The Long Walk Book Report

The Long Walk by Stephen King

The Long Walk by Stephen King is a novel set on the east coast of America it ihe not too far future. In the novel, most of the action takes place on the East Coast. The novel takes place in the morrow. The place is just like it is today, but it is “ultra-conservative.” This setting was picked by King because it was a densely populated area with an unpredictable climate. Raymond Davis Garraty is the main character in this book. Garraty is 16 years old, has straw colored hair, is tall, and is “fit as a fiddle.” He is naive, but he has a strong will to live. One of his good traits is this will; he shows this when he keeps walking until he wins The Long Walk. Although it might seen like a good trait, his worst fault is his willingness to help others at the expense of his own life. It shows when he saves another walker’s life.

The goal of Garraty is to win The Long Walk and not die. He is trying to win this race because there is a prize in a fortune of money, fame, and anything else that your heart could desire. The “walk” is working against Garraty because, to win, you have to be the sole survivor of the walk. The climax of the book is five days into the walk when there are only two walkers left, Garraty and Stebbins.
The message or theme of the book is the will to live. King gets his message across by showing how far of lengths the teenagers would go to live through and win The Long Walk. A time in the book where this is shown, is when the boys discussed how they would throw themselves into the crown so they wouldn’t get shot when they got to tired to walk. Another time this is shown, is when the teenage boys conserved as much energy as humanly possible so they could survive until the very end. We will all die at some point and money doesn 't buy you happiness is what King wants you to learn after reading the