Mahatma Gandhi`s Life and his Drastic Transformation

With the nickname, “Apostle of Peace,” Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi taught all following generations what “peaceful fighting” can accomplish. Time and other cultures have produced great leaders that have continues Gandhi’s goals of peaceful resistance.

Gandhi, who was born to a Gujarati family on October 2, 1869, was the youngest of five children. Although a mischievous child, he was very shy and often too scared to even talk to other children. A victim of peer pressure, he tried such things as smoking tobacco, which he stole out of the butts of his uncle’s cigarettes, and eating meat, which was totally against his religion. The reasoning behind this was the misconception that the British are so powerful and able to control the Indians because they eat meat. To do this, Gandhi stole money from his family to buy it, and lied to them about why he couldn’t eat dinner at home. This was one of the turning points in his life, the point where he promised to himself to never indulge in such acts.

As was accustomed in his culture, Gandhi was married at the age of 13. His bride, the daughter of the Major of Porbandar, was Kastur. She also played a huge role in the molding of who Gandhi became. She was also 13 years old, and she taught Mohan his first lesson in non-violence. Mohan had no idea what the role of a husband should be, so he bought some pamphlets, which were written by male chauvinists and suggested that an Indian husband must lay down the rules for the wife to follow. With the ridiculous rules that he gave her, she did not argue. She broke them and calmly questioned his authority and reasoning. He understood not to do that anymore. “When we face such situations we retort and react angrily making the situation worse and sometimes leading to the breaking of the relationship. But calmly, with common sense, one can achieve the same results” (Gandhi)

Gandhi’s father was a very generous person, and his income was spent on helping the poor and the needy. The family lived reasonably well, but there were no savings. When his father died, the family found itself in financial difficulties. In India, a son usually took over when their father retired or died. But the British wanted people who were "qualified" for the job, so none of the sons could become Dewan of Porbandar after Gandhi’s father, Karamchand, died. None of Gandhi’s brothers had jobs...

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...son. He changed people's minds and opened lots of peoples’ minds. Still today when people see the movie that was made about his life and his fights they think about this person and how successful non-violence and rebellion can be. And that it is important to save the (human) life and not to destroy it.

Everything that can be summed up about Gandhi happened one day. His intelligent thought out response to certain questions is totally intriguing. He memorizes me with his life and all of his accomplishments. Everything that he has overcome to set a clear path and give up his life and become a martyr for his beliefs. I feel the most powerful quote that Gandhi ever said was when a man asked Gandhi if someone killed his son would he believe in death as a punishment. Gandhi simply replied, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”

Works Cited

"Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)" www.geocities.com/theloepa/gand_eng.html

Löpa Berlin. Written November 1997.

Pyarelal, Mahatma Gandhi, The Last Phase, (Ahmedabad: Navjivan Press, 1965), vol. 1-2.

Tendulkar, D. G., Mahatma: Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, (Bombay: V. K. Jhaver and D. G. Tendulkar, 1951-54), vol. 1-8.