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Chapter 77
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
Birthdays aren’t a big deal on Robben Island, but around Mandela’s 57th birthday in 1975, some prisoners start making plans for his 60th, with Kathy leading the plan. Kathy and Walter suggest that Mandela should work on a memoir. He finishes a draft in four months, with Kathy and Walter editing. Fellow prisoner Mac Maharaj manages to smuggle a copy of the manuscript out.
Mandela’s work on his memoir, even when he’s in prison and has to keep it secret, shows yet again how he is always thinking about his legacy and the future, even when that future is uncertain. Mandela’s memoir, which became this current book, reflects his belief that often the best way to convince another person of your viewpoint is to make them see you as a fully formed and sympathetic human.
Themes
Mandela buries his copy of the manuscript in different parts of the prison, intending to destroy it once he hears that Mac is safely out of the country. But when digging for a new wall starts at the prison, Mandela decides to dig up most parts of his manuscript and destroy it right away. Still, part of the manuscript gets dug up, and Mandela loses study privileges for four years. Meanwhile, Mac’s copy makes it safely to London. It isn’t published while Mandela is in prison, but it becomes the basis of this memoir.
Mandela’s willingness to risk his study privileges shows just how important writing a memoir is to him. The fact that Mandela has to bury the memoir in prison to hide it from the warders dovetails with how in general, Mandela has to “bury” parts of himself in prison in order to avoid facing consequences. Although Mandela himself won’t be free for a while, his manuscript’s freedom is an optimistic sign of the possibility that Mandela will one day achieve freedom.
Themes
