Character Analysis: A Long Walk To Water

Try to imagine having to flee your home because of war, or having to deal with the grief of losing your entire family, best friend, and watching your uncle die in front of your eyes, or living through a genocide that killed 2 million people. Now imagine doing that before you were even 13 years old. In A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, the book follows 11 year-old Salva trying to escape war in his home of southern Sudan. He tries to escape The Sudanese Civil War to Ethiopia first, and then to Kenya. During A Long Walk to Water, Salva faces and overcomes many hardships like the civil war, dangerous animals, and harsh living conditions.

The first hardship that Salva faced was the Sudanese Civil War that raged on around him. The Sudanese Civil War began in 1983 and was a fight over the religion of Sudan. In the north the government wanted all of Sudan to practice Islam, but in the south many people wanted to follow many different tribal religions. The war killed so many people that it was declared a genocide. According to page 6, “Most of the people who lived in the north were Muslim, and the government wanted all of Sudan to become a Muslim country.” In the next paragraph it says “But the people in the south were of different religions and did not want people to be forced to follow Islam.”

During chapter 5, Salva and Mariel walk into the land of the Atuot people which was riddled with lions. On page 31, “Their [Atuot] region was inhabited by large herds of antelope, wildebeest, gnus - and the lions that preyed on them.” At the end of chapter 6 and the beginning of chapter 7, it is revealed to the reader that Mariel was killed by a lion, and because of this Salva was horribly paranoid and terrified. On page 41 it states that, “... The lion could easily have crept close without being seen…” Since it was so dark out all the men on watch couldn’t see the lion as he crept up and attacked