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Chapter 97
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
On October 10, 1989, de Klerk announces that Sisulu and several other of Mandela’s allies from Robben Island will be going free. Mandela sends a letter to de Klerk similar to the one he wrote to Botha. When Mandela eventually meets de Klerk, he finds that de Klerk wants to modernize apartheid rather than abolish it, which is unacceptable to Mandela. Although many elements of de Klerk’s plan for the country fall short for Mandela, he believes the two of them can work together.
De Klerk and Mandela have a complicated relationship, since their political goals are fundamentally at odds with each other. Mandela wants to abolish apartheid while de Klerk merely wants to reform it. Still, Mandela’s meetings with de Klerk show how it is possible for two people with such different goals to nevertheless reach an agreement that will be mutually beneficial to them.
Themes
