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Character Analysis: A Long Walk To Water

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Bare feet, empty house, bloody paths, hungry children, wounded men, crying women. This is what was seen walking through the streets and paths of Southern Sudan in the late 1900’s as well as Virginia in the late 1800’s. A family is much more than the blood running in your veins and the name on your birth certificate. Family are people you love and trust more than life itself. In A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park and Shades of Gray by Carolyn Reeder, William Page and Salva Dut’s initial feelings of family were shifted, causing them to believe family was anyone you love and trust dearly, after life experiences such as loss and seclusion. William Page initially believed that family was your blood and the people that have the same beliefs …show more content…

His thoughts reveal that,“ His mother would rise from the work grinning meal...By the time he reached the house, she would have gone inside to get his bowl of milk ready for him.” (Park 4-5). Salva is imagining his family and how well his family works together. He loves them and their memory makes them happy. His thoughts were interrupted by gunshots and suddenly, he is running away from the school, and even farther from his family. He walks for a long time before he meets a nice woman and she asks him, “ ‘Are you an orphan?’ He shook his head quickly… he had a family.” (Park 17). Salva feels upset because people believe he is an orphan and he does not believe his family is gone. After many weeks of walking and walking, Salva and the group he was traveling with arrived at the refugee camp and they stayed there for 6 years. After having been at the camp for a while, Salva becomes used to not having his family around much, although still, “He remembered how he had looked after his little brother...what it felt like to listen to the older ones...the gentleness of his sisters;the strength of his father; the care of his mother.” (Park 81). This is around the time when Salva became accustomed to not having a family, and he has grown to treat other people like family and to remember how great it was to have family. Salva eventually becomes family to many younger kids at the refugee camp and takes care of them with all his

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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

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The first big problem he deals with is thinking his family is dead in this war and not being with them (Park, 22). The second big problem is Salva losing the close people he was with like his only friend Marial (Park, 40) and Salva's uncle (Park, 63). The next problem is when Salva had a near-death experience (Park, 78,79). The last problem is when Salva had to deal with terrible refugee camps (Park, 84). Even with all of these issues (and more), Salva continued his journey and persevered as by the end of the book, he was in a good situation, living in New York City (Park, 98, 99), performing talks for his company (Park, 109) and being the CEO of a company that was helping South Sudanese villages with their water problems (Park, 115).

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As a result He grows closer to an older woman ‘Auntie’ and works to not burden her. On page 17 of the book it states “Salva stayed in the woman’s barn again that night...water from the pond.” , this shows how mature Salva truly is as he refuses to cause

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Another important survival factor that Salva had to do to survive was to be stronger physically and mentally. Salva was getting stronger physically and mentally by not only his friend and his uncle dead but also the attitude that the group give to Salva which made Salva to feel physically and mentally stronger “Marial was gone. Uncle was gone, too, murdered by those Nuer men right before Salva’s eyes. Marial and

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865 Words | 4 Pages

Salva’s Uncle is murdered right in front of him. He perseveres and fends for himself. The text states “When the men had finished their looting, they picked up Uncle's gun… the men ran away.” (63). This means that Salva learns to move on and thrives by himself.

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As you read this essay, you will read about the amazing story of Salva and how his optimism helped him throughout his journey. In this novel, Salva perseveres and does his best to maintain a degree of optimism during his long trek across South Sudan and surrounding countries. During his journey there were many situations that put Salva’s optimism to the test. What motivated him to pursue his journey was the hope of seeing his family

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Even though he isn’t sure if his parents would make it out alive, he follows his teachers’ directions and runs far away from his village. This is also shown toward the middle of the story when Salva witnesses his uncle getting shot right in front of him. Salva is heartbroken, especially because his uncle has been there for him every step of the way. Salva still manages to pick himself up and keep moving.

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He joins another group of Dinka refugees to continue his journey. ‘Then he caught up with the group, determined not to lag behind, not to complain, not to be trouble to anyone.’ (22). This shows that Salva is focused on his own survival and will do whatever it takes to make it to safety. Salva swims across the Gilo river.

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790 Words | 4 Pages

Salva settled on the fact that “there is no one left to help me. They think I am weak and useless.-… They are wrong and I will prove it” (66) Salva no longer has anyone to support him and his group believe him to be incapable and unworthy. But Salva didn’t care one bit and was determined to get through the e trip alive. Salva fed on his uncle's words by saying to himself that “I only have to get through this day…”this day and no other” (73) Salva promises to focus on how to survive the refugee camp and to not plan for the future. Salva had been determined to survive for his deceased friend and uncle, he hadn’t let go of his will to live even through

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The pain was terrible Salva tried to bite his lip, that never- ending day was too much for him (53). .Another way Salva showed strength is when he lost his family but still kept going. He thought about them often. As Salva walked the same a thought came to his head. ‘’ where is my family? ‘’When will I see them again’’

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Salva is a part of a traditional tribal culture. He is a part of the Dinka tribe, enemies of the Nuer tribe. “Men and boys were hurt or even killed when [Dinka and Nuer] clashed.” (A Long Walk to Water

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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

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736 Words | 3 Pages

His uncle was one of the most influential and supportive people in his life and he helped Salva throughout his journey. At one point, he was reunited with his uncle who had left to fight in the war he felt safe and he depended on his uncle for anything. This shows that his uncle was very caring, helpful and encouraging. In the book it says “ Salva shook his head, unable to imagine what life would be like in the camp without Uncle.” (?).

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He does not want to be traveling away from his village, because it going to take longer to travel back to his village and he wants to get home quickly. When Salva ask his uncle, where his family was he was depressed, because nor Salva or his uncle knew where they were and Salva disappointed. Salva was glad to see his uncle to see if his uncle had any news about the war or his family. Salva is eager to know where his family is, because he wants to know if they’re

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(pg 73) This shows that Salva is persevering because even though he hates the refugee camp, he

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