Non-Fiction Reading Response

      The article "After Mandela" by Patricia Smith is about life in South Africa before and after Nelson Mandela. In 1964 Nelson Mandela was accused of trying to overthrow the government. He was found guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. "After years of international pressure things changed in 1990." Government freed Mandela after he'd spent 27 years in prison. After he was freed Apartheid had officially ended in 1991. Three years later Mandela decided to run for president. Africans feared a bloodbath but Mandela called to move forward rather than turning to violence. The author wants me to know the successes and setbacks of living after Mandela. One example of a success is the number of middle-class black citizens has double. One example of a setback is 20% of the adults have HIV.
      I think the authors purpose for writing this article is to show others what life is like for the people in South Africa. One example that shows a success is many black citizens had running water and electricity for the first time.  This article shows me that Mandela change South Africa in a positive way. One example of a setback is there were many poor black people and while whites remained middle or upper-class. Patricia Smith wants me to feel sorry for the people of South Africa. She wants me to feel that I could help them, but truly I can't. Nokuthula Maguabane is 18 and is trying to do something for older generations of black South Africans. She is praising Afrikaans. Afrikaans is a language used by the "white minority who ruled South Africa for decades under apartheid." Many blacks have long considered Afrikaans the language of the oppressors. The blacks do not understand Afrikaans is just a language. Maguabane feels the same way.
      From reading "After Mandela" by Patricia Smith I find that Nokuthula Maguabane is trying to follow in Mandela's footsteps. She and many others are trying to create the South Africa that Mandela "would have loved to see."

Work Cited

"After Mandela." After Mandela. N.p, n.d. Web. 20 Jan 2014.

Smith, Patricia. "After Mandela." Upfront [New York] 13 Jan. 2014

Cover Story sec.:12 Print.

Revised Response

   There are books that I can't put down such as mysteries, sci-fi, fiction. There are books that I feel I have to restrain myself from such as horror fiction. In “Witch-Hunt”, by Marc Aronson, there were a couple of times I felt the need to turn myself away. In the book there are many parts before you see chapter one, The Note to the reader, Introduction, and the Prologue. I felt myself turning away several times in the Prologue. After reading the Prologue I couldn’t sleep from the gruesome images. This restrained me from continuing to Chapter One.

   In the Prologue  "Boston, 1688: The Possession of the Goodwin Children", This pretty much sums up about what was happening while the Goodwin Children were possessed. "Red streaks showed up on their bodies" (36). I felt the need to turn away at this moment because I was envisioning what it was like in the late 1600's. All I saw was three little children the age of 5-12 (the book stated the ages of the children) covered in blood red marks all over their bodies. Could you imagine being tortured just like these children?

   Another moment, in the Prologue that I felt myself horrified was one page after the example stated above. "They would be tested into such postures as made the things impossible (37).” This quote made me turn away because as I stated before I envisioned what it was like. I envisioned children on the floor in postures no one has ever seen before. Arms twisted behind their backs, legs bent in ways they aren’t meant to be. I would imagine the torture & horrifying feeling these children were experiencing.

   I felt that my resistance says I was not prepared to read a book like this. It also says that I am scared of the non-existing. My resistance may also say that the book is complex and you need to be well prepared to read a book like this. This book brings me back to when I saw the Conjuring. I the images made it impossible to sleep that same night. Also when I saw You're Next the murdering and the image of the dead person gave me hallucination that the killers were in my house. I saw shadows and heard noises that gave me the creeps. 

   In conclusion the book Witch-Hunt by Marc Aronson is a book I felt I resisted a lot. The book made me realize I am not fully ready to read this book. I made to do some background research because I do not fully understand the book. Maybe you should read the book and tell me if you restrained yourself.