Previous
Chapter 60
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
The prisoners get woken up by a brass bell at 5:30 each morning, although they can’t leave their cells until 6:45. The cells have no running water, just iron buckets. Food is based on race, with Indian and Coloured people getting slightly better food than African people, although pretty much all the food is awful. Mandela is among the prisoners who complain. The cooks are prisoners themselves and sometimes hoard away the best food for themselves and friends.
The brass bell waking up prisoners over an hour before they can leave their cells is yet another example of how the South African justice system is arbitrary and designed to wear prisoners down. The issue with the food mirrors the earlier issue with the trousers, and rather than just accepting these facts of prison life, Mandela rebels against them, trying to do his best to help everyone in prison receive better treatment.
Themes
