Book Analysis: A Long Walk To Water

1) In the first few pages of the book a Long Walk to Water, we learn that Salva has certain advantages that other boys may not get where he is from. He has the advantage of going to school and has a good supply of food. Salva knows every day that he will come back from school and have a bowl of milk waiting for him at home. Not everybody has this advantage or reassurance of where their next meal will come from. In this quote, it shows how Salva has this advantage. “When he got home, he would have a bowl of fresh milk, which would keep his belly full until suppertime.”(Park 5). This shows how Salva does not need to worry about food or when he will eat again because he has the advantage of knowing that he will always get fed. He is also aware

Salva’s sisters Akit and Agnath are expected to stay home and help their mother with the housework. This is also shown on Nya’s part of the story because she is expected to help the family with the work instead of going to school and getting and education like the boys. This quote shows the limitations and expectations of both Salva’s sisters Akit and Agnath. “His two sisters, Akit and Agnath, did not go to school. Like the other girls in the village, they stayed home and learned from their mother how to keep house.”(Park 3). This shows how they are withheld from school and learn to do housework instead of going to school like the boys. Nya also explains this concept of a girl’s job and a boy’s job in this quote from the book. “Mostly women and girls, who had come to fill their own containers; many kinds of birds, all flap and twitter and caw; herds of cattle that had been brought to the good grazing by the young boys who looked after them.”(Park 14). This quote shows how younger girls are limited to smaller tasks such getting water while boys are in charge of more challenging tasks such as bringing the cows to good grazing.

3) Salva is sent out of the school when gunfire starts to erupt. The teacher then proceeds to say “Gunfire! “Everyone, DOWN!” the teacher shouted.” (Park 5). The teacher then proceeds to tell all the children to quickly leave and go “Into the bush. Do you hear me? Not home. Don’t run home. They will be going into the villages. Stay away from the villages run into the bush.”(Park 6). This is the event that led to Salva and the rest of his classmates to run into the bush. The people who started the gunfire are the rebels who were fighting against the government to not be forced to practice the religion of