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Chapter 94
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
Back at prison, in December 1988, Mandela notices that the security in his ward seems to be particularly alert. Mandela is told to pack his things and get ready to leave. He is taken to the new prison of Victor Verster, which is 35 miles northeast of Cape Town. There, Mandela gets his own cottage, which is full of insects but spacious. It even has a swimming pool. His cook is a White man who once worked as a warder on Robben Island. He is even able to procure wine for when people like his lawyer, George Bizos, come to visit.
Each of Mandela’s prisons is an upgrade over the previous one, at least in terms of amenities. But while Mandela celebrates incremental progress, he does not let these improvements distract him from his ultimate goal of freedom for himself and his allies. The reversal of roles of Mandela and his cook, who once was clearly above Mandela in the hierarchy as a warder, shows how arbitrary these roles were to begin with.
Themes
