Abstract
The premise of the novel is that every year, about 100 teenage boys from all over the US volunteer and participate in a Long Walk. They start walking from Maine to south for the grand price. They walk without stopping until there is only one person able to continue. You must not drop to below 4 miles per hour; else you receive an official warning. If competitors breach their limit of 3 warnings, they are shot dead. The walkers are followed by military vehicle carrying monitoring equipment and soldiers with heavy guns. This essay seeks to show how King exemplifies the evils of capitalism through its depiction of the main characters’ competition amongst themselves, alienation from each other, and exploitation by commercial media using characterization as an element of literature. Each character walks through levels of intellectual, physical, spiritual and psychological engagement, testing the limits of their motivation, frustrations, fear, loneliness, exhaustion, love and compassion.
Introduction
As one goes through the book, one boy’s identity merges into that of another, and another. Though the boys’ names may be too many, the reader can hardly forget their nature and character. Each of the character by far represents an element of the society that King wants to bring to the attention of the readers. Stephen King uses a number of elements of literature throughout his work but, between plot and characterization, has used characterization as the most dominant literary element.
In the walk, Garraty with huge support from the crowd makes disclosures regarding mortality and touching on his very own imminent likelihood of death. Garraty forms strong bonds with a myriad other competitors such as enigmatic Stebbins in the course of the lengthy walk.. Through his character, interactions with other boys and observation, King, shows that brief friendships and groupings might provide morale and support, but not when the death of one underlines the fact that the others could easily be next. Garraty finally turn out to be the winner of the lengthy walk after the death of Stebbins. He shows the extent of Human Motivation in the midst of torture. King uses Ray to capture the readers and open their anticipation and swiftly move through shock into outright horror. The sequence in which the first walker gets cramp in his leg and is shot brings home with sudden clarity the sickening reality of the situation.
Gary Barkovich slowly but surely becomes the chief antagonist, provoking the other participants with intimidations of "dancing on their graves." (King 30). Stebbins, on the other hand, institutes himself as the lone wolf in the group, oftentimes lagging at the back of the group and speaking Garraty only in petite, secret phrases.
Art Baker emerges as the kindest most honest participant in the long walk, he is also the least predisposed to talking cryptically. When he feels he is totally exhausted and can no longer go on, he requests Garraty for a casket with a lead line, referring to a previous chat regarding Baker's uncle, an embalmer, and explains “I'd hate to wander around in the dark forever, not knowing who I was or what I was doing there” (King 69). On the other hand, Hank Olson is characterized as a self-assured young participant who trusts he possesses an advantage over the rest of the walkers. Olson cracks jokes during the walk and playfully insults the other participants, but within a short while, he becomes exhausted and all enthusiasm drains out of him. He admits to Garraty he did not want to die.
In the Walk, readers identify the devastating effects that trauma, sleep deprivation and physical exertion can have on the human person. Elements (rain, sunshine, cold, hail) and afflictions (blisters, cramp, sunstroke, fever, convulsions,) take toll all characters behave according to their nature. The repetitive plot - walk or die - allows King to focus in on the psychology of the walkers, whose hopes and regrets swiftly become irrelevant in the face of being shot.
The novel confronts you with questions of mortality, strength of character and self-worth. Through the use of characters when you examine which character stands out for what. As what's left of their lives plays out before the readers on the road where the walkers occasionally manage to create for themselves rare moments of dignity (even nobility) in the face of casual brutality.
This essay has thus explored Stephen King’s use of characterization as a dominant element of literature in the novel and succeeded to show how he has used to specifically bring out important themes like friendships, capitalism, morality and human dignity using unique natural characters in his work.
Works Cited
King, Stephen. The Long Walk. New York, N.Y.: Signet, 1999. Print.
