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Chapter 11
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
In 1946, one of the largest mine strikes in South African history takes place. Many men, including the prominent Communist J. B. Marks, get arrested in the wake of the strike. The government crushes the strike, in part to make an example of Communists. Another law restricts the movement of Indian people in South Africa, as well as their ability to own property.
Communists are another group that are often stigmatized in South Africa, particularly when they are also Black . Mandela’s approach to life is not to accept common stigmas and to instead try to understand what people are really like and what they believe.
Themes
Meanwhile, Mandela and Evelyn move into an apartment in the city of Orlando. There, she gives birth to their first son, Madiba Thembekile, whom they call Thembi for short. A clergyman named Michael Scott comes to live with them. In July 1947, Lembede suddenly gets sick and dies at 33, shocking other activists like Sisulu. Later that year, the ANC and two of the Indian resistance groups sign a document called the Doctors’ Pact to work together.
This passage once again shows how Mandela’s personal and political lives intertwine. Mandela’s increasing involvement in politics comes at the same time that he has his first son, and both of these events reflect how Mandela is taking on more responsibility and trying to play a role in shaping the future.
Themes
