Question

In "The Light of Gandhi's Lamp," Hilary Kromberg Inglis writes about how she feels before meeting her sister's jailer: And here I was, wanting to reach out, to take his hands in mine, to make him gentle, to settle the demons he thought he saw in my sister’s face. I wanted to tame him—to save my sister’s life. Could I do that, only nineteen years old, a white girl “on the other side”—in his eyes, a traitor, a communist, with viciously dishonorable intentions of overthrowing the white apartheid government? What does this passage suggest about Inglis's view of her situation?

Answer 1

It suggests, with great subtlety, her feeling that the authorities were wrong to think that she wanted to overthrow the government.

Answer 2

This passage suggests that Inglis, despite her goals for change, is afraid, and realizes the challenge of her situation.

She wants to not only change Apartheid, but change the heart and perspective of the guard at her sister's jail, though she knows fully-well that this is going to be a difficult task. She also fears what will happen if she is unable to soften him.