Thursday 28 October 2021

THE LONELINESS OF A LONG-DISTANCE RUNNER – ALAN SILLITOE (1928-2010)

 

 

      ‘The Loneliness of Long Distance Runner’ is a novella by Alan Sillitoe, who was one of the so called ‘angry young men’ of the 1950s.  It is the story of Smith, a poor Nottingham teenager from a dismal home in a working-class area, who has bleak cheerless prospects in life and few interest beyond petty crime.  When he is caught by the police for robbing a bakery, Smith is sentenced to be confined in Ruxton towers in Essex, a Borstal (prison school) for delinquent youths. There the boy turns to long distance running as a method of both emotional and physical escape from his situation.

          There are no real characters in the story, but Smith tells us in three parts about a number of people who have influenced him or with whom he has a good relationship.  In the first part he talks about his life in borstal.  The headmaster of Borstal, who is called Governor, asks Smith to train in long distance running and compete a tournament between Borstal and other boy’s home with the aim of winning the Blue-Ribbon Prize cup.  And so every morning Smith runs for miles, which he finds liberating and a good time to think.  Though Smith tries to be a good kid and intending to win Borstal a long-distance award, inwardly he feels he is at war with the governor and in-laws.  According to him all the people who abide by the law are in-laws and the people born to steal, lie and break rules like him are out-laws.  So, he decides to lose the race on purpose to show the governor he is a human being and not just a racehorse to bet on.  As he is an out-law, he has a criminal nature.  So, he believes when he is acting as a criminal, he is being an honest person, to his mind.  But the in-laws like the governor and other policemen behave in dishonest ways, that is, ways contrary to their nature.  The governor wants Smith to promise to be an ‘honest’ person when he gets out of Borstal.  He believes he can nurture Smith and other boys to become honest men.  To Smith this is dishonest to become someone else for the sake of others.  He believes that being honest is being true to one’s principles.

          The second part deals with the events that have led to Smith’s being in the Borstal.  Smith’s dad whom he considers as a paragon of honesty, died from the cancer of the throat.  His dad’s company gave the family a large amount of money as a bereavement payment.  His mother bought a television which Smith enjoyed a lot.  One day Smith and his best pal Mike happened to see an open window at a baker’s store.  They decided to rob.  Mike hoisted Smith on his shoulders to climb the wall.  They stole a money box from the bakery.  They hid the money in a drainpipe near Smith’s door and took a little out at a time.  Though Smith’s mother was of the opinion that Smith wasn’t capable of such robbery, suspicion fell on Smith for robbery.  Policeman questioned him and searched the house many times.  Smith who was calm and unafraid of the policeman, lied easily and frustrated the cop with smart reply.  When he came again, it was pouring rain.  Smith purpose fully didn’t ask him to come inside as he secretly wanted the cop to catch cold and die.  When Smith was being interviewed on the Porch, the rain forced a couple of money bills up from the drainpipe.  Smith was caught red handed then with the stolen money.  However, only Smith was brought to Borstal. 

          The third part again deals with the race.  We see Smith who confronts temptation as the governor talks about the prospect of material wealth and social status that his running can give him.  Though he pretends to be eager to win the race, he simply rejects the temptation.  He also briefly considers running away from the Borstal but later decides to enjoy the pleasure of witnessing the governor’s disappointment and humiliation.  So, he lies to the governor that he would like to be a professional athlete when he grows up.  The race begins.  He knows he can easily win the race.  In the end stretch of the race, in a place where the governor and Borstal boys can see him, he purposely stalls and runs very slowly.  He waits until another racer passes him and has only a second-place finish.  The disappointed governor makes Smith do back-breaking chores for the rest of his six-months stay.  But Smith enjoys his defeating the governor.  However, he earns the respect of the other Borstal boys who know well that he threw the race.

          Now a young man, Smith tells the reader that he was relieved from Borstal and was excused from joining the army because he developed pleurisy while running and training at Borstal.  Smith has just pulled a big robbery and has an idea for an even bigger one.  He has written this story and given it to a friend, so in case he is caught, the friend will give it to the governor to show him what has happened to Smith and how ineffective his rehabilitation efforts are.  Thus, Smith wants to prove the world that rehabilitation becomes impossible and thus the principle of reforming young delinquents in Borstal and the governor as Borstal’s head master is a sort of lie is a really a make believe story.  Thus, honesty and lies is a constant theme in the story.  As they are at war the ‘out-laws’ and ‘in-laws’ cannot co-exist.  However, it is painful to see how Borstal has made Smith a more skillful burglar, rather than a reformed character.  This helps us to understand and become aware of the class divisional and class issues of Briton.

           

----Thulasidharan V

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