I was really surprised by Stebbins' confession that he's the son of the major. I had a feeling he had some of secret to hide, since no one expected him to make it very far, but I never would have guessed that. He claimed that he thought the major didn't know who he was because he has tons of children with different women. He later says that the major actually did know who he was all along. He somehow knew that Stebbins would last a very long time in the walk and that he would motivate all the other walkers to walk longer. Stebbins then makes an analogy and compares himself to a rabbit, which I thought was interesting. He says that in the old days, mechanical rabbits were used in dog races to motivate the dogs to run faster. He says "no matter how fast the dogs run, they can never quite catch the rabbit" (356). Because of this, the major made Stebbins into the Long Walk's version of the rabbit in order to make the walk last as long as possible. Stebbins says "He made me into his rabbit. A little gray rabbit to make the rest of the dogs run faster . . . and further. And I guess it worked. We're going to make it into Massachusetts." A Long Walk had not made it into Massachusetts for 17 years.
I was not only surprised by this, but also a little confused. I don't understand how the major could have known that Stebbins would last so long. Also, I was confused as to how Stebbins felt about being the rabbit. He said that if he wins, for his prize he was going to ask to be "taken into {his} father's house" (357). I don't know exactly what he plans to do when he would go into his father's house and I can't tell if he's mad at the major or not.
By the end of chapter 17, only three walkers are still going; Garraty, McVries and Stebbins. I'm interested to see how much longer Stebbins can keep walking.
This was definitely a major plot twist that I didn't see it coming. The fact that Stebbins is the Major's son says a lot about the Major. He was willing to put his son through this gruesome experience just to extend the competition and make it more interesting. Even if he believed that Stebbins would win, if he truly cared about his son he wouldn't have wanted him to be involved in the walk. The rabbit analogy is interesting but at the same time confusing. The quote you used in your post is the same one that caught my attention: "no matter how fast the dogs run, they can never quite catch the rabbit" (356). None of the boys (besides Ray) outlasted Stebbins. But it was unexpected because every time Ray looked for Stebbins he noticed him trailing behind all the other guys, alone. Ironically, all the guys constantly made bets as to when Stebbins would drop dead. But Stebbins was the underdog, the person no one assumed would be a threat. I personally think it's kinda sad he didn't win and didn't get to go to his father's home. I believe that he deserved it over Ray, who was an unlikable protagonist (in my opinion).
ReplyDeleteBy the way, this part also explains why the third and final part of the book is called "The Rabbit."
ReplyDeleteI don't think Stebbins deserved to win. He seemed to want everybody dead while the others were dreading watching their friends get killed. Plus, he was rude to Garraty and he tried to convince him that he wouldn't be able to Jan, which he knew would drive Garraty crazy. He seemed too cocky too and he was sure he'd win from the start.
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