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Chapter 104
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
Mandela finally has a chance to go to Qunu and see where his mother is buried. A month later, he goes to Robben Island and tries to convince some MK political prisoners to accept a government amnesty deal. In June, Mandela again goes abroad to Europe and North America. He meets with world leaders like George Bush and Margaret Thatcher and sees New York City for the first time.
Mandela’s trips, which take him farther abroad than he’s ever been before, show how as much as his efforts focus on the situation in South Africa, he is also thinking globally and has long taken lessons from politicians from other countries. Bush and Thatcher are both conservative politicians compared to Mandela, but they accept Mandela, once again providing hope that people with differing viewpoints can cooperate with each other. Meeting them also helps legitimize Mandela and his cause.
Themes
