The Long Walk: Difference between revisions

The Long Walk
	File:Longwalk.jpg
Author	Richard Bachman (Stephen King)
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Horror
Publisher	New American Library
Publication date	1979
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	384 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-606-16924-5 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
Preceded by	Rage
Followed by	Roadwork

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This article concerns the novel by (Richard Bachman) Stephen King. For the phenomenon seen in Judge Dredd comics, see The Long Walk (Judge Dredd). For the novel by Slavomir Rawicz of escape from Siberia in World War II, see Slavomir Rawicz.

The Long Walk is a novel by Stephen King published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. It was included in King's collection The Bachman Books after King revealed to the public that he was Richard Bachman. Set in an alternate history, the plot revolves around the contestants of a horrific walking contest, held annually by a somewhat despotic and totalitarian version of the United States of America.

Plot summary

This is all bullshit

Characters

Peter McVries - Peter McVries is a well-muscled and athletically fit young man with a sardonic sense of humor and a cynical attitude. He comes up with the idea for the Musketeer group and bonds with Garraty, even saving his life several times throughout the course of the walk. Continually providing advice for Ray, he admits early on that he is probably going to lose this game, and is waiting to die. He reveals that he was once in love with a girl, but the relationship fell apart due to financial differences, resulting in his suicidal depression. He tells Ray that at some point in the game he'll "just sit down" and die. When the walk comes down to the final 3 - himself, Garraty, and Stebbins, he keeps his word and sits cross-legged in the street. Garraty attempts to save him but McVries is resigned to his fate. Before the end he opens his eyes and smiles at Garraty one last time before he is killed by the soldiers.

Hank Olson - From early on, Hank Olson is the character who cracks jokes and insults the other competitors. He believes he has an edge over the other walkers, having been told by the Major to "Give 'em hell." However, Olson tires very early in the game, becoming a "hollow shell." Despite his exhaustion, he continues to walk, seemingly oblivious to the entire world. Garraty compares Olson's demeanor to that of the Flying Dutchman as he is manned even when "the entire crew is dead." Stebbins refers to Olson as an example in demonstrating the power of the mind in control of the body, because despite having mentally succumbed to fatigue, Olson is still capable of walking. His fellow walkers can only watch in pity and foreboding. Surprisingly, Olson outlasts the majority of the walkers, finally admitting to Garraty that he "does not want to die." A haggard mess, he at last attempts to climb the halftrack, and is shot several times by the soldiers. To the shock and awe of his fellow walkers, he continues to stand and walk. Eventually, his intestines begin to spill out of his stomach "like sausage" and he finally dies after lifting his hands to the sky and shouting "I did it wrong!"

Art Baker - Art Baker is one of the first Walkers to befriend Garraty during the Long Walk and is also one of the Musketeers. He is also one of the last Musketeers (aside from Stebbins and McVries) to die. He dies toward the end of the Walk when he stumbles and scratches himself. He starts bleeding internally and coughing up blood. Right before he is killed, he comes up behind Garraty to ask him one final favor should Garraty win the Long Walk. He wants a "lead-lined" casket - a reference to an earlier conversation about Baker's late uncle, who was an undertaker. Garraty is sobbing and asking him to "walk a little further" but Baker can't. He also asks Garraty to not "watch 'em do it" when the soldiers kill him. He then shakes Garraty's hand, turns around, and is killed. Garraty reacts so strongly to his death that he can barely keep walking.

Gary Barkovitch - Barkovitch cements himself as a loud-mouth walker whom everyone hopes to outlast. He first provokes another boy named Rank, leading to an altercation which results in Rank's death. Because of this, the other walkers turn against Barkovitch and refer to him as "killer". McVries states several times that his only goal in life is to outlast Barkovitch. However, in a touching moment with Garraty, Barkovitch admits that he wishes he had friends, and that he just doesn't know how to act any other way. It is then that he agrees to help donate some of the winning proceeds to Scramm's young wife. Later, he reverts to his previous demeanor and continues hassling the rest of the walkers. The others realize that Barkovitch has finally lost his mind, the intensity of the walk too much for him. At some point during the night, several shots are heard and Garraty asks if it is Barkovitch who has been killed. Barkovitch, however, yells from the back of the crowd he's not finished yet. He then screams in agony, tears out his own throat, and is shot by the soldiers.

Collie Parker - The roughneck of the walkers, Parker, or 'Collie' as he is referred to in the story, is the most vocal of the walkers in his disgust towards the soldiers, the game, and the crowds. He continually makes remark on the "damn Maine weather" and uses excessive profanity. While Ray Garraty is dozing, he wakes to hear a loud gunshot, and thinks another walker has "bought his ticket". To his surprise, he sees Collie holding one of the soldier's carbines, stolen from a sleeping soldier during the shift change. Olson has killed the soldier, and yells for the other boys to join the fight. The other soliders shoot him in the back. Collie falls and is able to say "bastard" one last time before firing off two shots onto the cement, the bullets ricocheting into the crowd.

Scramm - A likable young man, depicted as a simple soul who dropped out of school and married early, Scramm is the "Vegas favorite", with 9 to 1 odds. Despite being the predicted winner of this year's Long Walk, having been described as "moose-like" and able to walk long distances with little difficulty, Scramm succumbs to pneumonia. Realizing his time is almost up, he thanks the rest of his fellow walkers for agreeing to help his wife with their financial problems. He then walks towards Mike and Joe, two Hopi Indian Walkers. Mike has developed stomach cramps. Scramm, Mike and Joe walk and talk before deciding on a course of action. Scramm wanders back to the Musketeers and informs them that he is ready to die. Scramm, and Mike head to the side of the road towards the crowd. They then flip off the crowd, yell insults, and sit in conversation. It is then that they are both shot by the soldiers.

Stebbins - Stebbins is the strangest of the original named group, and is the last Walker to die before Garraty. Early on he establishes himself as a loner and walks separately from the group, talking to no one. Garraty finds himself strangely drawn to Stebbins and engages in conversation with him several times. Stebbins has many strange mannerisms, often talking in riddles to Garraty in the hopes of teaching him a vital lesson. After Scramm's death, Stebbins becomes the odds-on favorite, having shown absolutely no sign of fatigue and being described as "diamonds", impossible to wear down. However, he breaks down near the end of the book and reveals to Garraty his goals all along - he is the Major's illegitimate child. His Prize for winning the Walk would have been for the Major to publicly acknowledge him; to "[b]e taken into my father's house", as he puts it. Unfortunately, the Major apparenlty knew all along that Stebbins was his bastard son, and made him into a "rabbit" - a tool to encourage the other walkers. Stebbins eventually succumbs and falls down dead after desperately clawing at Garraty.

Jan - Ray Garraty's girlfriend from home, with whom he has a steady relationship. He establishes Jan early on as a symbol of his life, and as encouragement to keep walking. When the news that Garraty has been picked as a Walker is revealed, Jan is extremely distraught and fights with Garraty in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to back out of the event. In the first half of the book he determines to keep walking until he reaches his hometown, so he can see her. When the Walkers finally make reach the town, Garraty is only able to embrace her for a few seconds before being ripped away by McVries to save him from a warning.

Death list

The asterisk (*) indicates that the walkers were mentioned dead at the same time, meaning that there is no way to tell for sure the exact order. (Note: Most "Reasons of Death" indicated with a "?" resulted from a walker dropping below 4mph too often.)

Order	Name	Number	Reason for Death
1.	Curley, ?	No. 7	Charley horse
2.	Ewing, ?	No. 9	Blisters
3.	Unknown boy	No. ?	Slowed down too often
4.	Zuck, ?	No. 100	Excessive bleeding from scraped knee
5.	Travin, ?	No. ?	Slowed by diarrhea, shot when sitting down to empty bowels
6.	Fenter, ?	No. 12	Foot cramp
7.	Larson, ?	No. 60	Fatigue - sat down and couldn't get back up
8.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
9.	Toland, ?	No. ?	Fainted
10.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
11.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
12.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
13.	Baker, James	No. 4	?
14.	Rank, ?	No. ?	Fighting with Barkovitch, fell down and got up dazed
15.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
16.	Percy	No. ?	Tried to escape into the woods
17.	Unknown boy	No. 45	Fell down
*18.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*19.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*20.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*21.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*22.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*23.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*24.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*25.	Davidson, ?	No. 8	?
26.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
27.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
28.	Yannick, ?	No. 98	?
29.	Unknown boy	No. ?	Convulsions
30.	Gribble, ?	No. 48	Blue balls
31.	Harkness, ?	No. 49	Fatigue- "Burnt out"
32.	?, Percy	No. 31	Tried to escape into the woods
33.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
34.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*35.	Wayne, ?	No. 94	?
*36.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
37.	Morgan, Frank	No. 64	?
38.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
39.	Unknown boy	No. 38	Feet run over by escorting half-track.
40.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*41.	Tressler, ?	No. 92	Sunstroke
*42.	Unknown boy	No. ?	Convulsion
*43.	Aaronson, ?	No. 1	Cramps in both feet
*44.	Unknown boy	No. ?	Sunstroke
45.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
46.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
47.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
48.	Jensen, ?	No. ?	Panic & blundered off of road due to hailstorm
49.	Unknown boy	No. ?	Fainted
50.	Fenum, Roger	No. 13	Fainted
51.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
52.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
53.	Olson, Hank	No. 70	Shot while attempting to hijack escorting half-track
54.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
55.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
56.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
57.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
58.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*59.	Scramm, ?	No. 85	Pneumonia/sat down
*60.	?, Mike	No. ?	Stomach cramps/sat down
61.	?, Joe	No. ?	Unwilling to desert brother Mike/sat down
62.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
63.	Gallant, ?	No. ?	?
64.	Milligan, ?	No. ?	Severe headache from cheering
65.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
66.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
67.	Quince, Harold	No. ?	?
68.	Barkovitch, Gary	No. 5	Ripped out his own throat
*69.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*70.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*71.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*72.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*73.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*74.	Pearson, ?	No. ?	Vomiting; shot that night
75.	Field, Charlie	No. ?	?
76.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*77.	Klingerman, ?	No. 59	Appendicitis
*78.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*79.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
80.	Tubbins, ?	No. ?	Insanity
81.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
82.	Parker, Collie	No. ?	Shot after attempting to hijack escorting half-track
83.	Wyman, Marty	No. 97	Lay down
84.	Sledge, Bobby	No. ?	Tried to escape into the crowd
85.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
86.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*87.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*88.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*89.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*90.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
*91.	Unknown boy	No. ?	?
92.	Abraham, ?	No. 2	Fever-induced fatigue
93.	Pastor, Bruce	No. ?	?
94.	Fielder, George	No. ?	Insanity
95.	Hough, Bill	No. ?	?
96.	Rattigan, ?	No. ?	?
97.	Baker, Art	No. 3	Hemorrhage
98.	McVries, Peter	No. 61	Sat down
99.	Stebbins, ?	No. 88	Sudden death

The route

Based on details in the book, the most likely starting point for the Long Walk is Van Buren, Maine.
In the novel's alternate America, the Walk travels along U.S. Route 1 through Limestone, Caribou, Jefferson, Old Town, Augusta, Lewiston, the completely fictional Porterville, Garraty's hometown of Freeport, Portland and South Portland, Kittery, across New Hampshire, and ending in Danvers, Massachusetts.
Jefferson is mentioned as being the "Century Club" city, since it marks the 100 mile-point of the Walk. In reality, Jefferson is 287 miles from Van Buren (assuming that to be the Walk's starting point), and 150 miles from the nearest point along the Maine/Canada border (Saint Croix Junction).

Notes

The Long Walk depicted in the novel breaks the record for the longest distance covered by a full complement of Walkers; Walker #7, Curley, earns his ticket just shy of the nine-mile point, surpassing the former record of 7¾ miles.
The Long Walk depicted in the novel breaks the record for the most Walkers to reach Jefferson; 64 Walkers join the "Century Club" in the novel, surpassing the former record of 63.
The Long Walk depicted in the novel is the seventh to cross over from Maine into New Hampshire, and the second to end in Massachusetts, covering 446 miles over five days and ending in Danvers.
Ray Garraty is the second contestant from Maine to win a Long Walk, after Reggie Cotter, who died shortly after he won, due to brain hemorrhaging from a bleeding eye.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Frank Darabont has secured the rights to the film adaptation of the novel.[1]

Editions

ISBN 0-606-16924-5 (prebound, 1999)
ISBN 0-451-19671-6 (mass market paperback, 1999)

External links

Stephen King's Official Page: the section on the Long Walk
Three Warnings: a fanlisting for The Long Walk
Extra Mile Endurathon: a real-life (non-lethal) endurance walk

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 ==Plot summary==
+This is all bullshit
-One hundred [[teenage]] boys (picked at random from a large pool of applicants) are chosen to participate in an annual walking contest called "The Long Walk". Each Walker must maintain a constant speed of no less than four miles per hour, or he receives a warning. Warnings are given for a variety of other offenses, including assaulting another walker or deviating from the Walk's set course. Walkers may lose warnings by walking for an hour without being warned. If, however, a Walker with three warnings slows down again, or breaks any other rule, he is "ticketed". At the start of the book, the meaning of the term "ticketed" is kept intentionally vague, but soon after the start of the Walk it becomes clear that to "buy a ticket" means the Walker is executed by the soldiers monitoring the event from [[halftrack]]s. The leeway period between a Walker's first warning and his ticket is approximately two minutes.
-The event is run by a character known only as "The Major", who is the overseer of The Long Walk and is alluded to have a great deal of power in the story's reality.
-There are no stops, no rest periods, and no set finish line during a Long Walk. The walk ends when only one Walker remains. The winner receives "The Prize" - anything he wants for the rest of his life. It is interesting to note that many winners of The Long Walk have died soon after the walk, due to its hazardous mental and physical difficulties. The Long Walk is not only a physical trial, but a psychological one as well, as the Walkers are continually pressed against the idea of death and their own mortality. There have been contestants who actually tried to ''crawl'' at 4 mph in order to survive after their legs have given out. The story has several characters who suffer complete mental breakdowns, and most of the characters experience a degree of mental degeneration from the stress and lack of proper sleep.
-The Walk begins every year at 9:00 AM on [[May 1]] at the [[Maine]]/[[Canada]] border and continues down the eastern coast of the United States until the winner is found. The protagonist of the novel is Ray Garraty, a 16-year-old boy.  Early on, Ray falls in with several other boys &mdash; including Peter McVries, Arthur Baker, Hank Olson, Collie Parker, Pearson, and Abraham &mdash; who refer to themselves as "The Musketeers."  Another Walker &mdash; Gary Barkovitch &mdash; quickly establishes himself as an external antagonist, as he is quick to anger his fellow walkers with taunts of "dancing on their graves" multiple times. This results in the immediate death of a fellow walker, Rank, who is ticketed in an attempt to injure Barkovitch. Lastly, the most alluring and mysterious walker is a boy named Stebbins. Throughout the walk, Stebbins establishes himself as the loner, observing the ground beneath him as he listens to his fellow Walkers' complaints. The only character Stebbins truly interacts with is Ray Garraty, and their conversations allude to "Alice in Wonderland" as Garraty relates him to the Caterpillar. Stebbins, however, corrects him, and believes himself to be more of a "White Rabbit" type.
-Along the road, the Walkers learn that one of their number, a kid named Scramm &mdash; who is initially the heavy odds-on favorite to win the Walk &mdash; is married.  When Scramm comes down with pneumonia, the remaining Walkers make a deal amongst themselves that the winner will use some of the Prize to take care of his pregnant widow, Cathy.
-During the walk it is touched upon how members of the general public who interfere with the walkers in any way can receive an "Interference" ticket. The first instance was when the mother of a walker named Percy attempted to "save" him. She is only stopped from buying a ticket of her own after being restrained by police. The second instance was when a spectator's dog ran across the road in front of the walkers and was immediately shot.
-Garraty becomes closest to McVries, a boy with a prominent facial scar who joined the walk as a means of suicide.
-After many days and hundreds of miles of walking, the Walk eventually comes down to Garraty and Stebbins - who reveals himself to be the illegitimate son of the Major and the "rabbit" set up in the race to make the others walk further. At the end of the book, Garraty decides to give up after realizing that Stebbins has shown almost no weaknesses over the duration of the walk. Garraty catches up with Stebbins to tell him this, but before he can speak, Stebbins grabs his shirt, says "Oh, Garraty!", collapses and dies; thus Garraty is declared the winner.
-At this point, in a severely degenerated mental state, Garraty sees a "dark figure" beckoning to him. Some readers have interpreted this dark figure to be recurring Stephen King villain [[Randall Flagg]], who is often referred to as "The Walkin' Dude" or "The Dark Man" (this is notably mentioned in the book ''The Stephen King Universe'' by Wiater, Golden & Wagner). Ignoring (or most likely unaware of) the celebration going on around him, Garraty gets up from Stebbins' side and walks after the dark figure; when someone - possibly the Major himself - tries to grab him, he begins to run.
 ==Characters==