A Long Walk to Water

The importance of water recurs in this section. That Nya’s family must move to a lakebed is an indication of how desperate the people are for water. The water at their home is muddy and unsterilized, but this water is muddier still, and its contamination causes illness throughout the tribe. Salva’s group, too, is desperate for water in these sections, though they find temporary relief from their starvation when his uncle Jewiir kills an antelope. That the group immediately vomits up their meal reveals the drastic extent of their hunger.

This section also introduces tribal conflict and violence. Nya, a Nuer girl, fears the Dinka, and it’s clear that she sees them as savage and aggressive. By alternating between Nya’s and Salva’s perspectives, the book makes clear that they are not as different from one another as they think. These shifting perspectives allow the reader to see what Nya and Salva cannot yet see—that their conflict is based not on any fundamental truth but on shared mistrust, and that it need not go on forever. This dawning recognition is the positive side of Identity and Displacement—shaken loose from his settled identity as a member of the Dinka tribe, Salva begins to realize that he need not hate or fear the Nuer. Park foreshadows the pair’s meeting and the dissolution of contrived biases here.

During his walk, Salva reunites with his uncle, a rebel fighter with a gun. Even though the group is fleeing gunfire, the gun seems to give Jewiir credibility with the wanderers. Jewiir’s presence is a crucial source of stability and hope for Salva, evidence of The Importance of Family. Happy as he is to find Jewiir, Salva remains very preoccupied with finding his parents and siblings.

Salva makes a friend his age, Marial—a Dinka but with a different accent. Again, sensitivity to one’s clan is a prominent feature of the story. When Marial is taken away in the night by the lion, Salva knows it could have been him. The entire group knows that, and Uncle Jewiir decides to stand watch in the night for lions. So many dangers beset the group—getting lost, starving, and even being eaten by predatory animals. They must brave water as well. For the first time, the group sees almost limitless amounts of their most precious commodity when they reach the river. The river, however, is not only a source of life-giving water but a dangerous boundary they must cross. The duality of water in this moment complicates the theme of Perseverance as a Long Walk—for Salva and his companions, even finding water does not bring safety.