Talk:The Long Walk

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There were a lot of purely subjective statements here now that I've visited the page again. Statements that certain interpretations are "more likely" or "obvious" than other interpretations are too subjective for an encyclopedic entry unless sources are cited. I would not dispute the inclusion of interpretation if sources are cited and/or if opinions aren't presented as implied fact, as they were here before I removed said content. Minaker 02:33, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

I visited this page a while ago, and it had a lot more information then, including the common interpretation that the dark figure at the end is Randall Flagg. Why was all of that removed? Just because you don't agree with the Flagg interpretation doesn't mean it's not relevant; please don't remove information without explanation. -- Minaker

Is the dark figure at the end also the Dark Man? Personally, I don't think so, but I think it's an interesting interpretation, and more importantly, it's a theory that is so widely speculated among Stephen King fans that it has found its way into publication by respected authors within the genre (I cited the authors within the body of the article). The interpretation should therefore not be dismissed outright within the article; to do so would be unencyclopedic unless you have the citation needed to back it up; otherwise, all you're doing is editorializing and stating a personal opinion, which has no place in an encyclopedic entry, although you're free to do that here in the discussion page. Again, a conclusion that a certain interpretation is unlikely is too subjective for inclusion on an encyclopedia page. -- Minaker

Some way needs to be found to integrate into the synopsis the fact that the story takes place in some kind of parallel universe that is very similar to but not identical to our own, an idea that King explored much more extensively in later works. The primary evidence of this is that one of the characters in the story refers to Hank Aaron hitting seven hundred and thirty nine home runs.

Done. I changed 'near future' to 'alternate history' with a link to alternative history (fiction) - from what I recall, there's also a reference to fighting Nazis in Central America in the book as well. NickBarlow 22:38, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I don't recall anything that implies The Long Walk was set in a world where the Nazis won WW2. It doesn't really go into very much detail on the world outside the Long Walk, as I recall. And I believe they never actually say precisely what the Prize is, though I could be wrong. Tuf-Kat 06:13, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

You're exactly half right. I just finished re-reading the book, and I agree that it doesn't imply anything about WW2; this is purely reader speculation. However, the prize is discussed quite explicitly and frequently in the novel.

No it doesn't, there is a part where Garraty sees a sunset or something and he says it reminds him of when the Germans bombed the East coast at the end of WW2, clearly implying the US lost.

I don't recall that, but the Germans could have bombed the East Coast without winning the war. Tuf-Kat 09:47, 11 February 2006 (UTC)
It does indeed state that the East Coast was bombed by German bombers, and there are a few other references although I can't remember those. Other indications of parallel universe is a reference to a historical event (The Change or something, don't remember the name) where the USA as in our timeperiod was overthrown by the Military Industrial complex, resulting in The Major as a sort of dictator. As for the prize, I do believe it is stated that it is essentially everything you wish for for the rest of your life, although some illusions are made to the finity of this prize (using 'some' of the prize when it should be an infinite resource)
As for the shaded figure at the end of the book, I wonder why it isn't noted that it could just be Jan or his mother, Garraty's vision being distorted by famine. Vadigor 10:04, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

I just read the article and it's a fairly comprehensive article about the book. The only comments I have to add are these:

1) I think it's fairly clear that the book is set in an alternative United States rather different from our own. As the article suggests, this version of the United States is a totalitarian country. In my reading of the novel, I thought the Major was the dictator who ran this version of the United States. According to the book's page on Stephen King's site (linked to from the article), he's just the guy who organizes and runs the Walk every year. Perhaps it could also be mentioned that this version of the United States diverged from our own sometime around World War II. See below. There are also references to "fifty-one" United States and in this universe, April has 31 days.

2) King never shows us much of the world the novel is set in. Stebbins is the character who mentions the "Change" during a discussion of how to help Scramm's widow when it becomes clear that Scramm isn't going to win the Long Walk. He says something to the effect of "Back in the old days before the Change and the Federal Squads" and mentions that there were millionaires back then who would create foundations to keep their legacies alive long after they're dead. Garraty also has the thought about the lights of Augusta or one of the other large cities reminding him of the "German air blitz" of the East Coast in the "final days" of WWII. This is followed a while later of him making the internal observation about the "Provisional Governor" (or perhaps it's the "Regional Governor") of New Hampshire being a war hero of some sort who had lost a leg to radiation poisoning when he stormed the German reactor in Santiago in 1953. I think we can reasonably conclude that this version of the United States diverged from our own sometime in the 1940s and became a military dictatorship somehow. This is probably what Stebbins refers to when he mentions the "old days" and the "Change" and this suggests to me that the United States did defeat the Germans but became a somewhat totalitarian (and probably Fascist) state in the process.

3) I think there should be an entry for Art Baker under the "Notable Deaths" section because although we don't see him actually die, Ray Garraty (and the reader) clearly feels an emotional impact because Ray and we have grown to know Art Baker as a character. Art Baker's death occurs almost at the very end of the novel. He's the last of the Musketeers (aside from Garraty and McVries, of course) and his death means that it's just down to McVries, Garraty, and Stebbins.

4) I have always interpreted the end of the novel as Ray Garraty on the verge of mental breakdown and simply seeing something that isn't really there. He's hallucinating, in other words and his hallucination is simply that he's still got one other boy to walk down in order to win the race.

--LetterMan 02:50, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] New Link

There was a new link added today (June 20, 2007). When I tried to access it at work, it was blocked due to "sex". Can someone without a blocker on access this site and see if it has anything to do with the actual book? Thanks in advance. -Paulbkirk 18:13, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Long Walk disambiguation

Could some disambiguation be added for The Long Walk in Windsor Great Park? There's alreay a lot of disambiguation at the top of this page; does this merit a disambiguation page of its own? Hertzsprung 21:08, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Dark Figure

I always thought the dark figure was his father, anyone else think this is a possibility, I mean he got "squadded" and was basically never heard from again. He was in the jeep with the major and I just figured it was his father Robert Beck 17:53, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

The first time I read the book, I thought the figure was the Major, but after a subsequent read I'm thinking that it's just his mind playing a trick on him. He's been walking so long and he's so mentally unstable that he can't comprehend being able to stop, so his mind creates a reason to keep walking. I'm not saying you're wrong, I just don't think there's enough evidence to put it in the article one way or another. Paulbkirk 18:48, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
My interpretation has always been that Garraty dies shortly after winning the Walk, and that the dark figure is death. Think about it - wouldn't it be physically impossible for him to literally run by the end of the race? 70.239.36.224 05:06, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] percy

He appears in the list two times. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.68.83.238 (talk) 11:39, 12 December 2007 (UTC)


I went back and reread the section of the book where Percy had been listed in the death list the first time. The first listing of his death is incorrect. The boy who is killed at that point in the story is another "Unknown Boy" who dies in a similar fashion to the way Percy dies (i.e., he tries to make a break for the woods), the only real difference is that this Unknown Boy just starts running for it whereas Percy had tried to slowly walk toward the shoulder of the road and then tried to make a break for the woods. Percy is then killed by one of the soldiers on the halftrack following him while the Unknown Boy is gunned down by more than one soldier. The second listing of Percy in the death list is the correct listing. I also removed the sentence at the end of the Plot Summary mentioning that there might be another Walker that Garraty didn't know about because that sentence is confusing. That sentence also mentions the two listings for Percy in the death list and speculates that there might have been another Walker that Garraty was unaware of. Since that speculation is based on incorrect data (i.e. Percy should have only been listed once in the death list) it is unnecessary and possibly confusing to readers of the main article.

LetterMan (talk) 00:53, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Notes Deleted

I've deleted the Notes section; it consisted of purely in-world details trivial to the narrative. Dozenthey (talk) 01:10, 8 May 2008 (UTC)