-------------------------------------------------
The long walk is just consuming my brain ughhh. I will be talking sbt the movie version only since I haven't read the book.
They were all just boys who wanted to have a better life. They wanted a change and they thought this was the only option.
Ray wanted to avenge his father
Pete wanted to help kids that were in bad situations
Harkness wanted to be a writer
Art wantes to go to space
Hank probably wanted to get money for clementine
Barkovitch wanted friends/die surrounded by friends
Stebbins Just wanted his dad to accept him
Pearson (I think that's his name) wanted to be with the musketeers
Collie wanted to help his probably. We all now how america is ro native Americans
Curly probably thought he was doing the right thing, being a man
And many more that I can't name off the top of my head. They all just wanted to live. To survive.
Winning the long walk doesn't free you form your pain or suffering. Neither does dying. You just become a shell of who you were before. They all join hoping to change their lives. Yet the only thing that changes is them.
Also Barkovitch. People either baby him or call him the devil himself. But He's definitely more complex than that. He isn't a complete saint but he isn't the devil's incarnate either.
What happened to Rank was wrong but I don't think that was his plan. Just messing around, maybe get a connection. Not have a guy die because of him. We see that the guilt consumes him, even in his speech in the end. He didn't wish for that to happen but it did.
Barkovitch wanted connection, he tried a couple times yet all the attempts failed. Every time he became vulnerable he resorted to violence, insults. Trying to make himself bigger. He was just the product of the system.
In no way shape or form am I calling him an angel, but people seem to just put him and many other characters in boxes while ignoring every other part of the character.
The system is fucked. Ray's speech about how every boy volunteers even though they don't have to hit hard. That's peak manipulation. They don't have to volunteer, no consequences if you dont. But they are told that this is their only way out, to prove themselves that they start to believe that this is the only way.
At the end when Ray gets shot, the crowd cheers. Now I know that this is a fictional story and all. But just imagine people cheering after someone dies. A random person that they have never met before yet they cheer. Treating it like some big celebration, like a casual things that happens.
Ok these are just some thoughts i had and blurted onto here. Probably not that good, just things that I needed to get out of my head before I forgot.