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Chapter 4
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
Mandela leaves home again to go to Clarkebury Boarding Institute, one of the most prestigious schools in Thembuland. Mandela thinks that his distinguished family line will give him an advantage but finds that all of the boys at school come from illustrious families. He struggles to adjust at first and is mediocre at sports, but he eventually begins to excel academically and completes his program early.
Mandela’s early years, much like his later life, are about slow progress, and he doesn't present himself as a prodigy or a natural. Although Mandela is modest about his own accomplishments in this passage, he’s still proud. This experience at school also sets him up to rub shoulders with other powerful Black peers.
Themes
