A Long Walk to Water

Water appears repeatedly in the text as a symbol for life-giving nourishment, as well as the goal at the end of a turbulent journey, as Park describes in the novel’s title. Nya walks a very long way every day to bring water that is impure to her family, and Salva’s whole adolescent and young adult life is a metaphorical walk toward the water that he will bring his people by building wells; his experiences along the way lead him to his activism.

Bodies of water and the lack of water play a main role in the novel. As Salva walks with the other displaced peoples in the desert, water is always a priority. Salva encounters men dying from dehydration and witnesses an inspirational kindness when a woman from his party offers some of her water to one of the men. By contrast, Salva recognizes the amazing bounty that the people who live near the Nile enjoy. Though his father is wealthy, and he is accustomed to good food, Salva notes that the Nile is a key source of rich nutrients for the locals. This contrast between the lack of water, which means death, and an abundance of water, which means richness, sets up the foundation for Salva’s philanthropic endeavors. He knows from these experiences that access to water can make the difference between healthful living and death.

Nya’s family’s desperation for water supports water’s symbolic meaning of life-giving nourishment. Her father risks his life so that his family can spend dry seasons near a muddy lake, and Nya spends her entire day walking to the pond for dirty water to sustain her family. Water’s necessity causes Nya’s family to face many obstacles, including the risk of illness.