A Long to Water is a novel by Linda Sue Park, which depicts the story about a Lost Boy of Sudan named Salva Dut Ariik. In the story, Salva tries to runaway from the Second Sudanese War, unfortunately leaving his family behind. There were times he felt lonely and depressed, but he was able to survive by having support from friends he made while running away, having determination, and bravery. Salva needed support from from friends while trying to overcome the Second Sudanese Wars. He needed it especially since he did not have any family going with him. A moment when Salva needed help from friends was was when Salva met Marial and they talked about losing their family. “Marial put his arm around Salva’s shoulder. He seemed to know what Salva …show more content…
Salva had to go through a lot of harsh conditions before outrunning the war. There were plenty of times Salva thought he couldn’t continue and almost gave up all hope. But with determination, he was able to make it to safety. A moment where he showed determination was after Uncle had been shot to death.After that, no one Salva was traveling with thought Salva could not make it the rest of the journey to safety. “There was no one left to help me. They think I am weak and useless. Salva lifted his head up proudly. They were wrong and I am going to prove it” (66).Here, Salva was determined to show everyone in his traveling group that he was strong and that he had strong will power with or without his uncle’s help. Without this mindset, it would’ve been hard to go through his loss and condition. A second time Salva showed determination was when Salva thought about his family. “But how can I go without them? But how could I not go without them? They would want me to survive… to grow up and make something out of my life… to honor their memories”(72). Without thinking about his family, Salva would have never thought about actually moving on in life and creating something of his home. Thinking about his family made his determined to continue
Firstly his determination, with Salva’s determination, he manages to escape to the bush, and begin his long walk to refuge. At the beginning of the book ‘A Long Walk To Water’ Salva calmed himself down to focus, think and escape “Boom! Salva turned and looked. Behind him, a huge black cloud of smoke… Salva lowered his head and ran”(Park pg 8, 11) In addition, even after his best friend Marial passed he kept walking, and walking.
A part where he is confident is after his Uncle got shot by the soldiers from the North. In the book it says “Despite the numbness in his heart, Salva was amazed to find himself walking faster and more boldly than he had before.”(Park 65). It also says “Salva lifted his head proudly. They are wrong and I will prove It.”
When the war started affecting Salva and his village it became apparent to him that he may never see his family again. “If I die now, I will never see my family again.” (11) This thought helped Salva strengthen and have the instinct to survive so he could see his family again, which is one of the reasons he did survive. Not only did he think he would never see his family again, but he became friends with Marial, a boy from the group he was in, who was soon taken away from him as well.
This was only possible because the group’s perseverance and they worked through their troubles. In conclusion, we should all persevere like Salva and Nya and we will be rewarded. In the end, Salva makes his dream a reality and Nya gets clean water and can go to school, but only because they worked hard to do whatever they needed to
(pg 73) This shows that Salva is persevering because even though he hates the refugee camp, he
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.
It was almost as if they had left their strength with him, to help him on his journey.” Another example is “ So he had to shake the fear of to continue the journey” These examples prove that Salva was determined because he knew that his family would want him to make the trip.
He had a new family, a chance to be educated, food to eat, clean water and everything else necessary to live a healthy life. The third and final life-changing event that gave Salva hope was the start of and the success of his organization called “Water for South Sudan”. The goal was to help villages in Sudan get clean drinking water. Salva’s organization gives him hope for his future because “Water for South Sudan” is helping thousands of people and drastically changing their lives for the
In the book, Long Walk to Water, there are many thematic elements. Although there are many themes in Long Walk to Water, Linda Sue Park definitely made leadership an important one. The way Park expresses leadership through Salva and Uncle Jewiir is quite astonishing. Uncle Jewiir and Salva showed leadership in a multitude of ways throughout the story. For example, Salva lead over 1,000 refugee boys to Kenya and Uncle Jewiir lead an entire group of 100 men and women across the Akobo Desert.
Chava also saw one of his closest friends leave to be trained in the military and fight in the war. Ever since then Chava was always cautious so that the government military wouldn't take him away. However, Chava and two of his friends went with Chava’s uncle so they could be
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
“Quitting leads to much less happiness in life than perseverance and hope.” (Page 117) -Salva Dut In Sudan the water is the hardest thing to get, imagine you going to walk 5 miles to get a 45lb water jug then put on your head and walk another 5 mile all the way back home but the water in jug is full of insects and bacteria that can make you sick or even death after while the natural water will dry up so you and your family have to move with it and you walk again for miles they hope to find water and they won’t get killed by humans or animals. Salva is changing this cycle of moving with the water by raising money for them but he could not have done it if he was not a water follower himself and his story shows how he has become a leader.
In the end, his suffering paid off as his hope and dream of finding his family alive finally came true. Through the story of a young boy who treasured all his blessings in a harsh environment, I learned to value the things I have and to not waste these special
Salva was thrown straight on into the Sudanese war to fend for himself, so he was all alone without his family. Later on Salva realizes what has happened