The Long Walk Summary: Plot, Characters and Themes of Stephen King's Bachman Novel
What The Long Walk is about
The Long Walk is a dystopian horror novel by Stephen King. It was published in 1979 under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman. It was not the first King novel to reach print. It was, however, the first one he wrote. He began it in 1966 and 1967, during his first year at the University of Maine. That was some eight years before his first published novel, Carrie, came out in 1974.
The book is set in an alternative United States ruled by a totalitarian regime. A secret police force called the Squads, led by a man known as the Major, runs an annual contest. One hundred boys walk along Route 1, starting at the border between Canada and Maine. They must keep up a pace of four miles per hour. A walker who drops below that speed for 30 seconds gets a warning. An hour at the correct pace erases one warning. A walker with three warnings who slows again is shot by the soldiers watching the event.
There is no finish line. The Walk carries on until only one boy is left. The winner may have whatever he wants for the rest of his life.
The story follows Ray Garraty, a Maine native, from the starting line onward. Most of the book is the Walk itself. It covers the miles, the conversations between the boys and the steady loss of contestants along the road. Readers who like survival stories with a hard political edge are the natural audience. It also has a long record with younger readers. In 2000 the American Library Association named it one of the 100 best books for teenage readers published between 1966 and 2000.
The main characters
Ray Garraty is the centre of the novel. He hopes to see his girlfriend, Jan, when the Walk passes through Freeport. One night on the road he reveals that his father was taken by the Squads.
Peter McVries is the walker Ray grows close to on the first day. Their friendship deepens as the Walk goes on, and more than once one of them saves the other.
Stebbins is the enigmatic one. He keeps his distance and tells Ray he believes all the walkers have a death wish.
Gary Barkovitch tells a reporter he has entered to 'dance on the graves' of the other walkers. He predicts that many of them will die of exhaustion. His behaviour early in the Walk leaves him shunned by the rest of the group.
Scramm is the Vegas favourite to win. He tells Ray that his pregnant wife is what drives him. Hank Olson and Art Baker are among the other walkers Ray comes to know. Later, a walker named Abraham argues that the boys should stop helping one another.
The themes
Survival is the most obvious theme. The rules turn walking into a slow test of the body. Illness, cramp and exhaustion become as dangerous as the soldiers' guns. Ray himself comes close to the end when a charley horse earns him three warnings.
Death is present on almost every page. The boys watch others fall and wonder about their own reasons for entering. Stebbins's claim that they all share a death wish hangs over the story and is never fully answered.
Power and corruption sit behind the whole contest. The Squads can take a man from his family, as they took Ray's father. The state stages the Walk as a public event, complete with crowds, reporters and betting odds. The prize itself is the regime's promise, and the novel gives reasons to doubt how much that promise is worth.
The book is also about the bonds that form under pressure. Only one walker can win, yet the boys make pacts and help each other. Scramm's fellow walkers agree that the winner should look after his wife. That tension between friendship and competition drives much of the drama. Ray's growing closeness to McVries also brings up suppressed memories, and he begins to question his own sexuality and masculinity.
Why it still matters
The Long Walk offers an early look at King as a writer, since he started it as a student. It was collected with other Bachman titles in the 1985 hardcover omnibus The Bachman Books. It has been reprinted several times since in paperback and hardcover. In 2023 Centipede Press released the first stand-alone hardcover edition.
Its place on the American Library Association list shows how well it has travelled with teenage readers. In 2025 it was adapted into a film directed by Francis Lawrence, which has brought the story to a new audience.
How it ends (spoilers)
Stop reading here if you want to keep the ending a surprise.
On the morning of the fifth day, Stebbins tells Ray and McVries that he is the Major's son. His prize would be acceptance into the Major's household. He has realised, though, that the Major used him as a 'rabbit' to drag the Walk out. Seven walkers make it into Massachusetts.
Baker, delirious, thanks Ray for being his friend and gives up despite Ray's efforts to stop him. That leaves Ray, McVries and Stebbins. Ray saves McVries once more, but McVries chooses to sit down and die peacefully. Ray, distraught, decides to give up, convinced Stebbins cannot be beaten. When he turns to tell him, Stebbins clutches at him in horror and falls dead.
Ray is the uncomprehending winner. He ignores the Major and follows a dark figure he believes is another walker. He declares there is 'still so far to walk' and finds the strength to run.
