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Chapter 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Long Walk to Freedom, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Racism and Division
Negotiation, Democracy, and Progress
Nonviolent Protest vs. Violent Protest
The Value of Optimism
Summary
Analysis
Life in Alexandra is full of highs and lows for Mandela. It’s overcrowded, and Mr. Xhoma isn’t wealthy, although he is generous. Mandela reconnects with Ellen Nkabinde, a friend he knows from Healdtown, and falls in love with her. But she is Swazi, not Xhosa, so romance is difficult due to society’s expectations. Mandela later falls in love with Didi, one of Mr. Xhoma’s daughters.
This passage shows that even among people of the same race, things like ethnic background can still keep people apart. As he dates, Mandela becomes increasingly aware of how separate the different South African tribes are—and how little opportunity there is to create unity among them.
Themes
In 1941, Jongintaba comes to visit Johannesburg, and Mandela is nervous about seeing him. But Mandela manages to repair their relationship and earn the regent’s approval again. But Jongintaba is harder on Justice, since as the biological son, he faces more responsibilities. Six months after the visit, in the winter of 1942, Mandela and Justice hear that Jongintaba has died. They go back to Mqhekezweni for the funeral. Justice has to take on new responsibilities, while Mandela heads back to Johannesburg to finish up his B.A. degree.
As with the death of Mandela’s biological father, Jongintaba’s death marks a transition point in Mandela’s life, as he increasingly has to rely on himself to make his own decisions. Justice embodies an alternate outcome of Mandela’s life in that he goes back to the place he grew up, while Mandela is free to enter into politics and seek to create inroads among the various tribes in South Africa.
Themes
After finishing his B.A., Mandela begins getting a law degree at the University of Witwatersrand (which is known as “Wits”). He learns more about African liberation and also befriends some of the Indian students, who are engaged in their own liberation struggle.
Like South Africa, India was also at one time colonized by the British. Rather than seeing Indian students as rivals or as intruders, Mandela sees them as potential allies, helping him develop his goal to break down racial and ethnic divisions.
Themes
