables, whom he called harijans “children of God.” His greatest failure was his inability to dissuade India Muslims, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, from creating a separate state, Pakistan, Gandhi opposed the separation of the subcontinent with such vigor that he launched a mass movement against it. He was assassinated in Delhi on January 30, 1948, by a Hindu fanatic who mistakenly thought his way of thinking was both pro-Hindus, and pro-Muslim.

I thought this was a very interesting book. This book did not just drag on, it was at sometimes exciting. An example of this feature was the way he put things out in the open. I liked how in the beginning of the book the author used a song to illustrate his point on how some Indians wanted to eat meat.An unattractive part of this book was the authors’ word usage. He did not use to many difficult words, so I did not have to stop and look things up. I did not like this because I like to be challenged when I read books. Another thing that I liked about the book, is the way he told the story. He told the story as if he was there watching it happen, rather than as a biographer telling his opinion of what happened. He makes the reader feel like they were there, making the book all the more better.Another thing I liked about the book, was the numerous occasions that the author talked about Gandhi s childhood. This is important because, it tells the reader what influenced him to choose the beliefs and morals he chose. It gives the reader a better understanding of why he became the person he became. The author did not abruptly switch topics. If he switched topics, you knew when he did by the way he led you to them. The transitions he used made perfect sense. I also liked the way the author told the stories about how even Gandhi, someone that most people think of as perfect, made mistakes. The author tells the reader how in his childhood, Gandhi lied and stole from his parents. This assures the reader that even people we see as very moral, and unsinning people make mistakes. I would recommend this book to almost anyone. It was fairly easy to read, and it did not use to many words that young adults should not know. However, I would not recommend this book to someone looking for a fast easy book. This book is very interesting, but it is a little boring, and takes patience to get into it, otherwise it is a wonderful book.