MLA citation for the book: Park, Linda S. A
Long Walk to Water. New York: Clarion Books, 2010. N. pag. Print.
· Summary:
Nya, a
poor girl from the Nuer tribe in southern Sudan, always has to struggle to supply
her family with enough water to survive, even if it meant walking barefoot
under the burning sun for eight hours every day to reach a dirty, muddy pond.
Many people in Nya's village were becoming very sick because of the
contaminated water. If they needed badly to be treated, they had to walk for
miles to reach a small crowded tent where some nurses or doctors provided help.
Several months later, Nya noticed that many men were digging a well. She was
excited, but she was also curious and suspicious. Nya knew the place the men
were digging in; she thought it was impossible to find a single drop of water
in that area. Every day, while she went to fetch water from the lake, Nya observed
the progress in the construction of the well. Finally, when the well was ready
for use, the entire village gathered and stood in line, prepared to fill their
containers. To their surprise, the water was cool, clean, and clear.
Salva is an eleven year old
boy, a member of the Dinka tribe in southern Sudan. He has three brothers and
two sisters. His father owns many head of cattle and is regarded as the village
judge. Unfortunately, there was a lot of fighting in Sudan. One day, while
Salva was at school, rebels began attacking. People ran away from their houses
in different directions. Salva walked with strangers fleeing from southern
Sudan, hoping to meet his family. However, his escape continued for months on
foot. Their goal was to reach safety. While they walked, the group became
bigger, because people who were traveling alone joined the group. Salva never
lost hope, everyday he would check if one of his family members joined the crowd.
One day, his uncle joined the group. Salva hasn't seen his uncle in at least
two years, but he enjoyed his uncle's company. His uncle had a gun, which
helped the group hunt food on the way. Salva
and the group of strangers reached refugee camps in Ethiopia. There, he had to
stay for 6 long years. Suddenly, his miserable life in the camp was threatened
by the sudden attack of Ethiopian soldiers after a coup d'état. Unexpectedly,
the people had to throw themselves in the Gilo River to run away from the
shootings. At least one thousand people died from gun shots, crocodiles in the
river, or drowning. Salva was one of the lucky few. He began walking south to reach
Kenya. The people who did survive started following Salva. Pretty soon, Salva walk for a year and a half
to reach a camp in Kenya. Years later, he was one of the few orphans who were
chosen for adoption. Will he easily adapt to his new family in New York? Will he ever see his family again? Will he be
able to accomplish anything for his country?
·
Genre: A Long Walk to Water is a biography,
since the whole novel explains Salva's journey through time. Linda Sue Park is
the author. Linda and her husband, who is a journalist, met Salva Dut in USA.
She based this story on his childhood experiences. It is a dual narrative about
two children, Nya and Salva, who lived in the same country but in two different
times.
Every
chapter began with the place and time for Nya's story followed by her story, then
the place and time for Salva's story, then his story would be told.
Marvelously, the two stories are finally connected. Salva's story is amazing
and inspiring; I think it's wonderful how he helped many people. An example in
the book is on page 84:
'Ifo refugee camp, Kenya, 1992-96.
Salva was now
twenty-two years old. For the past five years, he had been living in refugee
camps in northern Kenya: first at Kakuma camp, then at Ifo.'
·
How the main character
developed throughout the story: At the beginning of
A
Long Walk to Water, Salva was
a young, helpless boy. One example is on page 7, when Salva was at school and
suddenly the rebels attacked. His teacher told all the boys in his class to run
away, away from their homes. Salva was scared about not seeing his parents ever
again.
'The boys scrambled to their feet. Some of them were crying. The teacher
began hurrying the students out the door. Salva was near the end of the line.
He felt his heart beating so hard that its pulse pounded in his throat and
ears. He wanted to shout "I need to go home!" But the words were
blocked by the wild thumping in his throat.'
Through Salva's long walks to different
refugee camps, he learned a lot of new things. Salva learned how to have
patience, hope, and perseverance. In the
novel, on page 73 Salva told himself:
'I need only to get through the rest of
this day. This day and no other…
If someone had told Salva that he would
live in the camp for six years, he would never have believed it.'
This was said when Salva was
having a very hard time in Itang refugee camp in Ethiopia. He tried comforting
himself by living life one step at a time and always having hope.
·
Author’s characterization
techniques: Linda Sue Park used many different methods to
show what Salva, Nya, and the people around them felt or thought. One example
is when a character is talking to another character, like what Salva's uncle
was doing on page 36, when Salva wasn't answering him because he was so hungry,
since he hasn't eaten in days:
'As the smoky, meaty
aroma filled the air, he had to keep swallowing the saliva that flooded his
mouth. Uncle laughed as he watched Salva gobble down his first piece of meat.
"Salva, you have teeth! You are supposed to use them when you eat!"
Salva could not reply; he was too busy stuffing another chunk of the delicious
charred meat into his mouth.'
·
Setting: This dual story starts in
Southern Sudan in two different time frames, 1985 and 2008. Then, Salva moves
to refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya,
then Rochester in New York, USA. Nya's story remains in the same
setting.
In A Long Walk to Water on
page 52, it says:
'Southern Sudan, 1985
Salva had never seen anything like the desert.
Around his village, Loun-Ariik, enough grass and shrubs grew to feed the
grazing cattle. There were even trees. But here in the desert, nothing green
could ever survive. Uncle said it would take three days to cross the Akobo.'
·
Point of view: This
novel is written in third person point of view. The story is told from the
narrator's point of view, showing Salva's and Nya's day to day suffering and
struggle to survive. This helps the reader understand what the
main characters, Salva and Nya, think and feel.
·
Theme: There are many themes in this story; they all
revolve around empowerment of the reader with hope and
perseverance. The main theme of this novel is to show the
reader that a feeble child can achieve miracles with the will to survive.
As written on page 73:
'I need only to get through the rest
of this day. This day and no other…
If someone had told Salva that he would
live in the camp for six years, he would never have believed it.'
Another
example is on page 109-110:
'A year
passed, then two…then three. Salva spoke to hundreds of people-in churches, at
civic organizations, in schools. Would he ever be able to turn his idea into
reality? Whenever he found himself losing hope, Salva would take a deep breathe
and think of his uncle's words.
A step at a
time. One problem at a time-just figure out this one problem. Day by day,
solving one problem at a time, Salva moved toward his goal.'
·
Reflection: This book is
important because it teaches the reader many lessons. When I read A Long
Walk to Water, I began appreciating the clean water that is always accessible
and available. I'm also thankful and grateful for having all my family and
relatives around me. I enjoyed every part of this novel. It has a very touching
moral, which I feel has changed my life. I would definitely recommend this book
to my friends, and especially ones who like knowing what happened during a war,
or how people continued their lives after war. While I was reading, I felt like
I was in a different world, like I was Salva's friend in one of the refugee
camps he settled in. Throughout the story, I wanted Salva to achieve his
ambitions, help humanity, and find his family. Without doubt, I would rate A
Long Walk to Water 10 over 10.
