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

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 lu
cid summary of the dramatic turn of events in her life main
ly 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 em
powered to resist the white minority rule.