A Long Walk to Water: Themes

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

The Struggle for Survival

Both Nya’s and Salva’s stories illustrate the determination of the human spirit to survive. Every day Nya wakes up to the same duty: fetch the water her family relies on for survival. Nya faces hardship and suffering and carries a burden of responsibility way beyond her years. Her struggle is to overcome the perils of dehydration, sickness, and drought. Nature’s risks and dangers are everywhere, exacerbated by the risk of inter-tribal violence brought about by the scarcity of natural resources. Nya knows no other way of life than the day to day struggle to survive.

The violence of the Sudanese Civil War upends Salva’s life and he makes choices, takes risks, and endures unfathomable hardships and suffering to survive. Salva meets many others along the way who are also struggling to survive and who respond in different ways to that struggle. Every day brings new dangers and new risks and Salva must constantly push back the terror and despair he faces and confront the struggles head-on. To avoid being overcome by the magnitude of the struggle, as Uncle taught him, he must keep moving forward, one step at a time. Once he is settled in a new life with fewer struggles, Salva remembers that others in his home country still struggle to survive. He is determined to help them.

The Triumph of Hope Over Despair

Time and again Salva stands on the precipice of despair and chooses the force of hope to pull himself back. At first, hope burns brightly as he makes plans to find his family, but, overwhelmed by the struggles of his journey, hope seems to fade. Crushing blow after crushing blow threatens to snuff out the tiny sparks of hope that flicker throughout Salva’s story, but he refuses to let despair defeat him. Years later, the spark of hope that Salva has always carried comes alive in the joyful reunion with his father.

In contrast, Park does not tell us much about Nya’s specific hopes. Instead, her hope is fundamental: a hope that the things she does will help her family to survive. When the men come to her village, Nya initially thinks their efforts to drill water are hopeless. After all, she is still walking to the pond, twice every day, as always. She does not realize, or even allow herself to hope, that things are about to change. From her experience, they never have in the past. But, when clean water gushes from the well, Nya, for the first time, experiences hope for all the good things now possible.

The Significance of Family and Community

In A Long Walk to Water, family and kinship connections play a central role in the lives of both Nya and Salva. Nya’s everyday existence centers around the responsibility of fetching water for her family. Because water is essential to her family’s survival, the responsibility of the job weighs heavily on her. Her family depends on her.

The description of Salva’s daydreaming in Chapter 1 highlights Salva’s connection to his family. However, when gunfire interrupts his reverie and he flees into the bush, he is separated from his family. The rest of Salva’s story focuses on his search for his family and on how he must come to rely on members of his tribe. The connection to family is strong in Salva; he relies on their strength even knowing that he might not ever see them again. His family, Salva knows, would not want him to give in to despair.

Salva is overcome with emotion when Uncle Jewiir, his father’s younger brother, joins his group of refugees. Finally, Salva has found a member of his family. On the trip to Ethiopia, Uncle will be Salva’s only link to family. Uncle takes Salva under his wing and protects and cares for him. His encouraging words, “one step at a time,” would give Salva the hope and perseverance he’d need throughout his journey. Though Uncle is brutally murdered before Salva reaches the refugee camp, his spirit and determination live on in Salva.

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