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Chapter 3
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
Jongintaba decides when Mandela is 16 that he must be circumcised, which is a Xhosa tradition. The circumcision is an elaborate ceremony, and one custom is that a boy must perform an act of bravery before it. Mandela gets together with some of the other boys and steals a pig from a local farmer. At the ceremony, Justice goes before Mandela and cries out “Ndiyindoda!” which means “I am a man!” and is part of the ritual. When it’s Mandela’s turn, he’s in shock and feels like the other boys handled the surgery with more bravery.
This passage emphasizes how, as much as Mandela tries to adapt to the new, modern world, he also respects traditions that have been around for a long time. Participating in this ceremony cements Mandela’s place among the Xhosa, even if he himself doubts his performance.
Themes
After the ceremony, Chief Meligqili speaks. He makes Mandela and the other young men angry by saying that Black South Africans are a conquered people who don’t have the authority to rule themselves. Mandela feels like the chief is spoiling the triumph of the day, but later on, he feels the words sticking with him.
This passage shows how Mandela initially rejected ideas that he would later take more seriously. Mandela realizes later that he isn’t angry at the chief but at the state of his country that the chief is accurately describing.
Themes
