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Chapter 31
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
Two years and eight months after Mandela’s initial arrest, the trial actually begins in August 1959. On October 11, there is another delay when the prosecutor unexpectedly dies from a stroke. The prosecution brings witnesses who fail to convincingly prove that ANC is full of Communists. Still, they have an audio recording of one prominent activist named Robert Resha seemingly advocating for violence, although Mandela believes the quote is taken out of context. Mandela thinks the judges might be beginning to see the ANC side when all of a sudden everything changes on March 21, 1960.
Mandela tries to describe the prosecution’s case in an even-handed way that nevertheless shows why the prosecution fall short. He acknowledges, for example, that the sudden death of the prosecutor represents a blow to their case, but he doesn’t let that stop him from picking apart the logic they use, which is full of flaws. Mandela walks a careful line, showing that he has sympathy for some of the Communists in the ANC but doesn’t identify as one himself, attempting to unite by appealing to both sides.
Themes
