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Chapter 82
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
In the couple years after 1976, Mandela often feels dreamy and nostalgic. He dreams of being released from prison and writes about his dreams to Winnie. He starts building a photo album of pictures of his family he gets in the mail, and the photo album attracts the interest of other prisoners curious about the outside world. Mandela reluctantly shares it, and men remove the photos to keep for themselves.
While Mandela has survived much of his time in jail by thinking about the future, this passage shows how the past can also be a source of comfort. The fact that the other men take Mandela’s photos shows that people in prison are eager for any sign of the outside, potentially pointing to their loss of hope.
Themes
