Theme Essay of Long Walk to Water

In the realistic fiction story A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, there is one, and only one, character that speaks to Linda Sue Park the most, and his name is Salva Dut Arik. He was just a ordinary Sudanese child that lived the same life as all the other kids. He went to school, hunted birds and played many games that are known by the Sudanese children. But the main important thing is that his village was attacked by the government’s army, and he was forced to leave the village. Salva has done and said many things, but the one that struck me was: Stay calm when things are hard or not going right with you. You could say that Salva was extremely lucky at times, but never lost hope and courage to keep going. Through his struggles Salva learns to take things one step at a time and to find strength through tragedy. In turn, the reader learns that you will get through tough times when you persevere instead of quitting.

The first major component that Salva represents is hope. This is a word that affected his whole journey, from being a disaster to being a success. For example, he would always keep hope alive by thinking about his family and telling himself that everything is going to be fine.