The Life of Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi led India’s independence movement in the 1930s and 40s, facing down the British colonialists with stirring speeches and non-violent protest. As a result of this, he’s often named among the 20th century’s most important figures and remains revered in India as a father of the nation, so with this in mind, it is no wonder that he has appeared in many books of a biographical nature. Louis Fischer’s 7th non-fictional book, The Life of Mahatma Gandhi is a seemingly non-bias and accurate account of Gandhi’s life following his life story starting from early childhood through to his death and legacy. The author has limited himself to the record of Gandhi’s life, with minimum analysis and interpretation. However, there is some evidence to show that Fischer’s personal ideas, attitudes, and values have influenced his use of aesthetic language, which underpins the way in which Gandhi is represented to the audience throughout the book.

Through reading the text, the audience can get a sense that the author is clearly in support of Gandhi and his life’s journey, but to be fair who isn’t in this modern age? Fischer’s book was also one of the first accurate accounts where Western readers could grasp a detailed insight into the development of Gandhi, which was key to understanding the fundamentals of a man with such extraordinary capacity for growth.

Fischer’s book also attempts to right some misplaced emphases and corrects some misapprehensions about Gandhi. A promenade reading throughout shows Fischer’s attempt to set straight many Westerners’ interpretation of Gandhi solely as the leader of India’s independence movement, despite his work having albeit enormous indirect application to the achievement of independence. With this, the author’s commentary is pushed toward hero worship more often than respectable.

At times Fischer also tries to cash in on the drama by rehashing Gandhi’s assassination—a low move, indeed, showing that his value for selling the book by creating a captivating story, is greater than his will to write a neutral and purely factual biography. Moreover, had he left the event as they happened in chronological order of Gandhi’s life, the story would have remained impartial to all readers, but could also have left a more significant impact on readers.

All this being said The Life of Mahatma Gandhi does present all facts of Gandhi’s life, including the relevant political and historical background, but the author’s personal bias can be seen through the use of aesthetic language devices such as hyperboles, imagery, and juxtaposition.

This description overtly emphasizes dedication of Gandhi by adding an exaggerating and hooking factor, which leads the readers to feel compassion and highly empathize with Gandhi. Hyperboles in literature carry great significance as they allow the writers to present something common in an intense manner, with this example being no exception.

Instead of recounting this event in a brief yet succinct way, Fischer uses additional adjectives with high modality to make the already noteworthy facts of Gandhi’s life come across as much more severe. From this, the astute reader can in fact gather that Fischer is in admiration of Gandhi’s practices.

This is further … to an audience that may know the background of the author’s life. Having read some of Louis Fischer’s previous works in the period between 1942-47, The Life of Mahatma Gandhi is just another checkpoint in which his support for Indian independence is, expressed vociferously and prolifically, with Fischer’s criticisms and eventual opposition to the personality and foreign policy of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, this treatment of Fischer situates his criticism of Nehru within his personal development as an anti-communist in the late 1940s and 1950s. Hence why his desire to put Gandhi in the limelight is apparent.