Interpretations of 'The Long Walk'

[thymeoperator]

hi, just finished this book for the first time yesterday and had several thoughs on it.

1. i got about halfway through and decided it might be an extended metaphor in the vein of things like kafka's 'the trial'. i thought it wasn't so much about the walk but more about how life is like a long walk (i thought it was similar to 'the green mile' ending, in that way). like some people got grey hair at the end of the 'race', some got ill, some just got too tired, some gave up wanting to be alive, and that was what finally did them in. they had no idea why they were there or what even the purpose of it was - although they did have this promise of a Prize (a bit like ideas of Paradise afterwards) but it only sort of kept them going. every time they wanted to get out of it, that was it, they couldn't just take a break. i thought it was a vivid image of how it's people who slow down and give up on life who perhaps die sooner, and those who have a stronger hunger for life keep going longer - but some just get sick when you least expect it and they're gone, even though odds were on them to be around a long, long time.

at the end, when garraty 'wins' he sees a dark shadow coming after him, and i thought that was Death coming behind him - he had been thinking of just giving up, despite winning, but then he saw that shadow approaching and his hunger for life was so strong that suddenly he mustered up the energy to run, to keep moving and living. as someone who has a strong life attachment myself and a terrible fear of ever dying, this book really struck a nerve with me and made me quite emotional at the end - because the truth is, just as the boys thought, death is often seen as something that will happen to someone else, it's a hard thing to get it to sink in that we're all going to do it whether we like it or not, and really it's just a matter of keeping going as long as we have the stamina and drive.

2. i don't know how on earth he managed to write a book all about a bunch of boys on a walk for almost 300 pages and make it so gripping, page-turning and interesting. i tried to explain the plot to a couple people and it was like...yeah, it's a novel about walking, that's what happens, people walk for a long, long time and die one by one...but it was so well done, i found this so impressive.

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

Wow!, thymeoperator, lot to think about there, great post!

I wonder what Frank Darabont will do with it (right man for the job IMO).

Long days and pleasant nights

[Doc Wilson]

Such a great book. I read it before SK came out of the closet with the bachman thing. When I finally found out it was SK, I was like "I should have known it had to be him."

[sprinco12]

A wonderful book, indeed. I read it 5 years ago and have reread it numerous times since then.....it's such a page-turner!! :smile2:

[catnoel]

When I am going through tough times I always pull out the long walk. It is one of my favorite stories and it really motivates me. When I have been in dark places I tell myself "keep walking keep walking you don't want to buy a ticket". I think you are absolutely correct in your thought process of this story being a metaphor for life itself. I do not know how Mr. King does it but he almost scary at capturing the psycological aspect of everyday people or folks in crisis.

[San Clemente Reader]

One of my all time favorites. I think it is SK at his best!

[Weihnachten]

hi, just finished this book for the first time yesterday and had several thoughs on it.

1. i got about halfway through and decided it might be an extended metaphor in the vein of things like kafka's 'the trial'. i thought it wasn't so much about the walk but more about how life is like a long walk (i thought it was similar to 'the green mile' ending, in that way). like some people got grey hair at the end of the 'race', some got ill, some just got too tired, some gave up wanting to be alive, and that was what finally did them in. they had no idea why they were there or what even the purpose of it was - although they did have this promise of a Prize (a bit like ideas of Paradise afterwards) but it only sort of kept them going. every time they wanted to get out of it, that was it, they couldn't just take a break. i thought it was a vivid image of how it's people who slow down and give up on life who perhaps die sooner, and those who have a stronger hunger for life keep going longer - but some just get sick when you least expect it and they're gone, even though odds were on them to be around a long, long time.



I think you cannot compare "The Long Walk" to Kafka's "the trial" in that way. Actually we can discuss this for hours because there are so many different ways to interprete "the trial". I don't share your opinion that it is about life as a long walk (even if you have good arguments though). The only thing the trail and the long walk have in common is the fact that bureaucrats have a huge influence on a folk. People are like puppets or marionettes and they are not able to make a stand against it. And for me military power is the background of "the long walk". People end up being a bunch of maniacs because the military wants them to be. You are right, people keep going because of a price. I think that this shows that people in a modern society are very into materialism and would do anything to live in plenty.

[Nutty Bavarian]

The Long Walk was the very first book I ever read by SK and I haven't looked back since.


And for me military power is the background of "the long walk". People end up being a bunch of maniacs because the military wants them to be.

I wouldn't say the military, the U.S. military in particular since I'm a veteran, creates or makes us maniacs. Granted, people in the military do some crazy and violent things. However according to the FBI in 2008 there were 14,180 reported murders in the U.S. Now if you trust those numbers, that means there are at least that many people in the U.S. that committed these crimes. That's a lot of maniacs and I would feel pretty safe to say that not all of them were in the military. Now as far as the story is concerned I could see that argument as being possible. Here's the link I found these numbers on:

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/offenses/expanded_information/homicide.html

That being said, The Long Walk does make a valuable statement on modern American society in a very broad sense of what we see as important and how unproductive some of those endeavors truly are.

[thymeoperator]

I think you cannot compare "The Long Walk" to Kafka's "the trial" in that way. Actually we can discuss this for hours because there are so many different ways to interprete "the trial". I don't share your opinion that it is about life as a long walk (even if you have good arguments though). The only thing the trail and the long walk have in common is the fact that bureaucrats have a huge influence on a folk. People are like puppets or marionettes and they are not able to make a stand against it. And for me military power is the background of "the long walk". People end up being a bunch of maniacs because the military wants them to be. You are right, people keep going because of a price. I think that this shows that people in a modern society are very into materialism and would do anything to live in plenty.

well, you can, because i just did :) i happen to agree it says everything you pointed out just there - i only didn't bother mentioning that because it's posted in so many other threads on this book already. but i also think it says what i pointed out.

[michal]

2. i don't know how on earth he managed to write a book all about a bunch of boys on a walk for almost 300 pages and make it so gripping, page-turning and interesting. i tried to explain the plot to a couple people and it was like...yeah, it's a novel about walking, that's what happens, people walk for a long, long time and die one by one...but it was so well done, i found this so impressive.

I believe he had a harder time with The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon in that respect...

Personally I didn't think that The Long Walk talked about overcoming difficulty but the other way around: On how completing a task can be pointless if you lose all that you are a long the way. To me it wasn't "achieving the best that you can" but pure crowd-inspired madness.

[fushingfeef]

I always felt bad for Scramm. He did everything right to get ready, but then he got sick. Perhaps this is analagous to people who do everything right for their health (exercise, diet) but then they are randomly struck with a disease like cancer. This was one of King's first forays into "The Random", perhaps?

[Weihnachten]

The Long Walk was the very first book I ever read by SK and I haven't looked back since.



I wouldn't say the military, the U.S. military in particular since I'm a veteran, creates or makes us maniacs. Granted, people in the military do some crazy and violent things. However according to the FBI in 2008 there were 14,180 reported murders in the U.S. Now if you trust those numbers, that means there are at least that many people in the U.S. that committed these crimes. That's a lot of maniacs and I would feel pretty safe to say that not all of them were in the military. Now as far as the story is concerned I could see that argument as being possible. Here's the link I found these numbers on:

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/offenses/expanded_information/homicide.html

That being said, The Long Walk does make a valuable statement on modern American society in a very broad sense of what we see as important and how unproductive some of those endeavors truly are.

I'm sorry, I don't know that much about the military power in the U.S. If you live in a foreign country you always hear or read about the huge influence of the military. I think I'm not able to blame the military to create maniacs, but for me the Long Walk does.
But I don't think that the Long Walk is only about American society, it's about modern society in general.

[Homebrew]

I think the fact that people are comparing a fictional horror writer to some deep philosophical icon like Nietzsche or Kant is f'ing hilarious. Really? You think these books are that deep.

Ok, well, I thought it was a good, entertaining read. I thought the ending was relatively obvious. I also think that for those of you that think The Long Walk is a metaphor for life, where 1 in a 100 people make it through only to die is depressing and tragic. It's not a metaphor for life. If it's a metaphor, it's one reserved for 100 pour souls locked in a concentration camp or some other equally sad situation. To prove my point, I'd assume out everyone posting on these boards, more than 1% are living a relatively happy life where they haven't buckled and had their brains blown out in the process. That being said, stop reading into this damn book so much and being a pretentious critic about it. It's the dark side of life if anything, and Garraty achieved his own insanity / death at the end of the story. Enough said.

[Pucker]

I always felt bad for Scramm. He did everything right to get ready, but then he got sick. Perhaps this is analagous to people who do everything right for their health (exercise, diet) but then they are randomly struck with a disease like cancer. This was one of King's first forays into "The Random", perhaps?

I think Scramm went into the Walk honestly believing that he could, and would, win. I've always felt that this is not the case with most of the other walkers. They know what the most likely "reward" for their participation is and they willingly sign on regardless. Of course, the whole enterprise takes on a stark reality when the guns begin to shoot, as Kipling was wont to say. The chilling realization that death may not be better than an empty, hopeless life after all hits most of them like a sledgehammer once the first ticket is punched, and they see the reality of it. So they keep going. As long as they can. The ultimate joke, of course, is that nobody wins -- not this time . . . not ever -- and the implication, through rumor, that the walkers know even this, and yet still sign up for the Walk nonetheless paints a fairly stark portrait of what the author appears to be trying to convey.

[wally wonder]

or maybe it's a twist on the nam...talk to someone who did their time in nam, in the green, where every step might be your last...ole salt marsh said that was the point of the deer hunter, the russian roulette, a loaded chamber, or not? one more step, or not? and though they didn't all sign up for it, that nasty business called the draft and all, every step they took either brought them closer to coming home...i dunno how many other members of the board are veterans, veterans being those who served, but it reminded me of boot camp, the way they all show up, ready, checking each other out, talkin.

[GNTLGNT]

Long Walk=Life Journey(from a dark perspective)
Dark Figure=Dark Man(the erstwhile Randy Flagg)
Of course, all this may just be my perspective after suffering a case of the vapors...

[Pucker]

I like your take about boot camp, Bluey. It got me to thinking about the abrupt disappearance of everything you knew before. When I was traveling to basic training outside Chicago, a bunch of us were all hanging out at the USO at O'Hare waiting for everyone in the incoming group to show up. It was exactly like the scene before the Walk started: A bunch of kids from all over the country, nervously sizing each other up and making quick associations and friendships, the way you do when you're young. The bus ride out to the NRTC was like a high-school field trip . . . and then you go through the gate . . . and everything changes in the space of a moment. They start screaming at you non-stop. Everything you do is wrong. Who you used to be doesn't matter now. You're becoming some else, starting right this second. I'm not sure if this was an analogy Mr. King was actively trying to make, but it works very well.

[wally wonder]

I like your take about boot camp, Bluey. It got me to thinking about the abrupt disappearance of everything you knew before. When I was traveling to basic training outside Chicago, a bunch of us were all hanging out at the USO at O'Hare waiting for everyone in the incoming group to show up. It was exactly like the scene before the Walk started: A bunch of kids from all over the country, nervously sizing each other up and making quick associations and friendships, the way you do when you're young. The bus ride out to the NRTC was like a high-school field trip . . . and then you go through the gate . . . and everything changes in the space of a moment. They start screaming at you non-stop. Everything you do is wrong. Who you used to be doesn't matter now. You're becoming some else, starting right this second. I'm not sure if this was an analogy Mr. King was actively trying to make, but it works very well.

no kiddin! they rounded up a bunch of us from wisconsin and the u.p. and set us together....chief boats one-year...name ring a bell?....HA HA HA! my first night/day, i lost track, but that was the first time i fell asleep standing up, never did catch up...in fact, i feel a nap callin me. nut to butt!

[kenobi]

i totally agree