The Long Walk
After Michelle’s comment about the novella in the comments on Misery, I went over to Wikipedia to read the summary, because I’ve always wondered if I interpreted the ending correctly. Spoilery discussion after the jump.
The Wikipedia entry mentions that the dark figure at the story’s end is perhaps Randall Flagg, a recurring character in King, apparently, who I must confess I don’t remember although I’ve read most of ’70s and ’80s King and King-as-Bachman. This and other analyses of the story refer to the “fact” that previous winners of the Walk have died shortly thereafter as a result of the mental and/or physical stressors of the experience.
I had always just assumed that the figure is Death, that Garraty dies of shock/over-exertion or that he too gets a ticket — that there is no “winner,” not merely because surviving the Walk when 99 of your comrades just got shot is a mixed blessing at best, but because I kind of got the sense from the dystopian bent of the novella as a whole that even the “winner” would not just die, but get killed. Which means that the rumors of the previous winners’ demises were just that, rumors — propaganda to encourage the belief that anyone survives the Walk. Certainly if the Wikipedia entry is correct and Stebbins is a ringer (I don’t remember this aspect, but I haven’t re-read the book in some time), Garraty is not supposed to survive, and given that Stebbins is the Major’s son (allegedly), it would follow that Garraty gets killed at the end.
I don’t know from Randall Flagg; I’ve just always thought that everything past the penultimate boy’s death was an “Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge”-type fakeout that we were meant to interpret as Garraty’s dying hallucination — that the whole thing is a set-up and he gets shot too in the end, as all the other winners in fact may have.
Anyone?
…Dammit, now I’m going to have to go back and read it again.
Tags: books
Has anyone considered that Ray Garraty actually died early on in the story, and is simply a ghost, thinking he is conscious. Remember when the carbines were zeroing in on him after he had that cramp…..he thought he was dead. He was within seconds of getting his ticket. What if he actually bought the ticket but his spirit thought he was still walking because he had some unfinished business….hmmmmm
I believe that Garraty slipped into a coma some point after winning… which would explain why he felt like he could run again.
I doubt that they could shoot the winner year after year after year without people catching on that the survivor is never heard from again. I agree with the general opinion that some of the winners either die from the stress or go insane. That said, ‘The Long Walk’ is quite a good book, though the ending does indeed leave something to be desired. I’d love for King to do a sequel (though I know this is unlikely), and I’d really like to see a film adaptation soon. I’m surprised that it’s taken so long.
Just finished reading this book. While I loved it, the ending was hugely unsatisfying because I wanted to know in concrete terms what happened to Garraty. Others have argued that this should be left to the reader’s imagination, and that King/Bachman is allowing us to decide. However, after surviving 99 shotgun blasts with Garraty I felt I deserved something finite.
My interpretation is that Garraty had lost his mind, but not that he was going to be shot like the other Walkers. He won after all. Even in the strange dark world that the book is set in, I don’t believe that they would shoot the winner of the national pastime.
So, my thought was either Garraty 1) died immediately after winning from exhaustion, as for some reason he “found the strength” to run instead of enjoying a well-earned rest or that 2) couldn’t fathom that he had won the race, and so felt he had to keep walking. The dark figure to me was just demonstrative of his weakened state.
Dark Tower spoiler here!! Here’s my theory to the ending of The Long Walk.Ka is a wheel, right? Meaning, in King’s terms, fate and destiny and struggle and glory etc revolves around us in cycles and repeats itself like the spinning of a wheel. In The Dark Tower series Roland begins his epic quest by following The Man in Black. Marten, or Randal Flagg or The Walking Dude or Captain Trips or the evil wizard from Eyes of the Dragon, maybe even the evil clown-thing from It, or Tak from Regulators and Desperation or the evilness itself within the mansion in The Shining
The Dark Tower series, and Roland’s quest, ends as it begins. He has finally caught up to the Man in Black and his beloved Dark Tower only to be blasted back to the very beginning of his quest as if someone hit the reset button.
Essentially the figure and the literary purpose of this dark Walking Dude is to be the catalyst for Evil; the Black to challenge the White. The bringer of change and struggle and death and motivation for the protagonists of many of King’s stories.
I think when Garity has reached the end of his Long Walk, he has essentially reached his own Dark Tower and many truths have been revealed to him about himself and the world he lives in. He wins in the fact that he has gained clarity about The Long Walk and he overcame brutal obstacles to reach the finish, but he has lost the game simply because he played it. If you dance with the Devil, he just keeps spinning you around and around. Ka is a wheel. Randall Flagg set the Captain Trips virus in motion in the Stand, wiping out billions of lives. He is timeless and ageless and multi-dimensional. It stands to reason that he also was the motivating factor in the idea and inception of The Long Walk. Garity, like Roland was enticed by the Man in Black, whether consciously or not, to play along; to follow the path of the Beam/ the road going southbound (down to hell or purgatory) looking for redemption and a finality and a chance to stop and rest his weary bones and mind. But King likes the idea that sometimes things work in cycles. At the end of The Shining (at least what I remember from the movie) we discover that Jack Torrance (or the evil inside him) has always been there at the Overlook Hotel, being reset to the same age year after year. Roland is reset the second he walks through the door at the top of the Dark Tower. I think Garrity has been touched by The Man in Black at the end of The Long Walk and the spark from that touch has erased all the exhaustion from his body and mind. He runs willingly forward knowing that he ultimately will be reset back to the beginning of the Walk, with replenished energy, the same naiveté and the same delusions of grandeur that all the walkers have about being the last one walking.
After Stebbins walks himself to death, Garraty sees death in the form of a dark figure up ahead, and it beckons him. When the Major puts his hand on Garraty’s shoulder, Garraty finds the strength to run toward death. The Long Walk is a metaphor for life. In the end, Garraty is an old, broken man who has seen all of his friends perish along the way. He no longer desires anything from this world, and there is nothing the Major can offer to succor Garraty’s wounds. Garraty’s only remaining desire is death, which promises a new beginning. The Major’s hand on Garraty’s shoulder is a metaphor for the last touch of a loved one as a dying man lets himself go into the light.
There always must be a rabbit , and Stebbins was wrong, he was not “the rabbit”, he was just another walker.
Starting from this point , and moving backwards, close to the beggining, we can see that the kids ( those who are described as main characters , at least) have some shaddy past stories, with endings that they do not want to reveal or recognize.
Garraty shot his friend in the mouth, probably killing him( we dont know), McVrie left his girlfriend after he had the last argument with her and he got his face cut ( he left , “maybe ” after finishing her, but he did not want to recognize), everyone has some stuff they hide , from themselfs and from the others.
All this hidden memories come back amongst their turmoil, and we keep hearing this question:
“Why are you here, why are you doing this?”
“What is your reason?”
Personally, to me they seem lost souls purging their guilt, in purgatory.
The bigger the guilt, the longer the wlak, and in some cases, the walk never ends, because
THERE IS ALWAYS A RABBIT…..
The prize, being “a wish of anything that will be granted” , can only be handed by a God.
They can have anything, that is the PRIZE.That, in itself, is impossible to attain in our human , mundane world, no one can grant you ANYTHING as a wish, but God.
And , personally, i look at the prize as i am looking at ABSOLUTION. That is what they are seeking, walking the paths of purgatory, ABSOLUTION, they are dead already.
Some, with bigger guilts, will have an endless walk, that is what i understand from the ending ( whom is opened to the reader choice anyway).
When I finished the book the first thing that came to my mind was what Scramm says to Garraty before giving up, “The real Walk may still be coming”. It feels like the walk he was doing was purgatory. And now, at the end of it, came the walk into Hell or redemption. The dark figure is his essence, that’s why it was “someone he knew, knew as well as himself, weeping and beckoning in the dark ahead”. I think when the Mayor touches him for the second time he is now dead, that’s why he has strength to run.
King says very clear who is the dark figure in the end – the answer is given by the croud. When Garraty wonders which contestant is the very familiar dark figure – in the next line the crowd gives us the answer shouting GARRATY, GARRATY, GARRATY. Everyone can analyse the metaphor. I think that the dark figure is the death. The way I see it – Garraty has lost everything human in that walk, he win the walk but lost himself and in the end when the death came as a dark figure with Garraty’s face he wanted to die so much that he finds the strength to run for it. It can be interpreted if the reality (represented by the Major’s hand) rushed him even more into his death.
Looking at it on a “real” level. I think we ll never really know. Could be his wish was to die. On a metaphoric level I see it as you can not beat death. You should enjoy the walk rather worry about what you have at the end of your life because there is really nothing there but death.
I never associated the dark figure in the end with Flagg. It is merely a halucination drawn from physical and mental exhaustion as well as sleep deprivation. For five days straight Ray Garraty has been drilled to walk on no matter what. Walking means life. The concept of not having to walk anymore just doesn’t compute in his feverish, abused brain. I always interpreted the fact that he finds the “strenghth to run” to mean that he must certainly have pushed his body beyond the breaking point with that and collapsed dead, not unlike Stebbins just moments earlier.
On the other hand I don’t buy into the theory that all previous winners were just secretly executed as well. After all, what kind of publicity would that be for the event if all winners either die from the ordeal shortly thereafter or mysteriously disappear? Even in a totalitarian society the people would eventually have smelled a rat if the contest never ever had anything to show for it like, say, previous winners making public appearances or news reports about what they’re up to now, living in luxury and stuff. If there had never been anything to satisfy the peoples curiosity, they wouldn’t find 100 volunteers every year and people would ask questions.
In the film adaptation of “The Hunger Games” (only one of several books inspired in part by The Long Walk) president Snow makes a valid point about why there needs to be a victor. Hope. They need somehting real to look forward to, otherwise the whole thing would collapse.
I’m not sure where this theory that the shadow at the end of THE LONG WALK is Randall Flagg?? I, too believed it to be death; and when the General was trying to congratulate Garraty on winning, he (Garraty) “found the strength to run” toward the dark figure.. so I’m assuming he willingly went with this dark figure.. death RIP GARRATY
Holy crap I absolutely love you’re reference to The Twilight Zone. How extremely smart of you to generate that theory!
I know this is an old post, but I just read the book and was looking online to see what others’ take on the ending was. I personally believe that he probably does die, and I think he ran because of his mind and paranoia over the fact that someone grabbed his shoulder. I think he ran because he did in fact realize that he won, but didnt want to face it. He didnt want it anymore. He has mentioned toward the end that he didnt even want to go home when it was through. After watching his friends die, I dont think he wanted to live any longer. So he ran, ran from it all. I think the dark figure is probably Flagg and he was put toward to end to keep the reader on their seat and to start conversations such as this one and to represent the death that Garraty was running toward.
The one thing Garraty wanted throughout the entire book was for The Long Walk to end. He was hurt, tired, lonely, regretting his descision to participate in The Walk and wanting only to lie down and rest, be with his mother and Jan and forget The Walk altogether. In the end, when Garraty reaches “the end” of the walk and can finally rest and hold Jan again, he continues to walk. I think this shows that the rumors are correct, there is no real winner. It also foreshadows Garratys future struggle. He has won the unwinable, but he is no longer “living”, he is not the 16 year-old boy who started the walk 5 days ago (how quickly the human mind and body can be destroyed). The ending shows us that Garraty has gone insane and we see what his future life holds for him. We also see what the human body is capable of – after walking for 5 days straight Garraty somehow has the strength to run away from The Major (like his subconscious is telling him something he refuses to realize).
I also want to point out that Garraty’s father, who was called an idiot for getting “squaded” was the unrealized hero of this story. He knew what The Long Walk was, what it does to the human body and soul, and he wanted to protect his son from volunteering for that fate. He wanted so badly to protect Garraty that he spoke out openly about The Walk, knowing the consequences, and tried to raise Garraty to see what maybe a 16 year-old boy is unable to see – The Walk is not about strength and muscle and winning and losing, it is just another way for The Major to assert his complete control over each individual. He wants fear and death to be a daily thought for his country. He wants everyone to see that death is real and that he and his soldiers are very capable of killing anyone who does not follow him (if he can kill 99 young men each year, he can kill you, too). He is smart, though, and does this while offering the people a chance to be grateful for the life he is giving them and “allowing” them to enjoy. So he’s showing the people he is in control and capable of slaughter, but now the people are grateful and relived that they are spectators looking in – they begin to value their horrible, frightened existence.
I believe the dark figure was actually his mother. Recall S. K . goes out of the way twice in the book to describe her black coat. I believe he is actually psychological broken and then reborn. Not death but reborn at the end and runs to his mother. They had a stained relationship which was healed through his trauma. All along he wanted to see his gf but in the end he runs to his mother.
I have never heard that interpretation. And I like it.
Jay died midway through the story when he fell in front of the blond soldier. The rest of the story happens as time slows down in his dying mind. Much like Owl Creek.
Name a King story where someone doesn’t get a “stitch in their side” or there isn’t a character wearing a “blue chambray work shirt” and I’ll shut up. I defy you to try…
The Long Walk’s character Randall Flagg who appears at the end of Long Walk, The Stand, etc in my opinion symbolizes all that is evil, the devil. Just as Mother Abigail is God, all that is good. Hail King!! I believe in all things King.
I can’t remember exact words but growing up, I always though the figure he seen, be it real or hallucination was, in his mind at least, Stebbins! And the point being, he died, seen Stebbins’ waiting for him, and ran to him. Now being free of his physical body! Even if it isn’t meant to be that way, that is my favourite option for the ending.
The Long Walk, what can one say, first of all Mr. Kings books er (Bachman) at this point in his career, have always had that extra little meanings in them. The Long Walk though, I agree with some in this line of chats, is one of his most terrifying, because it is so realistic and every day that passes this could become a reality. SPOILER ALERT, the last line of the book tells me that he was not shot, “he saw the man in black” behind him and started running. Be it death, Randall Flag as some have inferred which if you follow his books Flagg and death are interchangeable. Garrity’s mind was still there, but seeing death walk so close for so long as Garraty was about to check out. …..Now Stebbins, poor Stebbins knew that the Major was his father, Another one of his “bastards” I think he calls himself, but he also knew “the joke was on him” Stebbins mentions that the Major had known all along and set him in as the “rabbit” so really no ambiguity there. I really look forward to the movie possibly coming out 2025, so we can tear it apart, but also interested to see how they do the backstories of Pete, and Baker, Olsen, and good ole Gary Barkovitch. Stay tuned.
Don’t get the confusion. From the second Flagg flew off and ended up in the jungle it was to me obvious that any future mention of the man in black or dark force in a male character was Flagg. Just assumed it