A Long Walk To Water Essay

A Long Walk to Water is a novel by Linda Sue Park. This novel is about Salva, an eleven-year -old Sudanese boy who grows up in South Sudan. Later in the novel, he has faced challenges you wouldn’t dream of facing yourself through a long period of time. He has learned that if you help other people, those people will then help more people, which will result in more happiness in the world. He is a round character that changes throughout the novel. Salva is a different person at the end of the book. He has gone from hearing his death journey to fighting for survival to helping transform people’s lives forever.

The author Linda Sue Park wrote this novel called A Long Walk To Water. She created this novel based on one of many lost boys, but focused on one out of all of them which was named Salva Dut Arilk. The second sudanese civil war broke out and caused lives in the 1980’s. After the war had came to his village he had been forced to survive on his own. The three most important survival factors that Salva needed to demonstrate along his journey are Perseverance, Hope, and Obedience.

In the novel the author writes that “he organized a grouped, giving everyone a job: scavenge for food; collect firewood; and stand guard while the grouped slept.” This shows how leadership helps him to keep going and help others because of this he was able to encourage others just like his uncle did and also the fact that people were counting on him to get them to safety so he couldn't just give up. In the text Salva says that “there were times when some boys did not want to do their share of the work. Salva would talk to them, coax and persuade them.” This helped the grouped to be organized and to not leave anything or anyone

1. Salva journey will be different in a positive way now that he has a friend. At first Salva was all alone and now since he found someone that relates to him, it will make the journey more uplifting.

Survival is a good theme in the book “A Long Walk To Water” because Salva (the male character) has to go through a lot of discomfort, and needs to survive without his family. The first upcoming example of survival is when Salva gets left behind from the group of rebels in the barn, this happened because war came to Salva’s town and killed about everyone, while this was happening Salva was in school and needed to run into the brush where he found the rebels. When Salva gets left behind he doesn’t know what he’s going to do, but when he goes outside he finds a woman sitting on a bench, Salva didn’t know if this woman is Nuer or Dinka for Salva to know this he has to see the scar mark on the woman’s face. The woman

Salva used his mental toughness to survive.Salva goes to three different refugee camps to look for his family but didn’t find them.Though Salva couldn’t find his family he continued looking for them.While heading to one of the refugee

Salva knew that he has to be confident and he needs to overcome obstacles. Sometimes Salva would think to himself. “There is no one left to help me. They think I am weak and useless. Salva lifted his head proudly. They are wrong and I will prove it.” (Park,66) Everyone thinks that since he is a kid, he is weak and useless. They think that he can’t do the things they do. Salva doesn’t believe that and wants to prove to them that he can keep up and help the others. Sometimes, he thinks about all the times that something bad has happened to them. “When Salva heard the stories, he thought of Mariel. He felt his determination growing, as it had in the days after Uncle’s death. “I will get us safely to Kenya, he thought. No matter how hard it is.”(Park,81) Salva believed in himself and he knew that he wanted everyone to make it safe to the

Salva now traveling with the group, during his journey he meets new friends such as Buksa and Marial, and even finding his Uncle. During the walk, Salva found out that they were going to Ethiopia, another country. Many of the people died during this time such as Marial. The text says, “He clung to Uncle like a baby or a little boy….. Marial was gone… If it hadn’t been for Uncle, Salva might have gone crazy with fear.” (40) Salva cannot make it alone in this journey, without Uncle to calm him down, Salva could have lost it. Uncle’s support was the reason why the group did not leave him or treat him with disrespect, Uncle was like the leader of the group. But when Uncle’s dies as he was shot by thieves, everything changed for Salva. The text states, “Now that Salva was without Uncle’s care and protection, the group’s attitude towards him changed. Once again, they grumbled that he was too young and small, that he might slow them or start crying again, as he had in the desert.” (65) Though it gave him sorrow and pain, it also gave him determination. It also gave determination and a will stronger than ever to survive and go to Ethiopia. Especially with group’s attitude toward Salva changed he had to be strong or he would never survive. Salva made it to Ethiopia, but after six years Salva and the other people were chased of the refugee there and was made to cross the river. The text says, “The soldiers were forcing them into the

Throughout A Long Walk to Water, Salva goes through many struggles and hardships. Perseverance and hope were some things that helped Salva survive through them. Salva always had hope that his family was out there somewhere throughout the years he was separated from them. His hope was one of the things that kept him going throughout his hardest times. Salva also had many moments of perseverance. Moreover, Salva’s journey through the Akobo desert is a superb example of Salva’s perseverance. Salva had suffered from hunger, dehydration, and the loss of a toenail, but he kept going at a stable pace with the help of his uncle. Salva has portrayed hope and perseverance many times throughout the story.

Salva’s journey began with facing many difficult challenges. When the second Sudanese Civil War first broke out, everyone heard gunshots outside of the school.“ Everyone Down! The teacher shouted” (5). On that fateful day, Salva was told to run and to “stay away from the villages- run into the bush” (6). As night began to fall, Salva had stayed overnight in an old woman’s barn. The following morning, Salva woke up realizing the group he originally started to travel with had “...left him. He was alone” (13). Although this looked like a terrible situation for Salva, he had soon met a new, smaller group. Now traveling with this group he had discovered “ These people were Dinka, too!’ but he couldn’t help but ask himself, ‘Could his family be among them?” (19). He soon found out his Uncle was among them and the leader of the group for his military background and having a gun. The group had soon come across a tough challenge, “ The Nile, Uncle said” (42). Collecting reeds and weaving them together, the group soon found themselves paddling to the other side of the river. Finally making it across, the group had found themselves at their “. . .most difficult part of their journey: The Akobo desert” (50). Though the journey was tough, Salva had his Uncle there to help get him through, for many times Salva had wanted to quit. “ Do you see that group of bushes? … You only need to walk as far as those bushes” his Uncle suggested, giving him landmarks to walk to each time to get across the arid desert (53). Being able to overcome these challenges, it made it easier for Salva to be able to adapt to new situations.

If he hadn’t of done this, he wouldn’t have been able to stay there, and would of died, because he couldn’t support himself. Another example of him surviving because of persistence is in Chapter 7 on page 43. The text says, “It was hard work running back and forth between those cutting and those weaving.” This shows that Salva survived because he kept on working hard, even when he got tired, so they could build the boats. This helped him to survive because if they wouldn’t of built the boats, they would have either died of starvation, or get caught by the

Salva’s confidence helps him preserve, and accomplish things during challenging times. “One day after the morning meal, Michael spoke to Salva. “You seem interested in English,” he said, “How’d you like to learn?” (Park, 86) Salva wanted to learn English and when Michael offered to help Salva, he took it. As a result, Salva persevered and he learned English. Salva worked hard to give water to people in Africa, and it worked. He had to put a lot of effort in but he finally got to give water to families in Africa. “Day by day, solving one problem at a time, Salva moved toward his goal.”(Park, 110) Salva worked very hard to give water to Sudan and he showed that if you persevere and if you work hard you can get anything done.

Salva’s childhood was a normal life, any other eleven year old’s life in south Sudan would be composed of mostly the same events. Salva worked for his mother most of his day. Travelling many miles to the closest pond of water they had. Salva would make two trips there a day. He went to school unlike most of the kids because his dad was an important person and he made a lot of money allowing

With every shell that exploded he would think of his family, hoping they were safe…”This shows that the hope of his family being alive kept him working for his aunt so she could let him stay. Also. he had hope that he would be able to make it to Ethiopia. On Pg 65,” Marial was gone. Uncle was gone, too, murdered by those Nuer men right before Salva’s eyes.

Salva the main character of “A Long Walk to Water” by Linda Sue Park was an 11-year old boy when his village was attacked. His teacher urged him to run away from the village and to run to the “bush.” After that attack, his life made a turn for the worse. With no family around him, he was completely lost. During his journey, he had some problems, but overcame