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, January 1, 2015

McVries Character Analysis

As the book progresses, McVries develops into a more significant character. He is very blunt and always picking a fight, making him a character rather difficult to like. However, he has become close friends with Ray Garraty throughout the course of the walk and a different side of him has been revealed. Ray starts laughing hysterically when the walkers pass by a large group of civilians who are watching and cheering. He goes a bit insane and laughs so hard he can't walk. He practically collapses to the ground. He earns all three of his warnings and is about to be killed when McVries comes to his rescue. McVries was yelling at him to get up and then "he got an arm around Garraty's back and hooked a hand into his armpit. Somehow he yanked him to his feet and Garraty stumbled on" (225). The other boys screamed at McVries saying that he will go to hell for this. McVries is competing against Ray yet he went out of his way to save him. When Ray tries to confront him about it and thank him, McVries snaps and tells him to never mention it again. It seems like he tries to convey a cold and careless exterior but he genuinely cares for Ray and was willing to help him. Although I don't like McVries, his actions show that he is a somewhat respectable character.
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1 comment:

  1. UnknownJanuary 2, 2015 at 8:28 PM

    I agree that while McVries tries to act tough, he definetly cares about Garraty and is willing to do anything to help him. In addition to the example you gave, he also showed this when Garraty saw Jan in the crowd. When Garraty saw her, he started to run to her, even though he knew he would get warnings for it. McVries knew that Garraty would not be able to leave her if he went into her arms so he pulled him along and forced him to keep walking. He knew that if he didn't do anything, Garraty would have gotten shot right in Jan's arms. He said, "I won't let you kill yourself, Ray!" (330). It shows a lot about his character that he was willing to help Garraty like that a second time, especially since it was so late into the walk. If he didn't truly care about Garraty he would have just let him get himself shot.

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