A Long Walk to Water: Motifs

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Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

Walking

Walking represents the daily struggle and determination of Nya and Salva. If either stopped walking, they would succumb to life’s hardships. Nya walks to the pond, the lake, and the health clinic to survive. At the book’s conclusion, the reader can imagine that she takes her last walk to the pond with a certain spring in her step; her days of walking for survival are coming to an end.
Salva also walks every day, for if he stops, he will die or be killed. So he pushes on, despite the suffering and hardship, over great distances. Salva’s walking represents more than moving from one geographical location to the next. As he walks, he grows, not just physically, but in courage, perseverance, leadership, and moral conviction. At the end of the book, Salva is standing with Nya near the well, a goal he accomplished because he never stopped walking.

Tribal Identity and Rivalry

Tribal identity has a significant effect on the interactions and experiences of Salva and Nya. When Salva, a Dinka, is separated from his family in the violence, his connection to his tribe becomes all the more critical. Nearly every encounter he has centers around the tribal identity of others. The life and death nature of one’s tribal identity is most starkly revealed when Salva witnesses the horrific murder of his Uncle Jewiir, a Dinka, by members of Nuer, a rival tribe. Later, having grown wiser because of his experiences, Salva recognizes that scarcity of resources such as water lie at the root of the tribal violence in Sudan. He chooses to work toward peace and reconciliation between the tribes by insisting that both Dinka and Nuer will share water from the same well.

The reader discovers Nya’s Nuer tribal affiliation when the dry season necessitates the family’s move to the camp at the lake. Here, the Nuer and the Dinka fight over basic resources such as water and food. Thus, Nya is surprised at the end of the book when she discovers that the “boss,” or Salva, is Dinka. Access to clean water, she realizes, will have the power to transform tribal relationships and bring peace to her region.

Taking Risks to Survive

Nya faces risks every day to survive. She must walk to the pond, regardless of the risk of physical pain and dehydration. She and her family must risk getting sick from the very water Nya fetches, or risk dying of dehydration. And when Nya’s family travels to the camp at the lake, they risk violent encounters with rival tribes, and competition for the scarce resources.

When gunfire erupts, Salva risks the danger of the unknown when running into the bush to escape. From that moment on, nearly every encounter with others is a risk. Salva wonders if they are of the right tribe or if they will choose their own survival over his. Ironically, even sources of food, such as the beehive and the antelope Uncle kills, pose risks. Throughout Salva’s journey, survival hangs in the balance and he is confronted with choices that present tremendous risk. He risks dangerous river crossings and the hazards and uncertainty of leading a thousand boys to Kenya. If he does not take these risks, he likely will not survive. Salva, like Nya, must take risks to survive even when the consequence could be death.

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