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Chapter 41
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, who has never fired a weapon, gets put in charge of forming an army called the Umkhonto we Sizwe (“The Spear of the Nation,” abbreviated MK). Unlike ANC, Mandela allows White members in MK. Mandela starts reading about people like Fidel Castro, Mao Tse-tung, and Che Guevara. On June 26, 1961, which is Freedom Day in South Africa, Mandela releases a letter to newspapers from hiding in which he writes that he will never give himself up to a government that he doesn’t recognize.
Political leaders like Fidel Castro and Mao Tse-tung are very different from some of the earlier influences Mandela has mentioned like Gandhi, showing Mandela’s changing interests. Mandela’s diverse group of influences shows how he takes his ideas from a wide range of sources—just like how in person, he likes to listen to ideas from people who hold different opinions from him.
Themes
