The Long Walk !?!?!?! what a end???

**kieronjs** · July 17th, 2009

Frank talks about plans to direct 'The Long Walk' in this 2008 interview at Lilja's Library. I think you'll like what he says (the 'Long Walk' part is about two thirds of the way through the interview).

http://www.liljas-library.com/showinterview.php?id=49

**GBPack1** · August 4th, 2009

Just finished reading it last night. I have to say at first I was a little taken aback that there was no clear cut ending, but after I sat there and took it all in I appreciated the fact that SK allowed me to interpret and let my imagination go.

**Matthew.Degnan** · August 10th, 2009

I just finished this the other day (after about a year of wanting it) and I LOVED the end... i felt like shouting "Whats happens next!" when I finished it lol.

Like the way that all the way through, not just the end, there is room for interpretation...

I want Rage now... lol

**Raq** · August 13th, 2009

the ending is awesome..Kinda shows you that there is no real winner in a game like that..that's just one of thousands of my interpretations...

**faithraine96** · August 17th, 2009

I actually loved the ending. All of the King books I've read have had some sort of a twist in them (thats probably why I love them so much), and the ending for me was a very Bachman-like end. Ray had finished the Walk, had surpassed all the other guys, and then Death or something walked up to him. A very comfusing end, but VERY Bachman-like. Just like the other Bachmans, you just have to say WOW at the end (especially in Rage and in this one.)

**LauraJo** · September 18th, 2009

I always interpreted the ending as Garrity's final choice; I thought that the shadowy figure was maybe Garrity's father who was 'squaded' (although I dont think we are ever told exactly what 'squaded' is - I just assumed they were killed in some way) beckoning to his son to come and join him in the afterlife, and that Garrity was by this time half-insane and so tired he 'ran to catch up with him'.

**doowopgirl** · September 18th, 2009

Couldn't agree with you more about the end of the Long Walk story. There was no other ending possible. Life goes on and on and on... if you are lucky. The constant building horror of the situation and the strange comeraderie that formed and how it took on a very strange routine. I shudder just thinking about it

**glyde69** · October 7th, 2009

Hmmmm, I never interpreted Garraty dying at the end. Might be time for a re-read.

**Chelle71** · October 28th, 2009

The Long Walk is, i think, one of SKs best novella's.....how else could such a game end? He was a kid and had lost his mind....

**xP3AC3MAK3Rx** · December 22nd, 2009

Every day on it's own...

I understand the book and the 'unsatisfying' ending as a metaphor in two ways.
We as the reader are Garraty, and as Garraty is told several times during the walk, there is no prize to be won at the finish line, that they are being 'betrayed' [we all feel at some point don't we?].

The same 'unsatisfying' ending that Garraty has to face, we also have to as the reader, at first sight only, though!

The walk is a metaphor for life itself, and as we know, there are no prizes to be won when we cross the finish line / die [at least that's up to speculation or belief].
It's only what you make of your walk, and how you deal with the pain, the inconveniences, the horrors of life, and if you will be there for others, even if it seems as you would do a disservice to yourself. For Garraty, the result of being only second in the long walk, would ultimatly mean his death, which makes it even more meaningful when he cares (or doesn't) about others being shot.

I see Garraty's walk only as a test of his own naked self, and as a lesson to himself, as he learns quite a bit about other people, human nature, and of his own.

I'm not sure what to make of the ominous character calling for Garraty in the end, but I think the hand on his shoulder which gives him power to even run in the end, can only exist because he cared about others on his walk. I really believe that the hand on his shoulder, belongs to the same figure who's calling Garraty from the distance.

Whom that hand belongs to? I think that answer is to be given by everybody to themselves. My guess, it is the one you think, from whom your power derives...to go a little further, every day on it's own.

Tommy
http://twitter.com/xP3AC3MAK3Rx