Could you imagine having to run away from your home and your family because of a terrible war in your village? According to the Tennessee Office for Refugees, “It is a badge of strength courage, and victory to be a refugee.” In the novel, A Long Walk To Water, by Linda Sue Park, a young boy named Salva is a Southern Sudan refugee, a “Lost Boy”. He shows strength, courage and bravery when he makes his journey to escape war. Salva is stuck in his war struck village, and he needs to show these qualities if he ever wants to make it to a safe place.
First, Salva shows strength when the group is walking through the Akobo desert. He wants to stop going because of the heat and the pain, but with the help of Uncle, he makes it through. When the group is walking through the desert, the heat is unbearable. Salva just wants to stop going, especially when he stubs his toe on a rock, and his toenail falls off. His uncle keeps him going, saying that he just has to get to a group of bushes, or a cluster of rocks. Eventually, Salva is able to get through the treacherous desert. Uncle helps him get through the desert, one step at a time. The author writes, "The worst moment of the day happened near the
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The boys had been walking for a year and a half, in the dark of the night through fighting and bombing. Once they got to the refugee camp, it wasn’t the nicest place, but more than 1,200 boys arrived safely. Salva helped them do this by being the unspoken leader. He coaxed them to help do work, and sometimes had to yell. But overall, those boys who had been through terrible times just like him, arrived to a new place in a new, safer country. In the text it states, "And one day at a time, the group made its way to Kenya. More than twelve hundred boys arrived safely. It took them a year and a half." Salva was victorious when he finally led more than a thousand boys to
“’Eh, Nephew!’ he said in a cheerful voice. We are together now, so I will look after you.’” (pg 35 chpt 6) Help from loved ones is essential for Salva’s survival. Support from his uncle helped his mental
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.
In the book, A Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park, Salva learns it is okay to rely on others for help. This essay view’s on how Salva was able to make it through the desert, despite all the difficulties, using motivating words from his uncle. “He had to slow down, and for the first time on the long journey, he had began to lag behind the group.” (Linda Sue Park,53) At this point in the walk through the Akobo Desert Salva was behind the group thirsty, injured, and tired, not sure if he could keep walking.
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.
Page 5 of “A Long Walk to Water”, at Salvas school they heard gunfire near the school, so they had to run away, while they are running away the teacher said not to come back home. Salva wonders if he is going see his family ever again. Chapters 9 in the story, Salvas uncle said it will take three days to cross the Akobo desert, looked down, and saw his shoes falling apart, after seeing his shoes he took them off and walk the rest of the way
Clarkston became home for many of refugees all over the world. Clarkston being stuck in its southern ways, many residents raised in Clarkston felt that the refugees changed its community, and some others accommodated to the new sudden change. Noticing the separation, many refugee families stayed to their selves to avoid any confrontations. Coming from war countries which made them flee from their homes, also having to live with these traumatic experiences left many refugees to be self- conscious. Finding it hard to adjust to their new lives in Clarkston Luma helped many families because they couldn’t turn too many residents in Clarkston for help because of their inability to speak English or just because of their ethics.
Another reason perseverance is an important theme in A Long Walk to Water is because Salva had to cross the Aboko desert for 3 days. Also, “Salva’s shoes stood no chance against the hot stony desert ground. page 52 ,” which means that Salva's shoes were reduced to shreds and he had to walk on the hot ground for 3 days. Also, because Salva’s shoes broke, he lost a toenail by hitting it on a rock and still had to keep walking. In addition to that pain, Salva had little water and food to keep him going.
By thinking of his family, Salva is able to keep walking even though he’s tired, thirsty, hungry, and his feet hurt. The second example of Perseverance is when Salva is in the refugee camp. He hates the refugee camp and wants to get out of there. “I only need to get through the rest of this day, he told himself. This day and no other.”
To sum up, Salva did make it through the stressful journey, Salva has been back and forth visiting his biological family and his forster family that lives in New York.. This journey lead him to the person he is today by inspiring people to not give up on a dream or idea they had. Today Salva is continuing a program for South Sudan “ Water For South Sudan” which builds wells in different villages in South
A major theme in the true story, A Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park is perseverance. Perseverance is to stay steady in what you are doing or in a purpose, especially when you are faced with difficulties. This is a perfect theme for A Long Walk to Water because the main character, Salva Dut, an 11 year old Sudanese boy, faced many difficulties and kept going. He took things ‘bit by bit, one step at a time’, a lesson he learned from his uncle that helped him get through the desert, and he applied it to his life and kept going and believing his family was alive. Even though he almost died many times, he did not give up, and he went back to his home country and helped many people have better lives by building wells and giving them clean drinking water.
Throughout the novel Salva demonstrates determination by pushing himself to do his best and not give up on anything no mater what is going on. One instance where Salva showed determination is on page 65, paragraph 4. “Marial was gone. Uncle was gone, too, murdered by those Nuer men right before salva’s eyes. Marial and uncle were no longer by his side,and they never would be again,but salva knew that both of them would have wanted him to survive,to finish the trip and reach the itang refugee camp safely.
From pages 80 to 82, we learn that the refugee camp it says that ‘Salva made up his mind. He would walk south to Kenya… crowds of other boys followed him. Nobody talked about it, but by the end of the first day Salva had become the leader of a group of about fifteen hundred boys.’ This explains how Salva doesn’t panic and think irrationally about situations like the Itang refugee camp closing, and when he decides to walk to Kenya, he follows through and helps three-fourths of the group arrive in Kenya safely. Obviously, Salva’s determination and hard work helps him get through the factors
Salva’s labor shows he will do anything to survive, and nothing will stop him. Once Salva started walking, another factor of his survival kicked in, He was a very lucky young boy. Salva was very fortunate because he didn’t get shot or attacked by crocodiles. In the text it states “Stunned, Salva realized that being forced under the water had
While his uncle was alive, he helped Salva do everything throughout the journey. Even when he died nobody forgot him and Salva’s memory of his loving uncle gave him the strength to finish the journey. Food and water was the most important factor that led to his survival. He knew that there was barely any water in the desert and that it was hard to find food which taught him to treasure everything he was given. Throughout the book we are led to believe that Salva’s parents and siblings had passed away but he never lost hope that they were still alive.
Many times has Savlas uncles words helped him through hopeless times. Salvas uncles words had encouraged Salva to go “ bit by bit, one step at a time”, so Salva thought, “ Perhaps…perhaps Salva could get through life at the camp in the way.” (72) As a result that Salva feels this way he is being encouraged by his uncles’ words, so that makes Salva feel stronger in a way. His uncle’s words help Salva, and encourage him through many of his challenges. Also in the book Salva remembers, “Most of all, he remembered how Uncle had encouraged him in the desert,”when