Gandhi film questions
After discussing Gandhi in class and watching parts of the film, please answer the following
questions in complete sentences on a separate sheet of paper.
1.
List three ways that South Africa changes Gandhi.
2. Explain the metamorphosis that Gandhi undergoes in South Africa.
3. Explain how these two images of Gandhi help understand his views of himself and how
he had changed:
1893
1930
4. Define satyagraha. Give one specific example of Gandhi using this as a strategy.
5. What were Gandhi’s “wars” that he was fighting in India? What were his “weapons” that
he used to fight these “wars”? (copy the chart below onto your homework and fill it out)
“Wars”
“Weapons”
6. Why was the Amritsar Massacre such an important event in the move towards Indian
independence? What did it show about how the British viewed the Indians?
7. After the Amritsar Massacre, Gandhi and the Indian Congress are even more determined
to win independence through non-violence. Do you think non-violence can work if the
British respond with brutality and murder?
8. In the wake of the Amritsar Massacre, what were the two different strategies that Gandhi
and Bhagat Singh advocated for? Explain one pro and one con of each strategy. (copy
the chart below onto your homework and fill it out)
Gandhi
Bhagat Singh
Strategy
Pro
Con
9. Which would you have followed if you were living in India at this time?
10. What is the Swadeshi Movement? Explain what Gandhi hopes can be achieved with
this?
11. At an outdoor rally, Gandhi’s wife says that British cloth “makes hunger and
unhappiness,” and Gandhi says, “English factories make the cloth that makes our
poverty.”
What did they mean by this?
12. Gandhi called for a boycott on British salt and clothing. With a boycott, what did he
want Indians to do in regards to these products? How was this an example of satyagraha?
13. Explain what this message is trying to say about Gandhi and his khadi (“homespun
cloth”):
14. What is the symbolism of Gandhi’s famous Salt March? How is it a demonstration
against British authority?
15. Why were the British so concerned about Indians making their own salt and clothes?
16. How do the Muslims, led by Mohammad Ali Jinnah, feel about Indian becoming an
independent nation?
17. When meeting with Jinnah, Gandhi says the following:
What does he mean by this?
18. Why did Gandhi eventually accept the idea of a separate Muslim nation?
19. Some Hindus didn’t agree with Gandhi on this. What were their arguments about why
India should not be giving Muslims their own country?
20. India was partitioned in 1947. What does this cartoon tell you about what the partition
meant?
21. India gained independence in 1947, but fighting immediately broke out between Hindus
and Muslims. Why?
22. What did Gandhi do to stop the Hindu-Muslim violence that was breaking out in
numerous parts of India?
23. Why did some extremists Hindus begin to hate Gandhi to the point of calling for him to
be killed?
24. Upon Gandhi’s death, Albert Einstein said:
“Generations to come, it may well be, will scarce believe that such a man as this one ever in
flesh and blood walked upon this Earth.”
Why do you think Einstein thought it might be hard for us to believe someone like
Gandhi ever existed?