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The Long Walk
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Plot Summary of The Long Walk
"Join 16 year-old Ray Garraty on "The Long Walk," the annual May classic featuring 100 chosen youth and the highways and byways of New England. Stumble, fall down, or take a break, and you will be warned. Three warnings only, then you will be served your ticket...

Garraty is every-teen, struggling with identity, life, and love. The Long Walk is the road to fortune for one, and death's highway for the 99 others. Earn your ticket and you will shot to death by stoic soldiers perched with their rifles upon the ever-present halftrack.

Garraty befriends other walkers, only to watch them succumb to the rigors of the constant 4 mile-per-hour pace. Time marches on, and so must the boys. As the days go by, the boys contribute their view on life and The Long Walk. One by one, boys fall victim to the final offer of everlasting rest as they buy their ticket.

In the end, base instincts push aside all else and emotions struggle just to survive. "

Ken Muller, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of The Long Walk
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 20%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20%




Tone of book - depressing/sad
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Repressive society story Yes
Repressive because: - has game where people are hunted
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - warrior/knight
Age: - a teen
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - an organization
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status: - infantry soldier
Eccentric: Yes - obsessed - deluded - emotionally unstable
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Setting
Earth setting: - current (early 21st century)
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - explicit references to deaths
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references only - descript of kissing - descript of touching personal anatomy
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to The Long Walk
The Long Walk by Stephen King
Contest by Matthew Reilly
Logan's Run by William F. Nolan
Still the Most Dangerous Game by Steven Gordon
The Game-Players of Titan by Philip K. Dick


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Richard Bachman Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Ken Muller  

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