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Chapter 8
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
Near Johannesburg, Mandela sees a gold mine for the first time. Justice and Mandela have made arrangements about a mine job ahead of time through telling only part of the truth to Dr. Xuma, a friend of Jongintaba’s involved with the ANC who promises them work. But the foreman at the mine, Piliso, only has a clerical job for Justice because he wasn’t expecting Mandela to come too. Piliso then gets angry at both of them once he learns that they’re running away from their father. He takes back his offer and refuses a job for either of them. Mandela stays with his cousin, Garlick Mbekeni, for a little while before moving in with a local Anglican preacher, Reverend J. Mabutho, and his wife. Mandela also neglects to tell Mabutho at first that he has run away from home, and the reverend feels that Mandela deceived him.
In this passage, Mandela learns the consequences of trying to deceive someone. He and Justice believe that because Johannesburg is so far away, they can lie to people like Dr. Xuma and Piliso about why they’ve come to the city. They soon learn that the truth has a way of coming out and that there are consequences to being exposed as a liar. This focus on honesty stays with Mandela throughout his political life, even as he has to deal with people that he strongly disagrees with on issues or who aren’t honest with him.
Themes
Reverend Mabutho kicks Mandela out but helps him find a new home with Mr. Xhoma, who is one of the rare Black landowners in the area of Alexandra, near Johannesburg. Mandela begins to work as a clerk at a law firm while studying to finish his B.A. at night at the University of South Africa. Although that fact that the law firm hired an African clerk shows that it was fairly progressive, Mandela still experiences discrimination, like when a white secretary who works under him instructs Mandela to go buy her shampoo. Still, he meets some fellow clerks his age and also begins to socialize at parties where people don’t seem to see skin color.
As Mandela continues to see more of South African life, including spending more time around White people, he learns more about the injustice Black South Africans face and how some people won’t respect him no matter how hard he works. Mandela also learns that politics aren’t necessarily straightforward. The same law office can be both a relatively progressive place and a place where racism continues to negatively guide behavior, as illustrated by the incident with the woman who forces Mandela to do the menial task of buying shampoo for her.
Themes
