Mental Toughness Analysis

It states “Honey this night,they would feast!” after they found food. But when there was barely any food Salva was very hungry, it was painful for him. It states in “A long walk to water” “ I was hungrier than ever.” He had many other struggles such as when his toenail broke off. It states “The pain was terrible. He lowered his head,and the tears began to flow. He could hardly get his breath.” And not only did he experience pain he experienced losing his only part of his family that he was with at the time. It states “ one of the men aimed his gun at uncle. Three shots rang out.” All this evidence indicates that salva has induced so much agony, and although when things were at his worst,many miracles

In the novel, it states, “A lion had been hungry enough to approach the group as they slept…It sought out pray that was small and motionless: Marial, sleeping” (Park 41). Thus proves, that Salva was lucky that he wasn't eaten by a fierce lion when he was sound asleep, though he could have easily been eaten just like Marial. Salva rested for the night near Uncle Jewiir who would protect them from predators. On the other hand Marial slept further away from Salva and Uncle so he was vulnerable and was easily eaten by a lion. Additionally, the text states, “Stunned, Salva realized that being forced under the water have probably saved his life” (Park 78). This illustrates that when Salva was attempting to swim across the Gilo River, a boy cling to his neck and quickly forced Salva under water without warning him. Soon the boy was shot in the back of the neck, being pushed under water saved Salva from being shot and killed while crossing the Gilo River He was one of the few lucky refugees to survive crossing the crocodile-infested stream, though any of them could have easily been shot, drowned by the current or eaten by the flesh hungry crocodiles. Salva had survived many of the dangerous events by pure luck, his skills, and personal traits had no involvement when surviving some of the

Early in the novel, Salva is clearly terrified, but still strong emotionally. Salva, courages and hopeful. Has started his life by hearing a gun shot,

There were many times where Salva had to become a leader. After the deaths, nobody in the group would look out for Salva, let alone share food with him, “the way they treated him made Salva feel stronger.”(66). Throughout Salvas journey he had to step up and be a leader.

He faced some difficult challenges such as walking, hotness, and no one to help him survive. During his journey, he showed that he was brave, luck, and Confident. In Park’s novel, Salva, this impressive young man, was very brave, lucky, and confident throughout his tough journey. During Salva’s journey across South Sudan, he was very brave with all the situations that were going on.

He keeps pushing through all of his hardships. Salva had to keep walking and walking till he found a new safe destination. “The days became a never-ending walk. Salva’s feet kept time with the thoughts in his head, the same words over and over:

One survival challenge that proves Salva's persistence is his uncle dying. This challenge must have been hard for Salva to overcome because the closest person to him just died in front of his eyes. “As Salva watched, one of the men aimed his gun at Uncle. Three shots rang out. Then the men ran away.” (Park 63) This evidence shows that Salva watched his Uncle die, but he still goes on. As you can see this proves Salva’s persistence by saying he saw his uncle die in front of his eyes but he still finds the courage and strength to go on.

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

He goes through many horrifying things and difficult positions, but manages to survive. Salva relies on family, outside help, and perseverance to overcome his challenges. Family is an important way to overcome dangerous conflicts. In the book, Salva is separated

Throughout the novel Salva fought stress a lot. Salva starved, needed food and water, lots of water. “Taking only tiny sips when his body cried out for huge gulps of thirst-quenching, life-giving water.” (park 53). Salva needed water, so he had to take tiny sips, but wanted to take gulps of it. He was too thirsty. “When they reached the bushes, uncle pointed out a clump of rocks up ahead and told Salva to walk as far as the rocks.” (park 54). Salva listened to his uncle and set more goals to walk longer. Salva tried very hard to face and stand up to

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

Imagine that you are in a desert for three days and you have little to nothing amount of water and no food can you even stay in there for a day while kept on walking? The answer is probably no, but that is what Salva had to do. Which leads us to the first reason on why Salva is a hero and that is that he never gives up. Let's go back the desert which Salva went through. In the desert that Salva had to walk through took him not one day but more than two day to walk through, with little water and with no food. But he didn’t gave up in the desert even through in the text it said that he felt like that he was nausea and was going to fall at anytime. But he just kept on walking because he knows that if he just wait there he would just die but if he just

As stated earlier by Delice Coffey, “The game of basketball is 90% mental and 10% physical” (Coffey). Knowing that, being mentally tough is a key to success. Spencer Wood expresses, “I always define mental toughness and construct an improvement plan to develop mental toughness around the “4 C’s” – meaning an athlete’s Composure, Concentration, Confidence, and Commitment” (Wood).

How far would you go to survive? The people in “The Lost Boys” and “The Good Lie” faced countless amounts of physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges along the way.

competitive advantage. Hence, it is essential to study mental toughness and other psychological characteristics of the athletes.