Summary
Chapter 5
2008
Every year when the pond dries up and the rains come, Nya’s family moves to the camp near the big lake. They can only stay during the dry months by the pond because her tribe, the Nuer, is always fighting with the Dinka, and during times of struggle there is less fighting.
The lake is actually dried up, but the girls and women can dig into the clay of the lakebed and get the water out. Nya is tasked with doing this. She waits for water for hours and hours at a time.
1985
The bees are not happy to be woken up and to have their honey stolen, but the people do not mind the stings because they are able to gorge on the delicious honey. Salva thinks nothing has ever tasted so good.
The group gets bigger every passing day, but there is no sign of Salva’s family. One night as he walks around the fire, looking for them, he accidentally steps on a sleeping boy his own age. He and the boy are both missing their families, and Salva recognizes a similar sigh. The boy says his name is Marial and they become close friends.
The next morning Marial and Salva begin walking together. Marial says they are walking East; Salva knows this, but asks where they are going. Marial says it must be Ethiopia. Marial can tell Salva is nervous about going too far because they want their families to find them, so he jokes that they’ll keep going East until they go in a circle and come home. Salva laughs.
It has been a month since Salva ran into the bush. The group is now entering the land of the Atuots, which is known for its savage lions. Nights are frightening now, and they often hear the squeals of a dying animal.
One morning Salva hears someone call his name, but it is not Marial.
Chapter 6
2008
Nya and her family have been coming to the lake every year since she was born, and generations beforehand. Nevertheless, Nya only now realizes that her mother hates it here. There is no house, they cannot bring their things, and they have to dig for water. What is worse, though, is that Nya’s father and her older brother Dep have to go off to hunt and Nya’s mother does not know if they will ever return.
1985
Salva is awestruck –it is Jewiir, his uncle and the youngest brother of Salva’s father. It has been years since they last met because Uncle was fighting in the army. Uncle asks where his family is and Salva’s heart sinks because he thought his uncle would know. He tells Uncle what has been going on.
Uncle had joined the group three days prior but now there were more than thirty people and they hadn’t crossed paths. Salva notices his uncle carries a gun and the group sees him as a kind of leader.
Uncle uses his gun to bring down a topi and the group camps and delights in the food. Salva eats so much that he vomits. When he goes to the edge of the camp, he sees many others vomiting. It would be funny, he thinks, if he weren’t so miserable.
Every day on their walk they see lions. Salva and Marial stay close to Uncle, sometimes dropping back if Uncle talks to other men about the journey.
Water is scarce, and one day they search for miles all day and all night. Finally, Uncle and others decide the group must rest. Salva falls asleep immediately.
Uncle shakes him awake and he hears tears. Uncle says he is sorry, and Marial is gone.
Chapter 7
2008
Akeer sleeps on the floor, whimpering. She and many others in the group complain of stomach cramps or diarrhea. Akeer is worrying to Nya because she is too exhausted to even complain. This illness can be deadly for the elderly or young children.
Nya’s uncle, the village chief, tells her family of a medical clinic a few days’ walk away. It might be a tough trip for the little girl and they are not sure if they should risk it.
1985
Salva is overwhelmed by grief and fear. He clings to Uncle, looking around constantly. A lion took Marial in the night. He never would have walked off on his own, so the lion must have seen the small and weak boy and took him.
Uncle tries to comfort him, telling Salva he has a gun and they will soon be out of lion country. Salva despairs; he has lost his family and now his friend.
The landscape grows greener and it smells like water. They are close to the Nile, the “mother of all life in Sudan” (42). Uncle explains that they will cross it and will be in Ethiopia. Salva tears up, for Marial was right.
The group begins making small canoes out of reeds. They work quickly, not knowing how close the fighting is. Salva finds that the work makes him feel better, so he hurries to cut stalks and bring them to the boatbuilders.
Salva admires the sleek, neatly made canoes. It takes two days to finish enough but they are finally ready to depart. Salva climbs in one behind Uncle.
Chapter 8
2008
Nya’s father decides Akeer must go, so Nya’s mother and Nya take Akeer to the special place. It is a big white tent with sick and hurt people, and many doctors and nurses. The nurse explains to Nya’s mother that Akeer is sick from bad water and that if the water is dirty it must be boiled. Nya’s mother nods, but Nya knows this is nearly impossible. They can only procure tiny amounts of water from the lakebed, and if it were boiled it would evaporate before they could drink it.
1985
The group paddles their canoes for hours and hours. Salva would sleep but is afraid of falling out. They pull up to an island in the middle of the river where the fishermen of the island live.
Salva is amazed at the abundance of food he sees there. The travelers have no money and have to beg. The fishermen see that Uncle is a leader with a gun, though, so they simply give it to him.
Salva remembers how at home he’d never been hungry. His father would sometimes bring them mangoes as a treat. Salva’s favorite part was the seed, which he’d nibble and suck at for hours. Salva grows weary of wondering if he will ever see them all again.
As the sun sets, the fishermen all go into their tents with netting. Almost a minute later swarms of mosquitos rise up and plague the group mercilessly. They whine and bite and refuse to leave the people alone. No one sleeps.
The next morning the travelers get into their canoes. The fishermen warn them to take as much water as they can carry: the Akobo desert is next.
Analysis
Park is concerned with showing the different experiences of boys and girls in Sudan, even if she doesn’t state her concern explicitly. As a girl, Nya has a specific job of going to the pond to fetch water. She notes that there are “mostly women and girls” there (14). Her younger sister is also to start learning this duty even though she is young. Her father and older brother have the responsibility to go out to hunt while the women of the family stay behind. Nya sees that “her mother is afraid. Afraid that the men in the family would run into Dinka tribesmen somewhere, that they would fight and get injured—or worse” (33).
Thus, the women’s roles are to fetch water and prepare food and raise children while the men must hunt and fight. With the building of the well, however, things begin to change for Nya. Her father tells her that there will be a school and that now that she does not have to fetch water, “all the children will be able to go to school” (103), meaning “Girls, too” (103). Nya is elated, and although complete equality for her and the boys in her village is not a foregone conclusion, there is progress here for her.
As a young man, Salva also has expectations placed upon him but benefits from a higher degree of freedom and power. He is first shown in school; education is the provenance of men, especially in 1985. Park writes, “Like the other girls in the village, [Salva’s sisters] stayed home and learned from their mother how to keep house” (3) while Salva and his brothers “along with the sons of his father’s other wives, would walk with the herds to the water holes” (3). Being a boy or a man also necessitates certain behavior; when Salva wonders if he is to join the children and women or the men, he thinks, “He was Salva Mawien Dut Ariik, from the village named for his grandfather. His father always told him to act like a man –to follow the example of his older brothers and, in turn, set a good example for Kuol” (11).
The main danger with being a boy or a man in this place at this time is that “Young men and sometimes even boys were often forced to join the fighting, which was why their families and communities—including Salva’s schoolmaster—had sent the boys running into the bush at the first sign of fighting” (67). At the end of the novel, Salva learns that his two older brothers had been killed in the fighting, which may have been his fate as well if he had been separated into the “Men” category in the encounter with the rebel soldiers.
Park emphasizes the importance of human connection in these chapters. First, she warmly depicts Salva and Marial’s friendship. The two boys have both lost their families, they are both refugees wondering what the future holds. Marial is able to comfort Salva with humor, and the two keep each other company on the long, exhausting walk. Sadly, though Marial is taken by a lion in the night and Salva experiences one of many tremendous losses in his life. He thinks to himself “that nothing is all right. He had lost his family, and now he had lost his friend as well” (41). Thankfully, at this point in the novel, he has Uncle, who is depicted as a strong leader and a loving family member to Salva. Uncle helps Salva persevere when all hope is gone; he protects him, comforts him, and provides a good example of what a man/soldier/leader/Dinka tribesman should be.
