(Re)Constructing the Self in Prison: A Reflection from a Reading Part of My Soul Went With Him

Rejila K T K¹

KTK, R. (2022). (Re)Constructing the Self in Prison: A Reflection from a Reading Part of My Soul Went With Him. InterViews: An Interdisciplinary Journal in Social Sciences, 9(1), pp. 104-110. https://doi.org/10.36061/IV.9.1.22.104.110

Abstract

This paper sets out to examine Winnie Mandela’s Part of My Soul Went with Him as a prison narrative that delves into the (re)construction of the self of the author in confinement. In this narrative, which is unconventionally addressed as an autobiography, she depicts her prolonging resistance to the apartheid regime in South Africa. The narrative presents a lucid summary of the dramatic turn of events in her life mainly because of her associations with the struggle. It describes her journey in prison from resistance to resilience. Prison had transformed her spirit considerably well to get along with the hundreds of blacks deprived of freedom and dignity. It had been a paradox; though it meant to destroy the voice of the defiant morally and physically, she had been able to get empowered to resist the white minority rule.

Keywords: apartheid, detainee, confinement, self

¹Rejila KTK is a research scholar at the Post Graduate and Research Department of English KMM Government Women’s College, Kannur. Correspondence regarding this article must be sent to: rejilaktk13@gmail.com