Literal And Deeper Meaning: What Makes Smiths Run?

What Makes Smiths Run?
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What makes Smiths run?
Many civilians were unhappy with the British rule during the 19th century due to exploitation by the upper class. Several writers used artistic skills to express their views about the whole system. The loneliness of the long-distance runner like other stories published in the 1990s presented the experiences of people living Britain who were not happy with the system. Alan Sillitoe published the story in 1959 to present the struggles of the society (Sillitoe, 1959).
Among Allan Sillitoe stories is “the loneliness of the long-distance runner” he narrated a story about a juvenile boy sent to Borstal school (Sillitoe, 1959). The governor of the Borstal school hopes to change the boy to become honest and conform to the societal norms by winning the Borstal cross-country race (Sillitoe, 1959). However, the boy has a different view of honesty as compared to the governor. He has no intention of following the governor advice (Sillitoe, 1959).
The loneliness of the long-distance runner main theme is honesty is evident throughout the story. The author narrates his story by telling the reader what honesty means to him and according to the governor (Sillitoe, 1959). According to him, what honesty means is not as easy as winning the race to get out of jail and have a family. For him, having a sense of honesty needs to be seen in individuals as someone needs to be in charge of yourself and being free from the system (Sillitoe, 1959). In the story, the governor’s view of honesty as conformity while the narrator view honesty as having freedom and the inner strength to overcome life challenges (Sillitoe, 1959).
The story the loneliness of long-distance runner depicts the English as a weak, fraudulent imposing systems that do not help an individual to grow. From this point of view, narrators’ reckless behavior can be viewed as an act of freedom and non-conformity (Sillitoe, 1959). Throughout the story, the narrator continues to understand himself and life as he runs away from the law. Even after being forced to run for the governor as punishment at Borstal to pay for his crimes, he does not enjoy running apart just the immediate gain it would provide (Sillitoe, 1959). For him, he is more fascinated by nature and the beauty around him while he is running. The narrator states that life is a battle of wits whereby one needs to confront the forces of the law (Sillitoe, 1959). His ability to run is one of his great talents and is symbolic of his struggle; this is the only means by which he hopes to disappoint the governor (Sillitoe, 1959). Smiths reviews why he needs to run and what it means to him. Winning the race would mean the governor would take credit and it also means accepting the values of the governor (Sillitoe, 1959).
Losing the race would mean disappointing the governor and retaining his independence, therefore he does not win the race because he wants to show protest against inequalities in the society (Sillitoe, 1959). He states that "I'll show him what honesty means if it's the last thing I do, though I'm sure he'll never understand because if he and all them like him did it'd mean they'd be on my side which ...