Introduction
The long walk is a story that shows the extent to which individuals could sacrifice themselves to achieve their goals. The story also shows various motives that make individuals commit themselves to particular tasks since while others rely on sacrifices as a way of succeeding, others tend to engage in forms of self-punishment from regretful events that happened earlier in their lives. Through the characters used in the story, the concept of making right decisions is brought out meaning it is imperative for individuals to make the right decisions in life to avoid future regrets. Stephen King’s Novel the Long Walk employs extensive use of literary elements, the most dominant ones being setting, characterization, theme and conflict, to effectively bring out the ills of the American society such as individualism, dictatorship and declining morals and to show the significance of perseverance.
Setting
One of the elements of literature used in the novel is setting. Stephen Kings’ novel The Long Walk is set in Maine. The contestants, all boys from all over the United States of America, gather in Porterville Maine and set out on a long walk headed south (King 23). Garraty, one of the contestants and the eventual winner of this walk, is from this town. The first town along the route of the walk is Limestone city which is way before the point Curley was shot dead for his inability to keep up with the rules of the walk. Caribou is another city along the walkers’ route where there is a woman screaming and intercepting walkers including Percy. Along the route, there is Jefferson plantation which is a hundred miles from the place where Garraty nearly dies. And then along the route is the Old town where a band from a local high school appears cheering Garraty.
All the proceedings in the long walk take places along the streets of Maine. Through his depiction of Porterville Town, King sets the proceedings of the novel of a dying nation in morals and financial break down. The readers are invited to critically look how the government responds to the morals through its military wing and the control of the media later on. Through the streets, King portrays the feared intentions and annihilation of the modern military through weapons of mass destruction and the germ welfare on its own citizens while people cheer. This is a recreation of King’s childhood memories of rural America; the family structures with uncaring parents (Beahm and King 74)
As the boys continue to walk along these streets, they keep falling down because of their inability to withstand the tough heat of the day, the rainstorms and the chills of the night. Most of the boys who fall victims of being shot dead along the way usually are ones unable to move with a speed of 4 miles per hour. The boys are affected by leg cramps, hurting feet and weariness and many fall dead along the route. Of importance to note are the cheering crowds along the routes that cheer boys as they carry on with the walk while merciless soldiers shoot to kill the helpless boys who fail to keep up with the rules of the walk.
The long walk route settings can be seen as a depiction of a mental and physical trial for the contestants, cheering crowds and the soldiers. The horror along the route, the towns and the people that Stephen King displays in his novel is often seen as the testing of the sanity, emotional consciousness and justice. Each walker goes through a period of soul searching as he interacts with other contestants, the cheering crowds and the soldiers. The thoughts of death as well as imprisonment time lead to emotional breakdowns and for this, some of the walkers fall dead. It is in the setting of Porterville Town, that readers can resonate well with the economic welfare of the people who reside in the American poor backgrounds. He has succeeded to effectively show an American setting of people with economic struggles, brutal government, hunger and everyday moral struggles. In his novel, King observes of the lifestyle of the people in Maine. This resonates with many other American homes around this time in history.
Conflict
In the Novel, King does not at any point explain the real idea behind the Long Walk. The only insights they have are the dictatorial regimes that rule the Unites States of America. In the novel, the readers can identify various conflicts that arise as the boys continue to walk. The boys start as a group of a hundred each hoping that they will win the race and win the ultimate price which is all that one desires. However, through the relations of the boys with the cheering crowds, military and other boys, we are able to identify underlying issues of the government dictatorship and people.
The walk is organized by the government for the boys to walk. This is a walk that no one understands its real intentions, the only clue we have is that parents want their sons to participate and win in the race. The society has expectations of their preferred contestants who in this case is Garraty. This presents a conflict of man verses the society. The society has expectations for each contestant and often tries to save ones whom they think will win the walk (King 12).
The Long walk is also a portrayal of how individuals in the society treat their interest against those of their neighbors. This is a conflict of between members of the society. Gurratary interacts with various contestants and through their conversation one is able to view their conflict ideas of why they are in the walk and why they need each other. Often their interaction is seen as trying to reconcile their own interests in the price given against their individuality. It is also a conflict of interests and personality types
The last conflict that appears in this novel is the conversation that Gurraatary has within himself through which he dialogues about his own future and his real reasons why he is taking part in the cruel race. He questions his morality and personality against what is right and wrong.
Theme
Themes explain the message in the story and the interpretation of the reader (Ryan and Bernard 85). Reliance on themes is, therefore, necessary as it enables the reader develop an imaginative perception of the intended message and a true reflection of the events in the story (Scheufele 103). The message of the story is on the expression of the will to live among the characters used. Those who participate in the field event are volunteers whose intention to participate in unclear. The hardships faced during the walk makes the volunteers to develop feelings of frustrations that in turn worsen their ability to endure the walk. The long walk is an intimidating way to engage people as many find it hard to cope with the rough conditions they are exposed to while taking part in the walk.
The hardships are depicted by the fact that there is a set pace such that everyone is expected to adhere to the pace with those who fail to cope thrice being shot. The long walk portrays hardships that individuals are often exposed to in the case of authoritarian rule. Soldiers during the long walk express their hostility and are quick to execute anyone who does not co-operate and those who stumble due to fatigue. The soldiers are observant of actions such as trying to leave the track that have severe consequences. The minor offences such as interference with others are considered minor and subjected to warnings. The story shows the sacrifice human beings could be involved in to achieve a given outcome. In spite of the suffering that one has to endure, the strong ones and those with a dedicated mindset are likely to succeed.
The story paints the picture of how sacrifices are marred with sufferings that interfere with their ability to endure. However, it is only thorough perseverance and remaining strong that success is achieved in the end. The cold-eyed armed soldiers in the story depict the image of the obstacles that present hardships among individuals such that there is need to devise ways to cope with the situations. The story also shows the need to help others even though one may be facing a similar hard condition. The story shows some of the participants going against the brutality they are exposed to help their friends in spite of the watchful eyes of the soldiers. Though individuals have self-interest and are always seeking to succeed ahead of others, there is need that everyone understands the problems of others and express willingness to show compassion through actions.
Characterization
Characterization is an element used in stories to showing different personality traits in terms of weakness, fear and strengths, attitudes and beliefs of those involved in the story (Fadaee 19). Ray, the story’s main character is a tall boy with a well-built body. Ray is talented in varied aspects since he knows how to cook, dance and knit, thereby, showing that he is fit for multiple tasks. Through his character, Ray proves that he is motivated and feels that he has the ability and energy to complete the walk. Many of the people in the crowd as well as the participants feel that Ray is a favorite to win the walk but it is the self-determination and commitment to participate in the event that see ray through. Other participants are portrayed as having different motives including suicidal thoughts or proving a point to their colleagues unlike Ray whose interest is on completing and emerging top. His motivated spirit makes him the winner at the end of the walk.
Peter is a character defined by his muscled and athletic body. This implies that he is well prepared and to an extent counting on his physical advantage to emerge winner in the walk. Peter is also a compassionate person going ahead to save Ray on several occasions. However, Peter is a depressed person considering the fact that he confides in another participant that he has suicidal thoughts for parting with his girlfriend hence his participation in the event is a form of self-punishment. In spite of Peter being among the three likely finalist, he instead chose to be killed by the soldiers.
Characters such as Olson are depicted as hostile since he insults other competitors while believing that he will emerge the winner. In spite of Olson being tired, he still uses his mind to move as he has a positive attitude on his chances of succeeding in spite of the fatigue. “I did it wrong” are the last word Olson shouts before he dies. Olson’s death paints the image on a volunteer who made the wrong decision and is regretting. As McVries, one of the participants in the long walk puts it:
“The reason all of this is so horrible is because it’s just trivial. You know? We’ve sold ourselves and traded our souls on trivialities. Olson, he was trivial. He was magnificent, too, but those things aren’t mutually exclusive. He was magnificent and trivial. Either way, or both, he died like a bug under a microscope” (King 259-260).
The crowd is depicted as cheering the walkers to put more effort even with the expression of fatigue. The crowd keep chanting “go go go,” to give the walkers the hope of reaming strong throughout the walk. The crowd seems to feel pity for the walkers as a woman in the crowd tries to pull her son from the walk. The action by the woman is a reflection that the walk was hard and that she felt her son would succumb to the stressful conditions of the walk.
Conclusion
The novel, The Long Walk, is a creative piece that depicts of an American society that is ailing from conflicts of interests that arise from individualism, dictatorship and the declining morals. It is set within rural America and shows the life of people dying for lack of morals, economic struggles and emotional distress. The story additionally paints the picture of how people are driven by different ambitions in their life events. Aspects of life brutality also present themselves thereby indicating that it is not always easy to achieve something desired by an individual.
Works cited
Fadaee, Elaheh. "Symbols, metaphors and similes in literature: A case study of "Animal Farm"." Journal of English and Literature (2011): 19-27. Document.
King, Stephen, and George W Beahm. The Stephen King Companion. Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews and McMeel, 1989. Print.
King, Stephen. The Long Walk. New York, N.Y.: Signet, 1999. Print.
Ryan, Gery and Russell Bernard. "Techniques to Identify Themes." Field Methods (2003): 85–109. Document.
Scheufele, Dietram. "Framing as a Theory of Media Effects." Journal of Communication (1999): 103-112. Document.
