The Long Walk was the first book King wrote. But it was not the first he published. That honour went to Carrie. The Long Walk languished until 1974 when it was published under the pseudonymn Richard Bachman. Eight years later King/Backman published The Running Man. Given that both novels concern a horrific, murderous, game show it is hard not to compare the two.
The Long Walk consists is a competition walk. Entrents, all boys, compete to walk the furthest. This continuous walk must be completed at a speed never less than four miles per hour. Those who fall behind are warned. After three warnings, the next time the speed drops below 4mph, accompanying soldiers execute the unfortunate boy. But the boys can regain warnings by recovering and keeping going for an hour. The last walking boy wins whatever they want and need for life. In the grim poverty stricken society of this alternate America, hundreds of boys are willing to risk death for the chance to lift their families from poverty and drudgery.
The bulk of the novel is the story of the walk. The boys make alliances, friendships and help each other. They occasionally share snacks, and tell each other their life stories. Several boys avoid this, indeed one of them actively tries to sabotage the others. In other words the game that is designed to foster competition actually ends up forcing collaboration. At least until the end of the walk nears.
There are, of course, parallels with The Running Man. There a game player has to avoid their own murder and must rely on their ability to escape pursuers while trusting on the help of strangers who have a vested interest in handing the player in to authorities for a reward. Both stories suffer a little from the period when they were written. The Long Walk is not televised as TV cameras require cables. So crowds gather, and no doubt, news reports on progress allow people to know how their bets have turned out. But the crowds are not baying for blood, they're encouraging the walkers and often not in a partisan way. King here, as in The Running Man, tends to have a more positive view of human nature. That said, there's little in this book about the origins of the Walk and the role it plays in society. The leader of the troops, the Major, is anonymous. He wears reflective sunglasses and seems to have a hero status in the eyes of those he is threatening. In The Running Man there's a much more explicit acknowledgement that the games are a release valvue for a society whose tensions are high due to its economic and politics contradictions.
Thus The Long Walk, in part because of the nature of the game itself, and in part because of how King writes it, is less a story of dystopiansm and more a story of individual survival against violence and against the odds - albeit one where several characters only get as far as they do because those they compete against help them. The Running Man, on the other hand, is a deeper exploration of a society were the downtrodden find ways to resist and there's broader solidarity among the oppressed. The Long Walk's central premise doesn't allow King to draw this out, and so it's tempting to see the later novel as a fuller exploration of the themes in King's first work.
That said - do read The Long Walk. While it's story seems dystopian, we should not forget that America had dance competitions to win a prize, with the last couple standing taking the prize. Or the British games show "Touch a Truck" which saw similar feats of individual endurance to win a prize. While no one has yet murdered anyone for a 21st century game show, it doesn't seem unrealistic.
Related Reviews
King (Bachman) - The Running Man
King - The Institute
King - Under the Dome
King - Elevation
King - Wizard and Glass
King - The Stand
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