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Chapter 86
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
Pollsmoor is a maximum-security prison located outside of Cape Town near a prosperous White suburb. Mandela is disoriented and believes that authorities are trying to stop ANC’s influence in Robben Island by removing him. Despite this downside, the food at Pollsmoor is better, and Mandela has more access to news and more room in his cell to exercise. When Winnie comes, Mandela also sees that the visiting area is nicer. He gets more space to grow a garden and cooks meals for other prisoners, also giving some vegetables away to warders. In general, regulations are less strict and Pollsmoor’s problems are easier to fix.
Although Mandela’s conditions in Pollsmoor are not quite as bad as at Robben Island, Mandela is still sure to highlight the disparity between his life locked in a cell and the life of prosperous White South Africans living not far away from him, which captures the unfairness of apartheid. Mandela himself seems to be aware that, as much as he enjoys having space to garden, there are still prisoners back at Robben Island who don’t have access to the same privileges—and he can’t give up on fighting for their rights along with his own.
Themes
