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A sense of time
Time became another source of control, as Mandela recalls in his autobiography.
"Watches and timepieces of any kind were barred on Robben Island, so we never
knew precisely what time it was. We were dependent on bells and warders' whistles
and shouts. One of the first things I did was to make a calendar on the wall of my
cell. Losing a sense of time is an easy way to lose one's grip and even one's sanity."
One day in 1968, Mandela received a telegram informing him that his mother had died
of a heart attack. In 1969, he received another telegram, this one from his youngest
son -- informing him that his eldest son, age 25, had been killed in a car accident.
In both cases, prison leaders refused to let Mandela attend the funerals. Meanwhile,
his wife, sister-in-law, and other family members were living their own nightmare
of interrogation, imprisonment, and threats.
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