A Long Walk to Water: Symbols

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

Water

Water symbolizes a precarious existence, the balance between life and death, between surviving or not. The water that is necessary for Nya’s family’s survival is the same water that can lead to sickness and even death if it is contaminated. Boiling the water to kill the contaminants will boil it down to near nothingness.

Water is also a symbol of empowerment. When Salva brings water to the villages, he empowers both the Dinka and Nuer tribes to seek peace among themselves. Before, water was a source of conflict; now, it can be a source of reconciliation and blessing. It is life-giving. Salva had experienced the life-giving power of water when some of his fellow refugees shared their water in the desert. In this instance, water symbolized not only life, but compassion and sacrifice. At the end of A Long Walk to Water, the life-sustaining and life-changing power of water gushes forth from the well.

The Well

Salva, having been given the opportunity to study in the United States, chooses to use what he has learned to bring progress and development to Sudan, and the well is a symbol of this progress. The well in Nya’s village will bring much more than water. Nya’s whole experience of childhood will change. She will no longer have to spend every day walking for water. Her family will not have to move to the camp at the lake during the dry season, and intertribal conflicts brought on by lack of water will end. Progress and development, such as education, health care, a thriving marketplace, and other innovations, will be set in motion in Nya’s village by a single well.

Thorns

Park introduces the symbol of thorns early in the story to represent the adversity and pain that is a constant part of Nya’s life. Nya tries to avoid the thorns, but they are unavoidable, as are the many hardships that are a part of her daily existence. The choice Nya makes to use another thorn as a tool to remove the thorn in her foot symbolizes her reality: she must be resourceful and face difficulties head on. Later, the reader learns that Salva has also stepped on thorns. Park connects the difficulties of their life situations, distinct though they may be, with the symbol of thorns.

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