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Chapter 47
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
Although Mandela hates British imperialism, he is an Anglophile in other ways and has long wanted to see Britain. He enjoys seeing the famous sights in London, then goes back to Addis Ababa to receive six months of military training. Only a few weeks into the program, however, Mandela gets word that he is needed urgently back in South Africa to lead MK. Although Mandela is on high alert as he travels back to South Africa, he manages to make it to Johannesburg.
Mandela’s interest in London is yet another example of how he presents himself as someone able to compromise and negotiate. In this case, Mandela manages to appreciate many aspects of British culture, in spite of the fact that he has a fundamental disagreement with British practices like colonialism.
Themes
