Character Analysis: A Long Walk To Water

Have you ever had to walk a long long ways for something or to see something, if you have this story might just take you by surprise. The story that you are about to get an analysis on is called “A Long Walk to Water” by Linda Sue Park. In the dual perspective story there are two main characters; Nya, a fictional character, and Salva, a real boy living in the middle to late 80s in Southern Sudan. During the story the characters face many obstacles, some being bigger and rougher than others.

Nya and Salva were both really good at finding ways to complete or get out of obstacles in their everyday life. One example of Nya doing that is when her little sister became very ill. Nya still had to do her daily jobs of going to the pond and digging a hole to get her family’s water supply for that day (pg 39-40). Salva on the other hand was in school one day when the Sudanese government bombed his village. During that time Salva was separated from his family and on his own. Even with the thought of not knowing where he was, where his family was and if they were okay, he managed to get to safety (chapter 2; no specific page). It was like that for 19 years. These are one way from each character showing that they are able to complete or overcome obstacles on their own.

The first main obstacle Salva completed was the long and hot journey across the desert. He overcame that with his uncle, who he had met earlier in the story. Salva did this with the help of his uncle who would only make him walk as far as one landmark then another and so on (pg 53-54). Another obstacle Salva overcame was the deaths of his friend, Marial, and his Uncle. He did that with knowing that they would both want him to complete the journey to safety (pg 65). With those obstacles overcome Salva ended up making it to safety and eventually reuniting with his family 19 years after they were