A Long Walk To Water Summary

The book A long walk to Water by Linda Sue Park is about an eleven year old boy named Salva. First in the beginning of the story he is going to school when out of no where his school is in the middle of a war zone, his teacher tells him to run for the bushes but he keeps running until he could run no more. Then he meets some other people that had also ran away from the war, they had broken of into groups separating the men from the women and children, Salva was put with the children. They kept walking until they came across a barn in which they spent the night, when Salva awoke in the morning he was the only one there, the group had left him. He walked outside of the barn and found a lady rocking on a chair, she gives him some peanuts to eat

In the novel “A long walk to water” by Linda Sue Park, Salva, a young man that lived in South Sudan throughout his childhood to his young-adult years, had faced many difficult challenges the young age of eleven. Salva had to flee from home because of Sudan’s civil war. He soon experienced a horrifying and dreadful life, his family gone, no resources in his group, he watched people die, walked for months, and lead twelve hundred boys to a refugee camp in Kenya. Salva survived this terrible life with the help of three factors, perseverance, luck, and relationships with others. Without any of these factors, Salva might not have been able to survive or possibly become the leader he is today.

Early in the novel, Salva is clearly terrified, but still strong emotionally. Salva, curious and hopeful. Has started his life by hearing a “Crack”

Don’t let people misunderstand you by you age and bringing you down.“He is too young to do any real work, he will be no help to us.”(Park 21)The other villagers think that Salva will slow them down because he is too young. They want to leave him, alone. Salva feels sad and he feels unwanted. It makes him feel like he cannot do anything. “One step at a time. One day at a time. Just today, just this day to get through.”(Park, 77)Salva is thinking of ways to keep going and believing in himself, not letting anything bring him down so he can accomplish. So he can accomplish being somewhere safe and finding his family.Salva didn't let them misunderstand him just by his age and being brave. So he kept on showing them how wrong they were for thinking that he couldn’t do it and proved them all worn when he grew up and went to the United States.

Salva had a positive attitude to survive.when he was in the u.s he didn’t forget about the people in sudan.Which made him want to get clean water for them and he did.When the war took him away from family,he still hoped he would see them again. Which encouraged to continue walking,so later on he could see his family.

The story “A Long Walk To Water” by Linda Sue Park, took place in the years 1985 to 2009. A theme that comes up in the story is survival. In the story, Salva is one of the characters that faces the theme. Many things helped him survive, but the most important factor in his survival is his uncle. Linda Sue Park shows that Salva survived because of the help his uncle gave him along the way, he survived with the help the lady he called auntie offered him when she gave him shelter in the barn and helped him join a group to stay away from war. His survival in the story was also shown when the boy brought him down in the river almost drowning him but ended up saving his life.

Durning Salva’s adventure he had lost everyone he loved. When Salva had first lost someone that he love it was when the war had started. When the war started Salva and the other kids in his class were told to run, “as hard as he could, into the bush”(seven). Once Salva had to run away he left behind his family. Throughout the novel Salva losses a few more people in his life. Salva was then on his own, he then had found his uncle and met a friend that had lost his family as well. Salva’s uncle was shot, “three shots rang out. Then the men ran away”(63). After the death of his uncle Salva was then forced to have to watch out for himself. His friend however died before his uncle when they were sleeping out in lion country, “as he opened his eyes, he heard wailing, someone was crying” (37). This had hit Salva hard, because he did not have any friends anymore, especially ones that had also lost their family. So after the deaths Salva didn't have anyone anymore, he was on his own again.

When war threatened villages in Sudan, so many people were forced to leave their homes and families behind. That's just what Salva had to do one dreadful day while at school. A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park is a story about a young boy named Salva, who lives in Sudan. He had to grow up with war going on around him, and had to walk away from it all. Salva even had to leave his whole family behind in trade for safety. Throughout all his struggles Salva stayed strong and has become what we know as a survivor. All the loss of his loved ones, challenges in the wilderness, and him being able to adapt to new situations are all great examples on why Salva would be considered a survivor.

There are supposed to be refugee camps in Kenya.” (Park 79) Salva was scared of the war and of the soldiers so he thought of a safe path that would get him somewhere safer than the other two options. “One step at a time...one day at a time. Just today-just this day to get through.” (Park 82)

In the book, A Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park, Salva learns to never give up. Most people never give up on either trying to survive or to succeed. Salva kept running for his life to get away from the gunshots. “He ran until he could not run anymore.” (Park, 9).

Salva keeps going even though he was devastated by the loss of by the loss of his friend Marial. Salva explained the death of his friend as: “A cold fist seemed to grip Salva’s heart”(Park 38). He also kept going even though his uncle was shot dead. His beloved uncle who protected him, guided him, and loved him, was gone. “Now that Salva was without Uncle’s care and protection, the group’s attitude toward him changed”(Park 65).

He is selected as one of the boys that would take refuge in America, he hears that his father is alive. After visiting a remote part of Sudan, where his father was hospitalized for drinking too much contaminated water, Salva wants to help not only his father, but the many others that are suffering from this issue to get clean water. Another example would be Jackson Saikong. Jackson’s struggle was to get a proper education. In order get the proper education so he could accomplish his dream of being a pilot, he needed to go to school. Each week, he embarked on a nine mile long journey with his younger sister to get to school. Like Salva, his life was filled with much danger, and one moment could determine the difference from life and death. Through the danger that awaited Jackson on each trip to school, he soon realized that his family lived so far away from the school he attended and in a remote area, was because they didn’t prosper very well financially. The two siblings made it their goal and purpose to receive good education to support their

In the beginning of the book Salva’s village is being shot up and he is told to flee/run into the bush. Once Salva is in the bush him and the other kids start walking. After a couple days they more and more people join them. They then are stopped by a military group that took all the men and left the women and children. (pg.12). While salva was with his big group after he had found his uncle he had made a good friend,Marial. Salva and his group had a late night and salva slept for a long time. When he awoke he awoke to the sound of crying and his uncle told him. That Marial had been killed in the night.(pg.38) Salve overcame this by telling himself that Marial would want him to make it safely and that kept salve going. Another thing that happened to him was when salva and his group were stopped by a group of nuer soldiers. The soldiers raided the camp, Tied Salva’s uncle to a tree, And shot him with his own weapon.(pg.63) Salva overcame this the same way he overcame Marial’s death, by telling himself that he had to finish the trip for uncle and Marial. Salva also overcame many obstacles in the United

The second survival factor that made survival possible for Salva was Uncle Jewiir’s advice. Not only was his advice a survival factor, but he himself was a survival factor. While Salva was crossing the desert in chapter 7 he found himself losing hope. But Uncle Jewiir didn’t let that happen. He made sure to stay by Salva’s side when he needed somebody for comfort and he gave advice. According to chapter 7 (page 41), it states that “If it hadn’t been Uncle, Salva might have gone crazy with fear. Uncle spoke to him all morning in a steady, low voice.” This shows us that Salva was afraid of the lions and he needed someone to comfort him. This also shows that without Uncle Jewiir Salva would probably be long gone. It also says in chapter 9 (page 53) that “As if by magic, Uncle was suddenly at his side. “Salva Mawien Dut Ariik!” he said, using Salva’s full name, loud and clear. Salva lifted his head, the sobs interrupted by surprise. “Do you see that group of bushes?” Uncle said, pointing. You need to only walk as far as those bushes. Can you do that, Salva Mawien Dut Ariik?” This shows us that Uncle Jewiir’s advice helped him a lot and what Uncle was trying to imply to Salva was to take a step at a time instead of taking it all in one time. Not only did Uncle Jewiir’s advice help now, but years later too. He was

Life takes a strong toil when war strikes. People start to lose hope in survival and start believing in the wrong source of power. Revenge and world domination. It takes one to realize what truly matters, and that is life. But there are factors to lead to one’s survival and hope for a better path. In the novel that Linda Sue Park had written; a Long Walk To Water. Tells a story of compassion, bravery, and a little bit of luck, during one of the worst times in Southern Sudan. Told from a perspective of a young boy named Salva. Throughout the book, Salva had many factors that made survival possible for him, they include; Marial, Uncle, some luck on the way. These are the factors that helped him survive, even when tomorrow did not seem