Stephen King

Stephen King

Long Walk / Thinner

The Long Walk: In the near future, where America has become a police state, one hundred boys are selected to enter an annual contest where the winner will be awarded whatever he wants for the rest of his life. The game is simple - maintain a steady pace of four miles per hour without stopping. Three warnings, and you're shot to death.
Thinner: Billy Halleck commits vehicular homicide when his lack of attention to driving results in the death of an old lady on the street. Overweigh Halleck is a lawyer with connections, though, and gets off with a slap on the wrist. After his trial, a gypsy curses him with a single word, "Thinner." Halleck begins to lose weight uncontrollably and must pursue the band of gypsies who are responsible for his dwindling condition.


Thursday, December 18, 2014

Chapters 3-4

I find it interesting that the author chooses to reveal so little about the society in “The Long Walk.” Generally, in other dystopian novels, such as the Hunger Games, the author describes the society in great detail and explains how it is run. As I got further into the novel, I kept expecting the author to reveal why these 100 kids were forced to embark on the annual Long Walk and why people were not alarmed that children were being shot and killed during it. Even through chapter 4, not much has been said about life outside of the Long Walk.

Additionally, during chapters 3 and 4 it seemed to me that Garraty was losing some of the drive he had at the beginning of the walk. He seemed to start dozing off frequently and he allowed to himself to get 2 warnings within 10 minutes. As he was dozing off, he seemed to be constantly thinking about love and girls. On numerous occasions, he thinks back about the girl who he kissed on the sidelines, and another girl on the sidelines who was cheering for him. He also thought about Jan, his girlfriend,on one occasion. Him and many of the other boys also had a long conversation about whether they believed in true love or not. I was kind of surprised that during a time where he knew he could killed if he slowed down and didn’t focus, he was constantly thinking about love and the girls on the sidelines. These thoughts seemed to cause him to become unfocused from the walk at certain times.
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3 comments:

  1. KindelDecember 19, 2014 at 7:16 AM

    Hard to read with black text on grey background.

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  2. JeanDecember 21, 2014 at 5:13 PM

    I agree with Kindel but aside from that you do have a point. As the protagonist, it seems like he would be the one to win. But based on his declining motivation, I'm not too sure if he will. But after walking so many miles, I'm sure all of the guys are getting extremely tired too. But he seems to have an upper hand since he has every tip from the handbook memorized. Ray constantly recites tips from the handbook about the proper clothing and techniques to survive. I think his study of the handbook will be helpful to him as the walk continues while the other guys who neglected to read the book struggle.

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    Replies
    1. AnonymousDecember 23, 2014 at 2:28 AM

      I think that he believes that he can win,, but he is embarrassed about feeling that way. He talks about how he has a feeling he could win, but then seems to feel bad about thinking that way. It's unclear why he feels as if he is stronger than everyone else

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