A Long Walk To Water Analysis

Salva lived under the image of his whole family being killed, until he found his father many years later. Salva, the main character in Linda Sue Park’s A Long Walk to Water is able to survive and overcome a variety of challenges through being efficient, intelligent , and by listening to the group's leaders. Salva survives the first few challenges because, he was extremely Intelligent. For example he ran into the bush to escape the gunfire.

This shows that because Salva was a child and “too” small to do any real work his fellow Dinka village people left him alone but Salva perseveres and finds a women to help him. Lastly, Salva did what his Uncle Jewiir did and said to himself I only have to get through this day. On page 73 the book states “I need only to get through the rest of this day he told himself. This day and no other.” This also shows Salva likes to persevere in hard times and tell himself just to get through that one day and no other.

“ Uncle much know about the war and the fighting! Maybe he will know where my family is”(Park 34). This quote shows that how Salva was so lucky when he meet his uncle. Because he uncle was a leader, he had a gun, and he can protect him. And Salva was saved when he lived with his uncle.

I think that his journey to Ethiopia will go smoother because now he has a friend by his side. Both Marial and Salva, both have someone to not only rely on, but also just have a friend to talk to on the journey. In the book, they even work well together because it says that they found a bee hive together causing them to not only get honey, but to get the honeycomb. Together the honeycomb and honey are delicious, and can last 3-4 days to eat if you eat it slowly, which Salva did. Marial is also without his family, so they are both worried about maybe never seeing their families again.

Salva’s life along with others, are in danger. Survival will prove its difficulty as Salva travels without his family. Salva tries hard to not disrupt the group: “determined not to lag behind(...)not to be trouble to anyone” (22). Salva travels with a group he does not even know while struggling with acceptance. The stress from the traumatic event, separation of family, and trying to fit in with the group puts Salva in a vulnerable position.

Also, family plays a big role in Sal’s life, as her mother dying played a huge part in her mission. “I wished that my father was not such a good man, so there would be someone to blame for my mother's leaving. I didn't want to blame her. She was my mother, and she was part of me” (Creech). Sal wishes many unrealistic things such as hoping that her father was not such a good man so her mother would not have left her in the first

A very important theme in the book A Long Walk to Water is perseverance. The first example that perseverance is an important theme is how Nya walks back and forth to a faraway pond 2 times a day, every day, for seven months a year without stopping. Also, on the path, there are thorns everywhere that are painful to remove. Nya only gets a small bit of water and rest even though it is very hot and dry. Even the water that Nya gets with much pain and suffering is muddy and infected with Guinea Worms.

(pg 73) This shows that Salva is persevering because even though he hates the refugee camp, he

Salva is walking with the lost boys of Sudan to a refugee camp. That was a hard and tough thing to go through. It involved lots of mental toughness, motivation, and work ethic. Think of walking miles and miles with no vehicles or shoes water, food, or shelter.

To begin with, Salva was determined to make it out alive while walking through the Akobo Desert. Uncle told Salva that it would take three days to go through the scrub terrain of the Akobo Desert, Salva was determined to go through the desert with very little water from his gourd. Uncle was warning Salva that crossing the Akobo Desert would be a difficult terrain to survive because there was barely any food to survive of, it was almost as

In the beginning of the story, Salva is dependent on other people in the Dinka tribe to survive his journey to find out if his family is alive. Such as having the old Dinka woman to give him food and shelter, and depending on his uncle to teach him to protect himself from lions, or even depending on his uncle for food. In the very beginning of the story Salva meets an old lady, which gives him food, water, and shelter. “ A few moments later, she came back out and gave him a two handfuls of raw peanuts.

said Uncle who was magically by his side. This is the way he demonstrated this trait this example makes it clear that Salva was persistent because he could have just gave up and not go any further but Salva is not a quitter so he pushed himself. In conclusion, Salva was definitely a character that showed many different character traits by being kind, caring, loving, persistent, and determined. Throughout the novel Salva demonstrates persistent in every

Now he has to travel the desert. These next 3 paragraphs are about the traits that Salva has used to survive the desert. First, Salva’s hard work saved his life in the desert. In the story Salva grows closer to an older woman ‘Auntie’ and works to not burden her. ‘Salva stayed in the woman’s barn again that night...water from the pond.’

Also when Salva's uncle joined the group he was in, Salva relied on his uncle to look after and protect him. This is proved on Page 35 when the text said, “Uncle was quiet for a moment. Then he patted Salva’s shoulder. “Eh, Nephew!”

“It’s not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Charles Darwin once said. In order for Salva to survive, he needed some basic survival skills. The three I noticed were adaptability, mental toughness, and motivation. Here’s some examples of Salva using these skills throughout the story.