A Long Walk to Water

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2010

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-7

Chapters 8-9

Chapters 10-11

Chapters 12-13

Chapters 14-15

Chapters 16-18

Epilogue and Author’s Note

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 1-2Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary

Southern Sudan, 2008

Eleven-year-old Nya goes to fetch water in the heat of the Sahara. She doesn’t mind carrying the empty container on her head, but the heat is stifling.

Southern Sudan, 1985

Salva, a young man from a successful family in the Dinka village, sits in class daydreaming while he is supposed to be studying Arabic—not the language of the tribes but the one of the Sudanese government. Though his body sits at attention, his mind wanders. He thinks about the bowl of milk that his mother will give him after school to tide him over until the evening meal. He thinks of guarding his father’s cows and playing with his brothers. He imagines making the clay cows he and his friends and brothers carefully craft in their game of cow “ownership.” They also shoot their bows and arrows, occasionally hitting some game, which the boys enjoy together.

Gunfire interrupts Salva’s dream. Their teacher tells the children to run for the bush—not to run home because the gunmen will surely be going there. The shots are a result of the revolution—the government, located in the north, wants the entire county to convert to Islam, while the people of the south resist. When Salva runs outside, he sees chaos and some people with guns. Most people are running for the bush.

Chapter 2 Summary

Southern Sudan, 2008

Nya, again heading to the well for water, gets a thorn in her foot and must use another one to dislodge it.

Southern Sudan, 1985

Salva finds himself walking in a very large group of people, many more people than his village contained. Leaders of the group tell everyone to divide themselves by villages. Salva is relieved to see a couple of people he knows, but he is concerned that none of his family is present. In the afternoon, soldiers appear with guns. They are rebels, ones who are fighting the Sudanese government. Salva is distressed that his family is not present.

The soldiers divide the wanderers into groups—men on one side and women, the elderly, and children on the other. Salva tries to join the men, but a soldier lifts his face with a gun and examines him, sending Salva to the women’s side.

The next day, the rebels set out with the men they’ve impressed to carry their guns and equipment. The remaining people set out in the other direction to avoid the fighting they were sure would surround the rebels. That evening, the group spends the night in a barn, but when Salva awakes, much to his horror, no one remains. They left him.

Chapters 1-2 Analysis

Park has written the book with alternating chapters; Nya’s story is set in Southern Sudan around 2008, and Salva’s in Southern Sudan, Ethiopia, and Rochester, New York, between 1985 and 2009. Nya is a young girl of the Nuer tribe who has the difficult job of carrying water for her family each day. Salva is an adolescent member of the Dinka tribe, as he grows to be a man while undergoing years of arduous travel to escape the war. In Chapters 1 and 3, Nya is simply carrying water when she pricks her foot with a thorn. The early narrative underscores how difficult it is for a young girl to carry the huge jugs of water on her head over great distances. Nya must undertake this journey every day to fetch the water on which her family’s survival depends. This daily trek is the titular “long walk to water,” though the phrase also has a secondary metaphorical significance in pointing to Salva’s long journey through the war years in search of safety. Both characters must face prolonged hardship to survive, demonstrating the theme of Perseverance as a Long Walk.

In Chapter 2, Salva’s narrative begins. Like any young boy, he sits in Arabic class with his mind wandering to his afterschool activities. The action begins quickly when the sound of gunfire prompts the teacher to tell the boys to run for the bushes. Salva becomes a wanderer, following others without really knowing where they are going. He is the youngest member of the group and therefore the most vulnerable. The adults wish to be rid of him because he will walk too slowly and will require food. This crisis illustrates the theme of Identity and Displacement: In Salva’s tribal culture, identity is closely linked to kinship ties and ties to the land that were severed by the war. With so much danger, it initially seems that everyone is out for himself or herself.

The author’s juxtaposition of the two narratives demonstrates that, though Nya and Salva come from opposing tribes, wartime and poverty in Sudan are difficult for children from all tribes and varying timelines. That she chooses to tell the story of two children is significant; we witness Salva’s entire coming-of-age tale, but readers only see a small span of Nya’s life before the two stories converge.