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"A Long Walk to Water" by Linda Sue Park: Analysis
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Published: Mar 16, 2024
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Perseverance, power of hope.
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A Long Walk to Water
By linda sue park, a long walk to water summary and analysis of chapters 1-4.
Southern Sudan, 2008
Nya carries the empty plastic water container, which is much easier than when she has to carry it home full. There are thorns, heat, and time—and that is it.
Southern Sudan, 1985
Eleven-year-old Salva sits perfectly, ostensibly paying attention to the teacher but dreaming about when he can get out on the road home. At home, he speaks Dinka, but here at school, his teacher teaches them Arabic.
Salva knows he is lucky to be at school, though he cannot attend during the dry season because his family moves away from their village. Salva’s father is successful, owning many cattle and working as a judge. Salva has three brothers and two sisters.
Today Salva wishes he were at home with the cattle. He thinks of driving them with the local boys to the good grazing areas. The cows only need a bit of watching, and there is plenty of time to play. Salva and the boys make cows out of clay and try to make the best one. Sometimes they practice shooting. It is a good day when they can get a guinea hen or squirrel and cook it up and eat it.
Salva is currently hungry and is dreaming of milk. He imagines his mother looking out to the road for when he will come home. He will see her headscarf from afar and when she sees him she’ll get his milk ready.
The teacher stops. A cracking sound like gunshots is heard outside. It is silent, but then suddenly the cracks and pops are louder and insistent. The teacher screams for them all to get down. Some boys are frozen in shock. Outside people are running. The teacher tells them urgently to get into the bush and do not go home since they will be going into the villages. He urges them once more.
Salva does not know much about the war, which started two years ago. He does know the rebels are from Southern Sudan, where he lives. They are fighting against the government, which wants to make all of the country Muslim. Here in the South, they do not want to be forced to practice Islam. Now the war has come here.
Salva is near the end of the line of boys and his heart is pounding. He wants to go home but out in the street women and children and men are running, kicking up dust. Salva starts running as fast as he can until he gets into the bush.
Nya tries not to step on one of the spiky plants, but she lifts her heel up and sees a huge thorn embedded in it. She grabs another thorn to try and dislodge the first.
Salva hears a huge boom and sees a blaze and smoke behind him. He sees a plane veering in the sky but can no longer make out the school.
He runs until he cannot run anymore, then walks. All around him are people walking and he searches anxiously for his family. Someone calls out for them to separate by village. Salva stands with the people from his village of Loun-Ariik, and while he recognizes some people, his family is not there.
That night the people sleep by the road. The next morning they see the rebels, all carrying large guns. The guns are not pointed at the crowd but the men are watchful and fierce.
Later in the afternoon, the group arrives at the rebel camp where they are separated into men, and women and children. Salva does not know which group to join and heads towards the men but a soldier with a gun stops him and looks at him. His insides knotted in fear, Salva waits as the man points him to the women and children, laughingly telling him that he is not a man yet.
The rebels move on the next morning, carrying all of their supplies. One man does not want to go and a soldier strikes him with his gun.
Salva stays with his village group. That night they find a barn to sleep in. He cannot stop thinking about his family.
In the morning Salva opens his eyes and realizes with a start that no one else is there –they’d left him.
Nya notices all the life at the pond –women, children, birds flapping and twittering, herds of cattle. She uses the hollowed gourd to dip into the muddy water and fills the plastic container over and over again. She places a cloth donut on her head and then sets the container on it to begin the walk back. If she is lucky, she will be home by noon.
Salva’s eyes fill with tears. He knows he has been left because he is a child and the people think he’d slow them down.
Looking outside, he sees a small pond near the barn. A woman with Dinka scars is there. He is relieved she is not one of the Nuer, a rival tribe. For hundreds of years, the tribes had warred over the land with the most water.
The woman, who is quite old, stares at him and finally says he must be hungry. She gives him a few handfuls of peanuts and he thanks her. She asks where his people are and he cannot speak for the tears. She asks if he is an orphan and he explains what happened. She asks how he will find them and he admits he does not know.
Salva wonders if he ought to stay here until the fighting stops, so for the next three days, he works very hard for the old woman. He can hear the distant booming of artillery.
Unfortunately, the old woman says that the pond is drying up and the fighting is not stopping, so she is going to a local village and he must leave her. Salva is confused as she explains that as an old woman she will be left alone but if he is with her it will be more dangerous. She is sympathetic, but will not budge.
Salva has no idea where to go or what to do. As the sun sets, though, he hears a buzz of voices and sees about a dozen Dinka villagers.
Back at home, Nya has a meal of boiled sorghum and milk. Her mother tells her to take her sister Akeer with her to the watering hole because she must learn. This will be Nya’s second trip to the pond; this is what she does for seven months of the year.
Salva scans the faces and is morose that he does not see his family. The old woman comes out and asks if they will take him. Some are hesitant, noting they already have mouths to feed. One woman looks at him, though, then at one of the men. They say he will come with them.
Salva bids the old woman goodbye and joins the group. He is determined to stay quiet and not lag behind.
The days are never-ending. They walk and walk more. The terrain moves from scrub to woodland. More people join them on their walk to nowhere.
Salva’s hunger astonishes him in its intensity; nothing else seems real. He falls a little bit behind one day. A boy named Buksa lags behind as well, but he seems to be listening to something. Salva strains his ears but hears nothing.
Buksa smiles and tells Salva to get the others because a bird he was listening to has led him to a beehive.
Salva rushes off, elated at this imminent feast.
The major thing for readers to note about this novel is that it is based on a true story. Park was friends with Salva Dut and knew his incredible story. She consulted him personally and reviewed his own memoir in which he chronicled some of the things he endured. For the story of Nya, she based it off of her research on Sudanese villages, as well as Salva’s advice and her own husband’s trip to Sudan with Salva. Thus, it is important for readers to be aware that all the major events of Salva’s story are true, and that only some of the dialogue and the character of Nya herself are fictional.
Park weaves together her two stories in a way that they are different but similar, parallel but eventually conflating. Salva and Nya are both eleven years old when their stories begin. They both understand to an extent the problems that plague their country—war, lack of drinkable water, etc.—but do the best they can do to survive and are often concerned with their immediate family before anything else. Nya has an arduous trek to fetch water for her family, sees her sister almost die, and observes her mother’s fears that the constant warfare between the Dinka and the Nuer will result in the deaths of her father and/or brothers. Salva’s home life before the village is attacked is a lot more ideal, but it is short-lived in that at only eleven years old, Salva is forced to flee into the bush and leave his family or face being swept up into the fighting.
Both of the children understand their duties and what is necessary to survive. Nya is a more skeptical figure while Salva retains hope a bit more easily. Nevertheless, Salva’s experience is arguably a more perilous one; over the course of his exile from home, he endures starvation, heat exhaustion, dehydration, almost being shot, almost drowning, almost being attacked by crocodiles, and almost being forced to fight. He loses a best friend, his uncle, and, to the best of his knowledge at the time, his entire family. Despite all of this, Salva maintains the will to endure.
Salva is by all accounts an incredible figure, and one most people would deem heroic, but Park writes him in a very relatable, human way. He is a little stubborn, a little dreamy, a little weak. He doesn’t understand everything that is going on around him. He is a real child who desperately misses his family, wonders what will happen to himself, and spends time lost in the memories of the life he once had.
Salva’s reliability is in sharp contrast to the backdrop of the novel, which is of a hellishness that most readers will not be able to grasp. The Sudanese Civil War, discussed in the “Other” section of this study guide, swallowed up almost everyone in its wake and lingered for decades. The things Salva and Nya experience as a result of the fighting and the condition of Sudan will likely not personally resonate with Western readers. However, Park’s real skill as a writer is that in her straightforward, lucid prose she makes a complicated situation digestible, conveys trauma without being prurient or obfuscating, and allows readers, through walking alongside Salva and Nya, to consider big themes like survival and courage and family as well as their own place in the world.
A Long Walk to Water Questions and Answers
The Question and Answer section for A Long Walk to Water is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.
How did Salva’s circumstances change from good … to bad … to good?
You can check out the short summaties of these chapters below:
https://www.gradesaver.com/a-long-walk-to-water/study-guide/summary-chapters-1-4
What is the main event in chapter 14-16
The main event is Salva as a young man. Now an engineer, he is finding water for his countrymen. This is really Salva's transition from boy to man both in the United States and in Africa.
are the dinka loyal people?
That's purely subjective. One can't label a whole population of a certain people loyal or not. They are individuals.
Study Guide for A Long Walk to Water
A Long Walk to Water study guide contains a biography of Linda Sue Park, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.
- About A Long Walk to Water
- A Long Walk to Water Summary
- Character List
Lesson Plan for A Long Walk to Water
- About the Author
- Study Objectives
- Common Core Standards
- Introduction to A Long Walk to Water
- Relationship to Other Books
- Bringing in Technology
- Notes to the Teacher
- Related Links
- A Long Walk to Water Bibliography
Wikipedia Entries for A Long Walk to Water
- Introduction
- Water for South Sudan
A Long Walk to Water
61 pages • 2 hours read
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapters 1-2
Chapters 3-4
Chapters 5-7
Chapters 8-9
Chapters 10-11
Chapters 12-13
Chapters 14-15
Chapters 16-18
Character Analysis
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Discussion Questions
The author combines two parallel plots that only connect at the end. How do they connect? What does that connection demonstrate?
What is the significance of Uncle Jewiir? What part does he play in Salva's life and personal philosophy?
Though the travelers never encounter the war itself, they are constantly running from it. What does Park seem to be saying about the unnamed casualties of war?
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A Long Walk To Water Essay Example
The inspiring short story, A Long Walk To Water, shares two stories. One of a young girl, Nya, who goes on journeys for water. The other, Salva, is about a boy who leaves his home from a war going on in his town. Salva wanted to be safe and find his family yet he was forced to leave because of the war going on. But, Salva could not wait and look for his family as the fighting was getting closer and closer. So, he had to leave his hometown without anything and his family. Then, Salva continues his journey with hope for his family and for himself. Nya on the other hand, Nya wanted to get her family water. But, one day when she went down to the pond, there was a problem. The water in the pond had vanished leaving nothing behind. So, Nya was full of concern knowing that there was basically no water left. Then, she came across a group of hard-working men and they had provided a clean water pump. Although they are different stories and different characters, this novel showcases many physical and emotional challenges that both characters faced in their lives.
To start with, Nya and Salva both faced physical challenges such as having a hard time finding water and traveling up hills and mountains. To prove this, the author writes, “Every year when the rains stopped and the pond near the village dried up” (Park 26). This shows how Nya had a hard time getting water. Also, this shows how Nya would walk down the lake by her village and see nothing but dry, crinkly dirt, she would not have any water to give to her family and or herself. To add on, The author also includes, “Nya would make her second trip to the pond” (Park 20). This shows that Nya had to make more than one trip to the pond. This pond was further than the lake by her village, so she had to travel up and down hills and mountains multiple times because the lake in her village had dried up. Salva on the other hand was traveling countless miles to get to Sudan away from the war happening in his hometown. Since he wasn’t traveling for water and he was traveling to get away from war, water was not his top priority most of his journey, but it was something Salva needed to keep an eye out for. Salva had a hard time walking to Sudan at a young age and no water made his journey more difficult. To show, Linda Park writes, “Each time, Salva would think of his family and his village, and he was somehow able to keep his wounded feet moving forward, one painful step at a time” (Park 54). This shows that Salva had a hard time to keep walking and moving as he made his way through his journey. Salva had to keep pushing through the pain in honor of his family and for himself. Although he knew it was going to be hard, he was a fighter and kept pushing through the pain and torture. Also, to continue, the author adds, “But there was no water anywhere, though they searched for miles” (Park 37). This shows how Salva traveled miles to get to Sudan and on his way with his walking buddies, there was no water in sight. Water is a very important thing to have and Salva did not have a sip of water I a couple of days which was very bad for him. Both Nya and Slava did travel but Nya was traveling over hills to get water, as, on the other hand, Salva was traveling to get away from the war with no water in reach of him.
To continue on, Salva and Nya both faced emotional changes during their walks. Nya changed emotionally and faced emotional challenges because Nya worries about her family. The author writes, “Fear. Her mother was afraid. Afraid that the men in the family would run into Dinka tribesman somewhere, that they would fight and get injured- or worse” (Park 33). This shows how Nyas’ mother is affecting the way Nya is starting to feel because as Nya is getting older, she is realizing how dangerous the world really is and can be. As Nyas’ mother worries, Nya feels worried for her mother because she is scared about her family. Furthermore, the author includes, “ They had been lucky for all these years” (Park 33). This proves that Nya had been understanding how they had been safe all these years and then if something bad were to happen, Nya wouldn’t know the feeling because she would not be used to it nor would she be ready for it. This is making Nya start to realize bad things can happen pretty quickly and more often than ever. Now, Salva faced emotional challenges because he loses his uncle and finds his dad to be suffering in a hospital. To support, the author includes, “ As Salva watched, one of the men aimed his gun at Uncle. Three shots ran out. Then the men ran away” (Park 63). This is an emotional challenge for Salva because Salva has to live with the vision of his Uncle getting shot and dying. Again, Salva faces big emotional challenges when he sees his father suffering in the hospital. The author writes, “He learned more about his father’s illness. Years of drinking contaminated water had left Mawien Dut’s entire digestive system riddled with guine
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A Long Walk to Water
Linda sue park, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.
Linda Sue Park’s A Long Walk to Water is a story about the lengths to which people will go in order to survive. The book is divided into two storylines, which remain separate until the final chapter (in fact, the final sentence). In the first storyline, set in Southern Sudan in 1985, an eleven–year-old boy named Salva Dut is forced to flee his village due to the outbreak of civil war. In the second storyline…
Hope and Resilience
In addition to focusing on the physical realities of people struggling to survive—such as the need for water and shelter— A Long Walk to Water focuses on the psychological and emotional aspects of the struggle for survival. It’s not enough to have food and water , Park suggests. Rather, to survive in dangerous times, people need to want to survive, which requires finding a source of strength, determination, and hope.
In tough times, the book…
Social Strife
Although it is primarily set during Sudan’s Second Civil War, A Long Walk to Water offers surprisingly little background information about the conflict. Aside from a short author’s note, the book is free from any mention of the political forces that led to the long, bloody war. Instead of going into detail about the causes of the violence in Sudan, Park portrays the effects of this violence: displaced villagers, orphaned children, and an overall sense…
Development
Especially in the second half of A Long Walk to Water , Park explores the theme of development—in other words, the methods that engineers, politicians, and aid workers use to improve the living conditions of people in Sudan. For the most part, the book takes an optimistic view of development, arguing that factors such as foreign aid and an influx of infrastructural development such as wells will be able to dramatically improve the situation in…
Home / Essay Samples / Literature / Literary Criticism / “A Long Walk to Water”: the Theme of Challenges and Leadership
"A Long Walk to Water": the Theme of Challenges and Leadership
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- Topic: Book Report , Literary Criticism , Plot
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Lines of Difficulties and Leadership in 'A Long Walk to Water'
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