Interpretation Of Gandhi’s Speech

Mohamed Shamir (17110084)

Gandhi made people feel the after effect of the law by telling a story in which the people in the
audience were the characters. Gandhi starts by saying that “we have no secrets “, which means,
indirectly the other people (British General) have secrets. Gandhi believes there would be a hidden
agenda behind the collection of fingerprints of the individuals. Then, he talks about the point in the law,
according to which only Christian marriages will be considered valid. He makes the people clear about
the law by telling that they would become “bastards” and their mothers will become “whores”. As the
son of the parents who is not legally married are bastards. And the females who do sex with the persons
with whom she is not married are called whores. Society considers “ bastards “ and “whores” as a curse
or a bad thing. People became furious once they were called “bastards” and their mothers “whores”.
Gandhi was able to get people involved by using the existing myths in society to the current situation.
“Bastards” and “whores” are considered as a bad thing by all the humankind. Carl Jung says that there
exist many things in the unconscious mind which are passed from generation to the generation. These
are termed as archetypes by Jung. And it can be the reason for taking bastards and whores as a bad
people.

Gandhi dealt the situation by using the trick of non-violence. He says that the British would feel guilty of
their injustice once they see our pain. Non-violence is a mode of attacking people in their minds rather
than the body. Mind attack is far more effective in making an impact than the physical attacks.