The Long Walk

Stephen King frequently uses similes that create comparisons between two unlike things and evoke a clear image. His use of similes depicts nature as an additional challenge for the boys to navigate, a benevolent presence that stands in stark contrast to the deadly authoritarianism of the people who implemented the Walk. The pond “looked like a gently clouded mirror” (56), and “[t]he coming night was like water that would soon cover them” (48). The Walk and the Major’s disciples don’t care for nature and seek to gain power over it, but nature always offers a peaceful respite from horror.

Often, King’s similes convey animalization and dehumanization. When Curley dies, he falls “[l]ike a sack of mail” (28). As Zuck attempts to run from his inevitable death, he moves “like a scarecrow in full flight” (49). McVries’s “eyes peered out of the dark cave of his sockets like baleful animals” (111). Garraty remembers that when Freaky died, the collision “spread his head like a dollop of wet glue” (103). In addition to conveying dehumanization, these comparisons emphasize the innocence of the boys who are meeting terrible fates; they were never equipped to deal with this level of violence or depravity.

Further underscoring the boys’ youth and lack of preparedness for the horrors that await them are their attempts to emulate older role models. When Garraty gets to the drop-off site, he sees some of his competitors gathered “like worried baseball players” (5). Olson wears his belt “like a gunslinger” (12). Like most children do, the Walkers imitate role models whom they consider worthy of admiration. These forays into emulation only further highlight the disconnect between the boys’ perceived maturity and their actual lack of maturity.