Linda Sue Park's A Long Walk To Water

“A Long Walk to Water,” a novel written by author Linda Sue Park, was written in 2010. The novel is about two children in separate time periods struggling to survive in their challenging environments, however it’s set in the same location. Salva Dut, an eleven year old boy in Southern Sudan, in the year 1985, has to run away from the treacherous Sudanese and Arab war in order to be safe - his story is based off true events that happened in real life. Nya, whom is as well an eleven year old with her story set in the year 2008, has to go miles and miles far from her home to get water for her family, with the weather being like a drought and the distance being utterly tremendous - she has to do this daily, for hours during the daytime. The two …show more content…
In chapter 11, Salva’s uncle had passed away - shot by men - and now the entire group started mourning in respect for their leader. Salva, his nephew, lets this bother him for awhile - however, he uses this in a way to make him stronger and continue on. He merely doesn’t lose hope and keeps a confident mindset. “Despite the numbness in his heart, Salva was amazed to find himself walking faster and more boldly than he had before.” (65) Regardless of what Salva had lost that meant a great deal to him and was important to him, his independence and mental strength improved dramatically. Although, if Salva decided to do the complete opposite - letting a depression grow on him and constantly mourning for his uncle - basically, he’d contradict himself and suffer even worse than necessary. In chapter 4, in Nya’s story, she has to go get water from the pond, every single day, literally, for her family. The task usually takes hours and is fairly hard, considering how hot and dry the environment is, along with how long the walk and distance is. “To the pond and back, to the pond and back - nearly a full day of walking altogether. This was Nya’s daily routine seven months of the year. Daily. Every single day.” (20) Considering water is necessary for the characters, despite how tedious and tremendously challenging continuing on this redundant, long task, Nya still has the motivation to keep going, even if minor or immense problems occur. She merely copes with it. However, say if she were to go with a different idea - like refusing to do the favor and her feeling unmotivated - this situation would result in multiple circumstances. For instance, Nya and her relatives becoming quite ill from dehydration and potentially passing away from intense pain and agony. Therefore, there is always strong perseverance in the main protagonists of the novel, absolutely being beneficial to

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