The Long Walk: Difference between revisions

** Also, {{spoiler|Garraty.}} After all, {{spoiler|1=he doesn't exactly say no when McVries offers to jerk him off.}}

* [[Big Brother Is Watching]]: Anyone who is too "political" or vocal against the government is taken away by the Squads.

* [[Bread and Circuses]]: The Long Walk is a popular source of entertainment for citizens across the country, inspiring bets on favorite Walkers and how many miles the Walk will last, for example.

* [[Cry Into Chest]]: Garraty cries into Olson's chest {{spoiler|in the middle of Olson's [[Rasputinian Death]]}}

* [[Day of the Jackboot]]: The United States has been turned into a dictatorship.

* [[Deadly Game]]: 100 teenage boys are selected to participate in the titular "Long Walk" and only one is left alive by the end of it.

** {{spoiler|1=Pete McVries.}} He once had a romantic relationship with a girl that fell apart due to financial differences between the two and this is the reason he signed up for the Walk in the first place. Pearson even wonders how badly {{spoiler|1=McVries}} wants to die.

{{quote|'''Pearson''': Jesus, what do you think? He oughta be wearing a 'BEAT ME HARD' sign. I wonder what he's trying to make up for?}}

* [[Never a Self-Made Woman]]: The only girls and women who are mentioned (especially by name) or appear in the plot action are girlfriends and family members of the Walkers, who are all male. Justified, though, because [[The Long Walk]] only allows male teenagers to compete and the plot is basically the events of the Walk.

* [[Nobody Poops]]: Averted. Much is made about how the Walkers [[Squick|unzip to pee right as they are Walking]]. As well, one Walker dies because he stopped to squat due to a case of diarrhea and incurred three Warnings as well as buying his ticket before he could even finish up his business. Also, a big deal is made about Baker [[Squick|squatting to pass a turd on the road]] and surviving, incurring only two Warnings in the process.

{{quote|'''Garraty''': God's garden? What about God's garden, Olson?

'''Olson''': It's full. Of. Weeds.

* [[Rasputinian Death]]: {{spoiler|Olson.}} He is first shot in the belly, then he gets up and continues walking. Then he is shot a couple more times in his belly, causing his intestines to visibly spill out and he is ''still walking'' through this. Eventually, the soldiers put two more bullets in him and take him away.

* [[Released to Elsewhere]]: At the beginning of the book, all the reader knows is that if a Walker commits any offense, then they get a Warning and if he commits one more when he's already got three Warnings accumulated, he "buys a ticket." {{spoiler|It then turns out that "buying a ticket" is a euphemism for being executed by the escorting solders}}

* {{spoiler|[[Suicide Attack]]}}: {{spoiler|Hank Olson and Collie Parker}} both try to overtake one of the escort half-tracks by force. {{spoiler|Both of them fail, but while Parker got off light, Olson was made an example of.}}

* [[Someone to Remember Him By]]: No one featured directly in the plot gets pregnant with or is one of these babies, but {{spoiler|Scramm}} has a wife who is pregnant with his baby and with his death has made the baby an example of this trope.

* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: A walker who dies early on was wearing sneakers, despite the rulebook that the contestants were given in advance explicitly telling them not to do so, as no other type of footwear will help develop blisters faster on long distances. Predictably, he develops blisters pretty soon, and is ticketed after walking at the required speed becomes too painful for him one time too many. Garraty even [[Discussed Trope|discusses it]] in his internal monologue.

* [["Well Done, Son" Guy]]: Stebbins reveals {{spoiler|that he is the illegitimate son of the Major}} and therefore, he only expects his "Prize" to be {{spoiler|for him to "be taken into [his] father's house" and acknowledged as the Major's son.}}