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Chapter 67
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 prison warders start to become more relaxed toward the prisoners, but everything changes in September 1966 when Mandela gets news that Verwoerd has been assassinated by a White parliamentary messenger. When the warders learn of this, they take out their anger on the prisoners. A particular warder called Van Rensburg starts cracking down on prisoners at the quarry. The prisoners call him “Suitcase” because of how his lunchbox looks. Under Suitcase’s reign, conversation is banned at the quarry. Mrs. Suzman, the only member of the liberal party in Parliament, comes to visit the prison, and after listening to Mandela, she gets Suitcase transferred out of the prison.
The assassination of Verwoerd is yet another sign of how apartheid isn’t even bringing stability to White South Africans. Instead, it’s engulfing the whole country in a state of violence. The situation with Suitcase is yet another example of how although Mandela’s efforts in prison may at first seem futile, his persistence allows him to make incremental gains. The expulsion of Suitcase shows how reform is possible even in prison at the height of apartheid in South Africa.
Themes
