The Long Walk

The Long Walk  is a book published in July 1979 by American author Stephen King. However, the book is written under a pseudonym, Richard Bachman.

The book describes a hellish endurance through the eyes of a participant, Ray Garraty. The duration course start at the Canadian border and goes southward through Maineto Augusta, and then through the US 1 as far southward as the participants can hold out. The marathon takes place in a totalitarian version of the United States, and is organized by the mysterious "major". Read warning: text below contains details about the content and/or the end of the story.==The Marathon[ Edit] == The marathon that is central to the book is held annually. The course is only for teenage boys, and up to a hundred people participate. Interest in participation is great: the hundred participants are selected from a million teenage boys.

The rules are simple: keep as long as possible to a pace of 4 miles per hour. Who among the minimum rate drops or violating another rule (for example, another participant or harass, or deviate the public route) Gets a warning. If the participant has received three warnings and again a offence, ' he had it ' and chairs the marathon there for him on. the term ' have had the ' (' buying a ticket ') is initially vague, but in the end it appears to mean that the eventual champions are shot dead by the soldiers who accompany the participants constantly and keep an eye from a halfrupsvoertuig.

Alerts can also be lost again, by an hour behind each other to commit no offence. Who commits a serious offence, such as trying to escape or the soldiers attacks, however, is unceremoniously shot, and this also applies to any person from the audience to break the police cordon that know and on the walking route fails. For example, a dog unceremoniously shot down because he was the road.

Because with three warnings about one and a half minutes is involved, for example, participants here make use of to defecate or just to rest. There are absolutely no rest periods, and also at night should just be walked.Ensure the soldiers for enough food and water. Who are the soldiers can empty bottle has a field new questions, and reach out at 9 am every morning the soldiers belts with food concentrates from. This is the only food that the participants will have: who loses the belt has nothing to eat. It is allowed to bring own food, and allowed participants help each other.

The marathon is only over when-usually after 4 to 5 days-there is only 1 participant is left. He will receive the Grand Prize, the content of which is not explicitly mentioned. Probably keeps the large price in that the Government will fulfill every wish the rest of your life. But even for the winner takes the rest of his life not usually long by the huge drain on health. Through the days and nights non-stop walk touch the participants mentally and physically completely exhausted. Only rarely does the marathon beyond Maine, once in a while to reach Massachusetts. Some participants are insane, others walking pneumonia or another disease on, still others give it spontaneously on or try to escape. Sometimes people spontaneously fall down dead.

There is always a lot of members of the public, that oddly enough especially shows interest in losing weight and the death of participants. Girls like to kissing or even making love to the (doomed) participants, people collect objects that are left behind by participants, even their POO. There is referred to by participants noted that this behavior borders on necrophilia . Only at the start should no audience because this would divert the runners.

The marathon seems to be based on a 'bread and circuses'-concept. ==Plot[ Edit] == Garraty, a boy of 16, is brought by his mother to the home. He learns to know some other participants including McVries, Olson, Abraham, Barkovitch, Baker, Stebbins and Scramm. He became friends with a number of more or less, and they draw largely on together during the marathon.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The marathon starts, and the first morning seems to be a just stroll on a spring day. It soon becomes apparent that this is deadly serious: a participant, Curley, get cramping, can't go any further and is shot dead after 3 warnings. Ewing is the following: because of blisters he can no longer maintain the minimum pace. Another boy, Travin, is shot and killed when he tries to relieve themselves because of a bout of diarrhea. And an unknown boy is shot for the fourth time within an hour ran too slowly. In a constant pace will from that moment the participants lose weight.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Garraty becomes best friends with McVries, participating as a form of suicide because his life is actually failed. Another important character is the mysterious Stebbins, a boy who knows about a lot of the marathon, but otherwise little about themselves is released.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Turns out to be a very unsympathetic boy Barkovitch. So he makes Ewing ridiculous, calling him a nigger. The first evening he provokes another participant, Rank, this cross three warnings and is shot. McVries calls him from that moment on "killer".

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The second day the deceased a certain Gribble after attempting to have sex with a girl in the audience. He touches her breasts and kiss her, but receives its three warnings and must go through again. He has suffered from Blue Balls making him the group no longer keeps track and is shot.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Scramm turns out to be married and his wife is pregnant. However, he's running against the third evening on pneumonia and it looks like he's not long now will stick. The other participants agree that the winner will do something for Scramms woman. Garraty, Barkovitch so far and even get in a conversation shows that Barkovitch participate because he never has had friends by his behavior. Scramm and an Indian boy, Mike, go together on the way and will be shot.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Despite these lapses back into his old nobility Barkovitch habits. With every fallen participant screeches that he is still there and that he will dance on their graves. Garraty realize that Barkovitch is insane. Eventually he cuts his own throat open.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The procession reached the cities in Southern Maine, now with less than forty participants. Olson, so tough at the beginning of the marathon, gets into a kind of catatone State, let his stool walk, runs the public in and is shot. The next morning, the fourth day, the procession passes through Freeport, Garraty's residence. Garraty sees chance to touch his girlfriend and saying that he loves her, but McVries drags him and warns him that he otherwise can be shot in front of his girlfriend and his mother.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Parker, a boy from Illinois who runs constantly cursing at Maine and Garraty calls a "Hillbilly", know a soldier stalking and his carbine away. He tries to hijack the tracked vehicle and a soldier to kill, but is himself shot.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">With only nine participants breaks the fifth day, and the marathon is already in New Hampshire. One after another falls off, until finally, Stebbins and McVries Garraty, Baker left over. Baker starts bleeding, stays behind and is shot, his body goes when the McVries specify on the way and wait patiently until the soldiers come redeem him from his suffering. Garraty and Stebbins stay over, and Stebbins reveals that he is a bastard of the major. Stebbins would have used the Grand Prize to force major to accept him as a child and in house. Finally concludes Garraty that he cannot defeat, since these virtually Stebbins no has shown any sign of weakness.If he engages to say that it gives up Stebbins, this spontaneous death down and Garraty is declared the winner. He sees, oblivious to the celebrations around him, a dark form and tries to race...

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In a sense the end open-ended. Some fans suggest that Randall Flagg is the dark form perhaps. Others suggest that Garraty itself is about to be insane or die. Another possibility is that he just pass out, or hallucinations gets through the exhaustion. ==Film Adaptation<span class="mw-editsection" len="335" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The film rights on The Marathon are currently held by Frank Darabont.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1" len="165" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"> [1]  if he intends to film the book actually is not yet clear. However, Darabont announced that his film, provided that there will be a lowbudget production.