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Themes In A Long Walk To Water

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The Broad Types of Family that Salva Experiences Throughout his Life

By: Aiza Iftikhar
In the novel “ A Long Walk To Water”, we read about Salva and Nya’s story. We also learn about how Salva experiences various forms of family. In the start of the book Salva experienced his biological family which was the family that he was born in. Later on in the book he became part of a refugee family which was the family that he met when he was fleeing South Sudan. Finally, he experienced an adoptive family which was the family that adopted him when he was relocated from the refugee camp to New York. In this essay I will be explaining how family is very important to Salva, and I will emphasize the importance of family for everyone.

At the start of the …show more content…

Salva’s Uncle- Uncle Jewiir was the younger brother of Salva’s father. Uncle Jewiir and Salva didn't see each other very often as his uncle was in the army. Since Salva’s sisters didn't go to school, they stayed …show more content…

The “lost boys” were boys who had lost their home and families because of the Second Sudanese Civil War. Many of them walked thousands of miles to reach refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya where they lived for years. In this book, Salva is one of the lost boys, He joins a group of refugees who are walking to a refugee camp in Ethiopia. The refugees help Salva survive by teaching him how to find food and water and how to avoid dangers. While Salva was with the refugee’s he met some people who changed his life. Some of them are Michael who is an Irish aid worker and Marial who is Salva’s friend. Salva met Micheal while he was in the IFO refugee camp . Micheal was an aid worker working at the camp. Micheal taught Salva how to read the English alphabet. He also taught Salva how to play volleyball.Salva meets Marial while he is traveling with the lost boys in search of water and safety. When Salva met Marial they became friends. Marial has a significant impact on Salva. Marial’s quiet strength and determination inspired Salva to keep going even when things seemed impossible. When Marial died Salva was devastated but it was a reminder of the harsh realities of the war. Marial’s memory continues to inspire Salva to be strong and to persevere through difficult times. This shows how the lost boys and people from the refugee camps helped Salva throughout 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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Throughout the novel Salva demonstrates determination by pushing himself to do his best and not give up on anything no mater what is going on. One instance where Salva showed determination is on page 65, paragraph 4. “Marial was gone. Uncle was gone, too, murdered by those Nuer men right before salva’s eyes. Marial and uncle were no longer by his side,and they never would be again,but salva knew that both of them would have wanted him to survive,to finish the trip and reach the itang refugee camp safely.

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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

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I think that his journey to Ethiopia will go smoother because now he has a friend by his side. Both Marial and Salva, both have someone to not only rely on, but also just have a friend to talk to on the journey. In the book, they even work well together because it says that they found a bee hive together causing them to not only get honey, but to get the honeycomb. Together the honeycomb and honey are delicious, and can last 3-4 days to eat if you eat it slowly, which Salva did. Marial is also without his family, so they are both worried about maybe never seeing their families again.

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Salva had many factors that helped him survive, and three of them were hard work, relationships, and perseverance. Salva survived the years of struggle and got to America by working hard. On page 43 we read, “Salva staggered forward with yet another enormous load of reeds in his arms. Everyone was busy. Some people were cutting down

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There are so many countries in the world that face many hardships. In the book “A Long Walk to Water” by Linda Sue Park, a character faces many obstacles while living in Southern Sudan. These hardships include family loss, water issues, and ongoing war. Salva faced a lot of hardships, but family loss sticks out because he is only eleven and he has never been without them for a period of time like this. For example, A Long Walk to Water states, “As Salva walked, the same thoughts kept going through his head in rhythm with his steps.

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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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He was able to survive because he had little food, water, and refuge. After Salva’s uncle is killed, he and the group continue the walk to the refugee camp.

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Salva uses his inner strength as courage to stay strong in order to find his family. This is seen in the beginning of the book when Salva is at the rebel camp and the soldiers order them to separate into two groups, men in one group and women, children, and elderly in the other group. Salva sees someone his age entering the men’s group, so he follows. When he tries to enter, that is when a soldier points a gun at his face.

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When Salva was walking with the only family he had, his uncle, they got robbed. The robbers captured his uncle and shot him right before Slava’s eyes (63). That tragic event would leave most people in shambles, but Salva, he kept going. Salva and Nya went through many hardships but they never let that get in their way. We can all learn a thing or two from these resilient

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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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While his uncle was alive, he helped Salva do everything throughout the journey. Even when he died nobody forgot him and Salva’s memory of his loving uncle gave him the strength to finish the journey. Food and water was the most important factor that led to his survival. He knew that there was barely any water in the desert and that it was hard to find food which taught him to treasure everything he was given. Throughout the book we are led to believe that Salva’s parents and siblings had passed away but he never lost hope that they were still alive.

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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

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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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